Epic of Sundiata

Assignment8_with_samples_and_research SudiantaBook

 You are to write no more than 2 paragraphs to answer the question. You can, if done correctly, complete this assignment with one paragraph. Follow all the grammar, structure, etc. rules previously established throughout the course. The question to answer is as follows: Explore the impact of friendship in the West African epic. Who are the important sets of friends? What are admired traits in these friendships? Do friends help Sundiata to accomplish his destiny, or hinder his accomplishment? How? Find at least three passages from the text to develop and support your thesis. 

Epicof Sundiata, pp. 3 – 58, Norton Anthology Volume C.

Assignment 8 – option 1: While you only need 1 paragraph, it must incorporate valid secondary research.

What to do:

You are to write no more than 2 paragraphs to answer the question. You can, if done correctly, complete this

assignment with one paragraph. Follow all the grammar, structure, etc. rules previously established

throughout the course.

The question to answer is as follows:

Explore the impact of friendship in the West African epic. Who are the important sets of

friends? What are admired traits in these friendships? Do friends help Sundiata to

accomplish his destiny, or hinder his accomplishment? How? Find at least three passages

from the text to develop and support your thesis.

Assignment 8 – option 2: While you only need 1 paragraph, it must incorporate valid secondary research.

What to do:
You are to write no more than 2 paragraphs to answer the question. You can, if done correctly, complete this

assignment with one paragraph. Follow all the grammar, structure, etc. rules that have been established

throughout the course.

The question to answer is as follows:

What role do women play? That is, should the women in the Epic of Sundiata be called heroes? If yes,

explain why. If no, explain why not.

In order to answer this question, you must first identify the role that a woman or multiple women play
in the epic. After you identify the role, you must state your position: Is this a heroic role? Find at least three
passages from the text to develop and support your thesis.

How to do it:

Write a double spaced, well-developed paragraph, which starts with your topic sentence,

which should directly answer the question above in a clear and concise manner. The rest of

your paragraph has three types of sentences: 3 Support Statements, 3 Citation Statements,

and 3 Explanation Statements and: The new section: 3 Quotes from Peer-Reviewed

Journal(s) to support your ideas. This means you need 3 separate quotes, from 3 separate

journal articles. You must use all 3 MLA-Quotation styles (I, II, III) (found on page 3, in the

right hand column, under the “NEVER USE S.A.Q. STAND ALONE QUOTES” heading of the MLA TipSheet

on Jenzabar). Traditionally, the best place to add a quote is AFTER each Explanation

Statement.

Commented [WLD1]: For example, many argue that the
Epic of Gilgamesh presents no heroic women. However,
some will say that the Temple Harlot is a hero because
without her presence, without her action, without her
guidance; Enkidu would never have met– and at least in an
indirect manner, saved–Gilgamesh from his own avarice.

So why am I using this Gilgamesh character as an example ?
This female character is usually ignored, if not
downgraded denigrated, by reading audiences and
scholars, who prefer viewing Gilgamesh as the hero. So, I
use that example as a means of showing the following:
Don’t get locked into a typical or a standard or a
traditional definition or idea of who can be a hero.

The following questions may help get you started:
Who are the women in the work? Of the women, on which
one(s) do you want to focus?
What is her role?
Does that role influence Others?
How so?
On a scale of 1 to 10, is that influence important? How so?

https://my.vuu.edu/ICS/icsfs/mm/epic_sundiata ?target=f8ffaae5-a111-4bd1-b1ce-caba4244c8bb

https://my.vuu.edu/ICS/icsfs/mm/tipsheet1 ?target=6e0e63a4-2667-477f-ae99-8c91539f6b2c

Last but not least, your paragraph must end by summing up or Restating the main argument

you have been analyzing. To do this effectively, restate the Topic Sentence. You should use a

transition word at the beginning of this sentence as well.

When to do it:

The first draft is due by Friday, 11:55 pm via Coursework submission. You must attach a

Grammarly report with your submission! Your paper should reflect changes you made, based

on the grammarly report. I will grade (or evaluate, if it does not pass) your work and return it,

no later than the following Monday. If there is no grade, you can revise and re-submit by the

next class session.

Possible Topic Sentences: (You cannot use these verbatim. You can use the structure if you wish, but you must

generate your own sentence.) Otherwise, you are plagiarizing and will fail.

The heroic role of women in Sundiata’s world involves the displaying of critical insight, pivotal leadership, and

supernatural strengths.

Women have a significant impact on Sundiata’s life. In a negative light, women cause his troubles. However,

in a positive light, women cause his victories. All in all, the role women play is significant.

When one analyzes women’s positive and negative roles in Sundiata’s life, one sees that Maat permeates all

throughout the Epic of Sundiata.

When one analyzes Women’s positive and negative roles in Sundiata’s life, one sees that reveal Maat

permeates all throughout the Epic of Sundiata.

The role of women in Sundiata’s world involves the displaying of critical insight, pivotal leadership, and

supernatural strengths, thus making women heroic.

Women have no significant roles in the epic.

