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Question 92: Meaning of "Ah, Rupia, kama na Majasee"?

Q. I would like to know the meaning of  a phrase found in "The Dreamers" in Seven Gothic Tales:  "Ah, Rupia, kama na Majasee." Isak Dinesen writes: "You remember the old immortal song of the young maiden who refuses all the gifts of the Sultan to be true to her lover, which begins: Ah Rupia, kama na Majasee. It is a very lovely song about true and pure love. " Lincoln says this to Mira Jama while telling his tale.

A poetic translation would be: "Ah, riches, without richness!" [of life]
Also: "Ah, wealth, without purpose!"
"Ah, money, without meaning!"

Literal translation: "Ah money, without majesty!"

History: The proverb appears to have arisen during the German colonization of East Africa. It was the Germans who established the currency in Tanzania, the "rupia." "Majasee" is a German word meaning "majesty."
In Swahili "kama" means "adding up to" (a summation); the phrase is used when evaluating something, or stating a number.

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