Traditional Yoruba (Nigerian) folksong

Three Friends

I had three friends.
One asked me to sleep on the mat.
One asked me to sleep on the ground.
One asked me to sleep on his breast.
I decided to sleep on his breast.
I saw myself carried on a river.
I saw the king of the river and the king of the sun.
There in that country I saw palm trees
so weighed down with fruit
that the trees bent under the fruit,
and the fruit killed it.


translated from the 'Standard Yoruba' by Ulli Beier