Usable Research:

(You can use any elements of the following quotations in your writing. You must, however, ensure that you

are following the correct MLA format when you use them. You are, at the same time, free to locate your

own researched articles to support your ideas.

• Sundiata’s mother not only endures the long pregnancy and the insults of other women, but she

travels with Sundiata into exile, guiding and protecting him, and offering him crucial advice” (Mbele

63).

• … women are in dispensable as facilitators of the careers of the hero. Typically the hero

succeeds in African epics only because of the crucial assistance of a woman. (Mbele 88)

• . . . women as insightful and resourceful problem-solvers” (Mbele 62)

• It is the mastery of the supernatural that determines true heroism and distinguishes the hero from the

everyday common person. Moreover, the hero in those epics cannot rely solely on his human

capacities as he has to fight forces beyond the human realm. It is the hero’s ability to perform actions

http://www.grammarly.com/

that he would not have otherwise been able to undertake if he were not endowed with superhuman

powers that distinguish him from any other person (Deme 412).

• It is undeniably clear from the above quotation that the hero of the African epic, contrary to what the

observer from elsewhere outside African culture may think, is not a mere puppet, manipulated by

outside forces, but a person who has complete control . . . (Deme 412).

• Dominant throughout the corpus is some form of extended, heroic struggle against adversity or

adversary, always, it seems, with the aid of a supernatural helper (often female) such as a genie, or

some form of mag- ical protection, and often with a “wilderness” or exile period, ranging from the

young Sunjata’s time in Mema or Nema, to Mwindo’s visit to the under- world (Bulman 39).

Extra Credit: 5 points added to your Mid-Term grade. PROPERLY Document 3 additional RELEVANT entries on the work

cited page WITH a corresponding permalink. That is, find 3 other articles from which to cite. Due Date: April 9th, 2021

by midnight, via Jenzabar.

—————————————————————————————————————————————

Works Cited

Bulman, Stephen. “African Epics.” African Studies Review, vol. 42, no. 3, 1999, pp. 34–40. JSTOR,

www.jstor.org/stable/525202.

Accessed 25 Nov. 2020.

Deme, Mariam Konate. “Heroism and the Supernatural in the African Epic: Toward a Critical Analysis.” Journal

of Black Studies, vol. 39, no. 3, 2009, pp. 402–419. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/40282569.

Accessed 25 Nov. 2020.

Mbele, Joseph L. “Women in the African Epic.” Research in African Literatures, vol. 37, no. 2, 2006,

pp. 61–67. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/3821156. Accessed 25 Nov. 2020.

https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/research_and_citation/mla_style/mla_formatting_and_style_guide/mla_works_cited_page_basic_format.html

https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/research_and_citation/mla_style/mla_formatting_and_style_guide/mla_works_cited_page_basic_format.html

http://www.jstor.org/stable/525202

http://www.jstor.org/stable/525202

http://www.jstor.org/stable/40282569

http://www.jstor.org/stable/40282569

I

Encounter

s

with

Islam

h e Prop het Muhammed a nd the e me rgence
of Isla m united d ispa ra te Ara b tribes ove

r

t h e co urse of the seventh century, t u rn ing

them into a pote nt cu ltura l a nd politica l fo rce.
Is la m initia lly spread as t he re ligion of a dynamic
Arab sta te that took advan tage of t he weakness of
the Byzan t ine and Persian Empires in the Middle
East, a nd soon extende d its politica l bo unda ries
even further, to Spa in, Central Asia, a nd Afgh a ni-
stan. Once conquests s lowed dow n and poli tica l
boundari es were co nsolidated , tra ders carri ed t h e
re ligion even fu rthe r, to W est Africa and Chi na, as
we

ll

as Sou th a nd So uth east Asia . Arab traders
es ta blishe d an increasingly for- Rung netwo rk of c it-
ies and trading posts, faci li tating an extraordi nary
exc ha nge of good s . In Cordoba, th e cen ter of Mus-
Ji m Spa in , one had access to goods coming fro m
De lhi , t he S ultanate in northern India, and from
w hat is now Bu lgaria in easte rn Europe to S udan.
Alo ng with comm odities, w hat traveled a lon g t h ese
t rad e routes were a rmies . Is la m beca me the re li-
gion of t he ruli ng c lasses in the diffe re nt e mpires.
However, un like C hrist ianity, Is la m did n ot see k

A n illustrati on of the O t toman fleet blockading the port
of’ i\ l arsc ille , from a 16t h-centur y O u oman manuscri pt
that reco unt s th e mi litary campaigns of Siiley m a n the
Mag nifi cent.

r –
WESTERN AFRICA

1200-1400

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converts, which meant that it often
allowed local religious practices to exist
alongside Islam, thus creating multicul-
tural societies in which different reli-
gions existed side by side. The Ottoman
Empire and the Mughal rule in India,
for all the tensions that existed between
different groups, set a standard for reli-
gious tolerance.

