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embellishments to the language" (181, 182). For example. when the citizens come to
Odewale, one of them says: "When rain falls on the leopard. does it wash off it (sic)
spots'!" (10) . In some instances. Rotimi explain s the pro verb to make its meaning
understandable to a non-African audience by allowing the character to give a
translation in a close approximation to the English language . as in this instance when
the character goes on to say: "Has the richness of kingly life washed off the love of
our king for his people'?" ( 1O). Sometimes. the proverb is more explicit and no
translation is needed ; for example, Odewale suspects the people of treason : "When
crocodiles eat their own eggs, what will they oat do to the flesh of a frog?" (23 ).
The Yoruba song that Ojuola sings with her children and the song that
Odewale sings for Alaka to dance are not translated into English. thereby lending
authority and authenticity to the indigenous language as a legitimate social register. On
one occasion, Odewale says to Aderopo: "Aren't you a Yoruba man? Must proverbs
be explained to you after they are said']" (32). The audience would relate to the
question because the African English-trained intellectuals are ridiculed for not being
conversant with their own local proverbs and idioms and for their insistence on
speaking English to maintain a high social status.
One of the difficulties anglophone postcolonial dramatists, who have to publish
in English, face is expressing in a language what the character in his cultural setting
would express in an indigenous language . With the transposition into English , the
accents, inflexions and intonation s are lost in the written words . In handling the
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