The same pattern held true of cul-
ture. Far from seeking to export a homo-
geneous notion of culture, the various
Islamic empires were places of vibrant
cultural exchange, in which art and ideas
traveled as freely as goods and armies.
Writing was especially enriched by the
interchange; new literary forms that
blended imported styles with existing
local ones emerged throughout the
Islamic world. Oral literature, such as
the ones that fed into the Turkish epic
Dede Karkut or the Mali epic Sunjata,
continued to flourish, while incorporat-
ing Islamic elements, much as the pre-
Christian epic Beowulf had received a
late Christian layer or veneer to make
the traditional story compatible with
the new dominant religion. The result
was a fascinating encounter of cultures
and religions, whose products are pre-
sented here.

ISLAM AND PRE-ISLAMIC
CULTURE IN NORTH AFRICA

Between 640 and 700 c.E., North
Africa was occupied by Arab invaders
seeking to expand the growing sphere
of influence of an Arab world increas-
ingly united by Islam. One far-reaching
result of the Arab conquest was that it
led to an economic revolution by com-
bining the faltering economy of late
Roman North Africa with the desert
and savannah lands of West Africa into
a vast commercial network that extended
from the Atlantic to East Asia and from
the equator throughout northern Europe.
By the latter half of the eighth century,

INTRODUCTION 5

most of the native Berber peoples of
the Maghreb (Northwest Africa) had
been converted to Islam. Owing to
increasingly dynamic market forces to
the north of the desert and the spread of
camel-herding in the desert itself, Mus-
lim Berber merchants became engaged
in the systematic development of trans-
Saharan trade.

The ninth-century Arab occupation of
southern Morocco gave rise to a string
of oasis cities south of the High Atlas
Mountains. These included the bustling
market town of Sijilmasa, which became
the northern counterpart of the com-
mercial centers of Tadmekka and
Awdaghust on the southern edge of the
Sahara. By the end of the tenth century,
the southern trading centers had been
colonized by Muslim (mostly Berber)
immigrants from the north. They were
merchants eager to trade with the mar-
kets of desert-edge kingdoms like Ghana,
Takrur, and Gao, and especially to extract
wealth from parts of the western Sudan
described by Arab travelers as “the land
of gold.”

Thus, Islam arrived in West Africa
via Muslim traders, and by 1068 the
respected Arab geographer Al-Bakri was
writing that there were significant Mus-
lim populations occupying towns of the
Mande peoples, which included the
Maninka of the Upper Niger region who
became founders of the Mali Empire in
the thirteenth century.

But Islam was not only an economic
force; it also reshaped the cultural
landscape. By the thirteenth century
Islam had become a common, though
not universal, aspect of Mande cul-
ture. Far from imposing onto North
Africa, including the Mali Empire, its
own conception of art, Islam was grad-
ually integrated into Mande culture,
with Mande bards (jeliw) assimilating
elements of Islamic tradition. Some of
the stories told by Muslim clerics and
by pilgrims returning from Mecca were
adapted to local narrative repertoires.

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THE OTTOMAN

EMPIRE

ca . 1300-1683

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J\RABJA

8 ENCOUNT(RS WIT II IS L AM

A cont e mporar y photog raph o f the Gran d Mosqu e at Dje nne, Mali , whi c h was li rs t built in
the thirt ee n th century.

The Prophet Muhammad a nd va rious
c haracters from his life a nd times were
borrowed by Mande bards a nd incor-
porate d into the ir m ost importa nt o ra l
traditions, incl uding the e pic S unjat:a,
w hich te ll s the s tory o f the thirte enth-
centu ry hero w ho is c re dite d with the
founding of th e Mali Empire .

THE OTTOMAN EMP IRE

The beginnings of the Ottoman Em-
pire can be traced to a small princ ipa l-
ity estab lis he d aroun d 1300 c .E. by
T urkoma n nomads in the little-
controlled borderla nds of northwestern
Asia J\ilino r be twee n th e Byzantine
E mpire a nd the fragments of the Selj uk
E mpire . The “Ottoma n e n terp rise,”
na med afte r Osman Beg (d. proba bly
13 24) was initia ll y one of m a n y simila r
petty princ ipa lities, but it m a naged ,
within a century a nd a ha lf, to e liminate
its Isla mic compe tito rs in Asia M ino r
a nd conquer mu c h of southeastern Eu –
rope. T he conquest of the c ity of Con-
s tantinople in 14 5 3 fina lly establis hed it

as t he inherit o r of the eastern Roman
Empire. O ve r time , Ottoman conquests
exte nd ed furth er into Europe, including
Hungary, a nd today’s Romania. By
15 17, the Ottomans a lso cont ro lled
Syria, Egypt, and the I-J o ly C ities of Ara-
bia. Despite t h is eastern expa ns ion, the
Ottoma n Empi re re mained a Medite rra-
nean rathe r than a n Asiatic power.

In t his process of e mpire building,
the nomadi c o rigins soon faded away
to fond memories preserve d in c hro ni-
cles and he roic e pics, s uc h as th e Booh
of Dede Kor/mt, whi le the re m ai ning
nomads were marginalized as a social
g rou p and used as a military rese rve.
The new poli t ical and m ili ta ry e lite
largely cons iste d of carefull y selected
and highl y educated slaves of t he s ul-
tan , thus concentrating t he a dminis-
tration of the e mpire in the impe rial
h o u sehold. A second pill a r of Ottoman
power was a feuda l a rm y, whic h never
developed into a la n ded a ristocracy (as
feudal armies did t h roughout E urope )
that could hold its own agains t the
ce n t ral powe r o f t he s u lta n. While the
Ottoman Dynasty was et hnically Turk-

ish, and the administrative language
was Turkish as well, this elite was
mostly recruited from Christian sub-
jects, who were converted to Islam and
culturally socialized into Ottoman-
Turkish elite culture.

This elite culture found its classical
expression in art, architecture, and lit-
erature between the late fifteenth and
the beginning of the seventeenth cen-
tury. Ottoman literature used a lan-
guage that is Turkish in principle, but
had come to incorporate so many Ara-
bic and Persian words, phrases, and
even syntactic constructions that it is
sometimes difficult to tell whether a
poem is Turkish or Persian. This liter-
ary Ottoman Turkish was worlds apart
from the Turkish spoken on the street,
the reserve of its erudite connoisseurs,
who were all expected to be fluent in the
“Three Languages”-Arabic, Persian,
and Turkish-and their rich literary tra-
ditions. Evliya Qelebi’s Book of Travels
is a powerful late homage to these
ideals of classical Ottoman culture.

Strictly speaking, the term Ottoman
should be used only for the members
of the imperial household and every-
body else who shared this culturally
defined identity, but more generally it
has come to include the numerous
subcultures that were allowed to thrive
alongside it. Within this multilingual
and multi-religious empire, place and
social status, as well as affiliation with
religious and social institutions were
more important than ethnic background
or language. Lacking a concept of “Otto-
man citizenship,” the Ottoman state
with its small elite had neither an
interest nor the means to impose any
kind of cultural or religious identity on
its subjects, and did not interfere in
the internal communal affairs of its
populations. This policy has often been
praised as Ottoman tolerance, but it is
important to realize that tolerance did
not mean equality: different religious
groups were taxed differently and did

INTRODUCTION 9

not have the same access to power.
Yet the sheer diversity of the Ottoman
Empire continues to command respect
and elicit fascination.

ISLAM AND HINDUISM
IN SOUTH ASIA

Muslim armies from Iraq entered
South Asia early in the eighth century,
initially conquering what are now the
southern and western regions of Paki-
stan. Over the next three hundred
years or so, immigrants from various
parts of the Muslim world, together
with local converts to Islam, gradually
established distinctive settlements for
themselves in the western and north-
western parts of the Indian subconti-
nent, from Sind and Gujarat to Punjab
and Kashmir. During the eleventh and
twelfth centuries, Muslim armies from
Afghanistan and Central Asia ( which
included Turkish slave-warriors) car-
ried out a succession of raids, or short-
lived invasions, on towns and cities in
northern India. In 1206, a Turkish
slave-warrior proclaimed himself the
Sultan of Delhi, laying the foundation
for a Muslim empire in northern India
that lasted more than three centuries,
and was ruled by five different dynasties
of Turkish-Afghan descent.

In the early sixteenth century, the
Delhi Sultanate, which controlled the
greater portion of western, northern,
eastern, and central India by then, lost
power to the Mughals, a dynasty with
origins in today’s Uzbekistan. The
Mughals ruled most of South Asia from
1526 to 18 5 7, creating a vast empire
that, especially in the second half of
the sixteenth century and in the seven-
teenth century, was the richest and most
powerful political formation in Asia.
Over a period of more than six centuries,
the Delhi Sultanate and the Mughal
empire, between them, provided a com-
plex framework for the emergence of a

I INDIA 1200-1650
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BENGAL

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unique Indo-Islamic civilization, which
continues to shape the cultural life of
South Asia to this day.

Before the arrival of Islam, the Indian
i; sribcontinent was predominantly Hindu
~ . in religion· and culture, with 6uddhism

‘.J·:i, ·aru:f .~Jainism practiced only ·by·~.-~~aU .
·J.;/,:pip?i:4ties_.._pf the population. For mu’eh i

of.’tlie firsf millennium of the Common
Era, Hinduism in its classical form
involved polytheism (belief in the exis-
tence of many gods), worship in temples
officiated by priests (belonging to the
Brahmin caste), the worship of idols and
the performance of numerous and intri-
cate rituals (in accordance with elaborate
scriptures, l~w books, and codes), and
pilgrimages to designated holy plac:es.

When Islam settled into South Asia,
it challenged many of these ideas and
practices in Hinduism. Islam’s uncom-
promising monotheism (belief in a sin-
gle, all-powerful God), as well as its

INTRODUCTION I . 11

attacks on idol-worship, compelle~.-
many Hindus to reconsider their poly- ·
theism and their worship in temples
( which is centered around icf 9.ls, ‘often
representing gods in anthropomorphi~, –
forms). Likewise, Islam’s emphasis on ..
SO(}ial. e,quality and a universal fraternity ··
persu~dea J-lindus to question the caste .
hierarchy\ind its practice of discrimina-
tion on the basis of birth. Moreover,
Sufism-a mystical form of Islam cen-
tered on the cultivation of music, dance,
poetry, the visual arts, and techniques of
ecstasy-offered forms of spiritualism
that resonated with some Hindu con-
ceptions of “union with God.” The poets
collected here, from different regions
and religions of South Asia, all work
through this productive tension between
Islam and Hinduism, testifying to the
fact that cross-cultural encounters are
sometimes violent, but can also lead to
artworks of stunning beauty.

~~ ·–

~SUNJATA: A WEST AFRICAN EPIC OF THE

:~~atethyirte~~t~~~l;_;~i~:th cent;r;-p~~t ~~}
~ \?1}U .,.. HJ· \l7 ~ ,,(-&\”‘

74~he West African epic named after one generation of jeliw to the next,
i1 its central hero, Sunjata, is an essen- and the principal Mande clans frame

tial part of Mande culture. The heartland their identities in terms of descent
of Mande territory is located in what is from the ancestors describe~jn epic
now northeastern Guinea and southern tradition. ·
Mali, but the Mande peoples are found As specialists in maintaining the oral
throughout a much larger portion of traditions of their culture, jeliw are
sub-Saharan West Africa, speaking known to their people as guardians of
various related languages and dialects. “The Word.” In early times they served
The Mande, also known as “the people as the spokespersons of chiefs (dugu-
of Manden,” who include the Bamana of tigiw) and kings (mansaw), and were
Mali and the Maninka of Guinea, are thus responsible for their patrons’ rep-
heirs to a vibrant historical legacy, the utations in the community. Genera-
high point of which was the Mali Empire tions of jeli families were permanently
that flourished from the mid-thirteenth attached to leading households-. and
to the early fifteenth century. The epic ruling dynasties, who supported the
narrative of Sunjata and his contempo- bards in exchange for their services in
raries illustrates the Mande peoples’ own the verbal arts. The ieliw encouraged,
view of this glorious past both before and their patrons to strive for ambitious
after Islam began to influence their cul- goaJs by remmdmg them of the exam-
ture, and it rightfully credits their ances- pies. set by their heroic ancestors, as
tors with establishing one of the great described in the epic narratives.~
empires of the medieval world. ointed out mistakes through the use of

In Mande culture, oral tradition is prm·erbs, and admonis e t eir patrons
the domain of bards popularly known _. \then they seemed likely to tail in their
as griots, but as jeliw or jelilu (sing. dut1<;_S. At the same fame, the bards' own jeli) to their own people. They are the security depended on their rulers' politi- heredita oral artists responsible for cal power and social prestige, so the sto- relating the ---- ee s o t e ear y ries they told tended to be biased in ancestors, Reepmg them and the1r • favor of their patrons' own ancestors. exploits alive in the community's mem- In Mande soci~ties, all matters ~ For many centuries the jeliw have involving family, clan, arid ethnic kin- served as genealogists,_musicians, praise- ship are of supreme importance. Peo- singers, spokespersons, and .,diplomats.. pie are identified by their jamu-the As the principal narrators of oral tradi- " family name or patronymic associated tion, the bards have been responsible with famous ancestors remembered for ereserving narratives that express for important deeds alleged to have what peoples of the Mande cultural occurred around the beginning of the heartland believe to have happened thirteenth century. Thanks to regular in the distant past. For centuries, sto- exposure to live or locally taped perfor- ries of the ancestors have passed from mances by jeliw that are played privately

12

GuJ ;~ 4/)4 w;~ SUNJATA, A WEST AFRICAN EPIC 13
or heard regularly on local radio broad-
casts, general awareness of the heroes
and heroines of ancient times, like
those in Sunjata, enters the people’s
consciou.sness in childhood and grJws
there througlfout their lives~ Memories
of the ancestors -¥e constantly evoked

• in praise songs ·and narrative episodes
that are sung or recited by the bards on
virtually any occasion that calls for
entertainment. When elders meet in vil-
lage council, the ancestral spirits are
felt to be present because, according to
tradition, it was they who established
the relative status of everyone present,
as well as the administrative protocols
to be followed and the values underpin-
ning every decision. The ancestors who
are described in km~ koro ‘or “ancient
speech” define the id<;ntity of virtually everyone of Mande origin.

The performance of Sunjata would
often be accompanied by musical instru-
ments: a small lute (nkoni), a twenty-
one-string calabash harp (lwra), or a
Malian xylophone (bala). Even without
music, Mande oral poetry incorporates
a kind of. call-and-response rhythm
through the repeated assent of the
“naamu-sayer” (responding person) to
each line sung by the jeli. The naamus
of this secondary performer might be
translated as “yes” or “We hear you”;
they are preserved here in the original
to give a flavor of the repetitive, almost
incantatory quality of the response. The
variant spellings of naamu reflect differ-
ent pronunciations used for emphasis.
Common interjections include tinye
(“it’s true”) in the indigenous language,
as well as terms borrowed from Arabic
and reflecting the influence of Islam,
such as walahi (“I swear”) and amina
(“amen”). In all cases, the community
hears not only the poem but an enthusi-
astic, repeated approbation of it. The
jeli’s own language when narrating the
stories of the ancestors is also distinct
from everyday speech, as he turns to
kuma koro (“ancient speech”) for the

performance. Even the most central
names in the story may vary according
to the pronunciation of the individual
jeliw and to regional differences, so
that Sunjata, for ~xample, may appear
as Son-Jara, So’olon Jara, or Sunjara.

Oral literature that has been passed
down from generation to generation is
difficult to date. The epic material
feeding this version of the· Sunjata
epic was narrated and recorded only in
the late-_twentieth century, although it
retells stories that· go back centuries.
·ojanka ·Tassey Conde_. the jeli who
narrated this version, li,yed his entire
life in the small village of Fadama near
the Niaodao River in northeastern
~- Nominally a Muslim like most
people in today’s Mande society,
Tassey was descended from a lineage
of Conde bards who trace their ances-
try to forebears who lived before the
arrival of Islam in the land of Do ni
Kiri as it is described in the Mande
~- Even among other bardic Man-
den families, the Conde of Fadama are
respected for their vast kn9wledge of
Mande epic tradition. In the 1970s
and 1980s, Tassey’s brother Mamadi
Conde was belentigi (chief bard) of
Fadama, and one of the best-known
Manden orators, distinguished for his
depth of knowledge:·· when Mamadi
died ‘in I 994, his brother Tassey
became the belentigi. Several months
later, David C. Conrad, who edited this
version · of Sunjata, began a collabora-
tive relationship with Tassey Conde
that lasted until that great bard’s death
in 1997.

The passages collected here are from
the rendering by Tassey Conde of this
communal, epic story. The narrative is
episodic and often disjunct, full · of
magic (dalilu) and humor z. as the jeli
gives his own version of a sto familiar
to 1s isteners. T e epic tells of the
great expectation surrounding the birth
of Sunjata, whose heroism has long
been foretold .. Foreigners come to

14 SU JATA, A WEST ArR I CA\I rP I C

de feat a wild buffa lo t hat has been d ee- Li ke most e pics, S unjata is a relati on
imating Ma nd e lands, and the ir first or th e he ro’s many tria ls, whic h he sur-
ac hieve ment is to recognize the bu ffalo mo u nts through his courage, tenacity,
woma n Do Kamissa as the cu lprit. and pie ty. Ye t the s ingula r hero is also
The y tame he r with kindness clai ming deep ly ensconced in his community: in
that s he resembles their mother. until order to lead he mu st find a ll ies, c ulti-
sh e re le nts a nd offers t h e m he r wis- va tc fr ie nd s, a nd hon or his fam ily. Pa rt
dom. Urging th e m to look bev~d of th e cha rm of Sunjata lies in its attcn-
appeara nces, s he commend s to the m li on to de tail, and its fresh humor as it
t he de form ed Sogo lon, who will be th e rela tes the interactio ns of legendary
mother of S un ja ta. \ ,V he n S unjata is he roes with the very conc re te world
finall y born , into a worldiull ol sorcery around the m. This is a poe m about the
and treac hery, h e ba rely escapes th e powe r struggles that can lead to war,
ma ny plots against him , a nd is evcntu – certainly, but it is also about people’s
ally dri ven into exile b the ·ealousy of re lal ionship to a place a nd a la ndscape.
li1s ste p rot 1e r. His greatest ach ieve- Land takes o n a concrete quality beyond
mc nt comes :vftl1 the defeat of the tyr- its 1io li tica l s ign ifi ca n ce as Sunjata
a n n ou s Sumawo ro to liberate Manden, pleads for a plot in whic h to bury his
whi c h the text recognizes as a founda- mother whe n s h e dies i n ex ile . In its
ti ona l imperial gesture. S1mjata a lso vivid re-creation o r t h e h e ro’s expc ri-
e mphasizes, however, that the he ro’s e ncc·. Sunjata knits togeth er the mythic
exalted stature comes at a great cost to a nd the everyday, the a ncestral a nd the
the community: while Su ma woro furi- contempora ry, provid ing for its Mande
ou s ly seeks the ma n who is fated to li steners a recogn iza bl e, living h istory,
s ucceed him, we are told , the Mande and for everyone else rich in sight into

Je~~ieop~:;·
1
~: hi~/om:r~~i the culture o~::,:;:gl:io~.

From. Sunja ta
1 jori,J,ll. _ f/.,5 e_

The Sea rc h f or a Special Wife

Whe n Maghan Ko n fara 2 was a 111ansa in Man de n , he had power, he had wealth,
he was popular, and he had dalih!,:;-but he had n o c hi ld. Maghan Kon Fara , Sun-
j ata’s fath e r, c raved a chi ld. T houg h h is fri e nds h ad begun to have c hildren, hq /
s till had no child . But the n his dalilu3 showed that he would final ly have a child,V
His moriw,” h is sa nd d ivine rs, a nd his pe bble divine rs 5 all sa id , “S imbo n, you will
sire a c hild who will be famous.” Everybody he con sulted sa id the same thing.
”But try to marry a light-skinned woman ,” they told h im. ” Ujou marry a light-
~ s he will g ive b irth to the c hild t hat has been foreseen.” Because
Maghan Konfara was powerfu l, h e m a rried n ine lig ht-s kinned wo me n. But aside

I . Transla te d from lhc Maninka bv David C.
Conrad. All notes were made by I h~ Lrans lalor
unless otherwise indicated. In an excerpted
section, the narrator. T assev Co nde, introduces

• the birth ol’ the seve ntl, king (11u111sa} S unja ta
by recalling the lineage of kings born be fore
S unjata. He declares 1ha1 he wi ll not sta rt from
the very beginning since t he lislcners and the
J\ lande people a re a ll Adam ‘s dcscendanls.
2. ~l a han Knofara is th e fall • · Su n·a ·
a lso refcrre 10 as S imbon J\ lastcr l luntcr)
and /\I ,m sa ru e r) !editor’s note . —-

3 . 1\1lagic, occult, or secret power; in everyday
use, any means used to ac hi eve a goa l.
-Ail 1 • RI l\ l uslims w ho. in or.ii tradition,
often pe rform divination.
5. Seers a nd heale rs who ide nlify the sou rce
of a ll kinds of problems by s preading a p ile of
sand and rend ing symbols in ii, or casting mul –
ti pit· o bjecls s uc h as pe bbles or cowri e shells
and reading th e conligurations in whic h they
land. Diviners t he n presc ribe approp ria te sac-
rifices to remedy the proble m.

SUNJATA 15

fmro Flaba Naabi, none of them gave him a child. He was perplexed. From the
last Wednesday of the month of Jomene6 to the same time the following year,
Maghan Konfara did no_t_~ire.a child. (If you want to know about Sunjata, then
you have to learri what Sunjata’s father and the people of Manden had to endure!)

He sent the moriw back into retreat, telling them, “I need a child, so do your
best. It’s said that if I sire the child that. has been foreseen, that child will rule
Manden. I must sire this child.’~ ‘fbe moriw. all of whom were present, went back
into retreat. When they returned, they told hirri, “Simbon, marry somebody who

_is a mulatto.” So he married nine mulatto women. But aside from Marahajan:
I arawele, none of thos~ mulatto women gave birth. From that tjme of the. y~ar to
the same time the following year, none of those women who were wi~h him
in the house bore any male children. Simbon was frustrated. Maghan Konfara
sent the moriw back mto retreat. He said, “Tell me the truth. Ah! If you see that
I will not have any children, tell me. A child is something that bnly God can pfo-
~e; it cannot be bought in the market.” This time the moriw d nim, ‘~
weH, many a black woman, hnd a black woman who has whit heart.” This.
time he married nine black women. But asi e rom Nyuma Damba Magasuba,
none of them bore any children. ~
“”Maghan Konfara was frustrated. His moriw told him again, “Very well, man,

~e one of your slave girls and marry her.” (In those days they still practiced
slavery.) He liberated and married nine slave: girls. But aside from ]Qnmusoni
Manyan, none of the slave girls bore him any children. Frustrated, Simbon

gathered the people of Konfara together on the last Wednesday of Jomene.
When the people of Konfara had gathered, ~ated the moriw, the sand

diviners, and the pebble diviners into groups and sent them all into retreat. He
-;aid, “I told 01,1 _not to hesitate. If ou see that I won’t a child tell me. Go
i~to the house. I you do not te me the truth, I’ll kill all of you and replace you.”
When the moriw came out of retreat, they told him, “Simbon, you will sire a
child. Make one of your jelimusow7 happy. Marry her so she will give birth.” J:k._,
made nine ‘elimusow ha • but aside from Tunku Manyan Diawara, none of
t em ever gave birth.

ow alt of Manden was frustrated. (It’s hard to give birth to a child who
will be famous. And w en a o Man en became frustrated, the di~rs were
ashamed of themselves. They met and swore an oath: “Any one of us who has

r'”broken a taboo should confess it. Maybe this is our fault. If we don’t get
together and tell this man the truth’, the feet of our descendants will not be able
~~ak an egg in Manden.” They went into retreat and came back out,.
telling Simhon.~’S”””om~on ·n come from the East. He will be coming from the
land of the white-skinned people. This muc as ee reveale to us. Let this
in,an B!ll¥-J:O God-for a solution to your problem. If you let thrs man ~
God ·on the matter of your so -a he-tells you will be God’s word. We
won’t be able to accomplish this ourselves. God ass own us a good mari.”

While they waited there in Farakoro,8 Manjan Berete arrived. Mani~
B~~-was the first Muslim leader of Manden; he opened the door9 to the

t,
~
~
~
~

\l

~{
~

t.,
~

~

~
0-…

~

?
6. The first month of the year.
7, Female bards (sing.jelimuso).
8. Sometimes shortened to “Farako.” Evi-
dently the hometown o( Sunjata’s father,
located in the territory (jamana) of Konfura
[editor’s note]. Farakoro appears in the longer

version of Maghan Konfura’s name, ash~-~~~ ,l $t
known to Tassey Conde and his anc~
bards of Fadama: Farako Manko Farakonken.

lhin lt i ~ tc_1 n~ fk 5(A;M. ~
9. That is, he was instrumental in the intro-
duction of Islam.

16 SUNJATA: A WEST AFRICAN EPIC

Mande people. (He is also the ancestor of the B~rete in Manden. The home of
the Berete people is Farisini Hejaji, 1 a region in the land of Mecca; the Berete
are Suraka.2 ) Berete packed up some books and came from Farisi to the land
~Qf_Ml!!)den because it was a powerful place. If he found someone in the land of

· Mande~ho would join him, who would work with the Koran, then his bless-
ings would be great. Because he could not get used to the food here, Manjan
Be~ete _brought Sansun Berete, his litde sister, with him when he came to
meet Simbon. He brought his sister so she could prepare his food until he
became better acquainted with the Mande people. .

Manian Berete came and lived with Simbon. He said, ”You need the religion,
practiced in my homeland. The Prophet has said nol:iody should take up swords
in the religion again, that we should now be gentle with one another. Let us win
people over with kindness, so we can awaken their minds and they can join the
religion. The blessings will be great for anyone who accomplishes this.”

[In an omitted passage, Konfara suggests that Berete’s sister is his destined wife:
Berete forbids this union, but his fathers and brothers convince him that Konfara
can have his sister if he converts to Islam. Berete’s sister gives birth to a son, but
it is not the foretold son.] ·

Simbon said, “How do I get that son? Pray to God for me to have that son.
Will I get that son?”

“Yes, you will get that son.”
“Very well, pray to God for that!’
Manjan Berete prayed to God. He said, “Sirnbon, you will get this child. When

I was praying, God revealed to me that there are others like me who will come.
They too will come from the land of the white-skins. Those people will not bring_
any woman with them when they come. But they will tell you the name of the
place that is their destination, and if you ask them to, they will bring you a n woman from that place. She will bear that child.”

~~~ ~In an omitted passage, the narrator describes the Moroccan ~ackground of two
.(i – 7 brothers, Abdu Karimi and Abdu Kassimu, who will travel to the land of Do ni
\ ~I A Kiri to hunt a buffalo that is devastating tlie countryside, and will eventually
,~ become known as Danmansa Wulanni and Danmansa Wulanba.]

~
Two Hunters Arrive in Manden

Abdu Karimi and Abdu Kassimu came to Manden from Momcco. When they
got here they walked all night and all the following day, and were already
under the three nkiliki trees of Manden hy the evening of that second day.
When Abdu Karimi and Abdu Kassimu arrived under the trees, they measured
out their food, cooked their meal, ate, and slept there.

(People used to rest under those three nhiliki trees when traveling to and
from Do ni Kiri, the home of the Conde. Travelers of Manden, from the home
of the Mansare, used to rest there, as did travelers from Negeboriya, the home of

1. “Farisi” is from Fars, a region in Persia.
“Hejaji” is from Hejaz, a region that was the
ancient cradle of Islam, including the Red Sea
coast of Arabia and the cities of Mecca, Medina,

and others.
2. A Maninka and Bamana term for the local
perception of “Arab,” which includes “Moors”
and North Africans in general.

SUNJATA 17

the Koroma. Travelers from Soso, from the home of the Kante, also used to rest
under those trees. People could get the news of the world there.)

Abdu Karimi and Abdu Kassimii, who· were Arab kamalenw,3 were worried,
for they did not know where they were headed. They found a place where some
traders had left their cooking pots. After eating, the Arab kamalenw said, “Let’s
lie down here and wait for these traders to return. We’ll soon learn our next
destination.”

While Abdu Karimi and Abdu Kass1mu were sleeping, some traders who
. : were on their way from Manden arrived. Some traders also arrived from Nege-

boriya, home of the Koroma. They all greeted one another.
The Arab kamalenw asked, “Is everything all right with the people of Man-

den?”
The traders replied, “There is nothing wrong with them.”
“Is everything all right with the Koroma of Negeboriya?”
The traders said, “Nothing is troubling them.” They too measured out their

food; then they went to sleep.
While the brothers were lying there, some traders who were on their way

from Soso arrived. These traders had visited Do ni Kiri and found it in tur-
moil. Upon meeting Ahdu Karimi and Abdu Kassimu, they asked, ”Where are you
from?”

The kamalenw said, “We are from Morocco.”
“Where are you going?”
The kamalenw replied, ‘We were on our way to the land of the Conde, but

we don\know the way.” ·
The traders said, “The ~ of. Do .ni ~ri is Donsamogo Diarr,a; he is

quarreling with his sister.”
I just told you about this sister, called Do Kamissa, the first dau hter o .. “.°”‘)

Ma’an Solonkan. She and her brother, Donsamogo Diarra, were quarrelin ..::r
over the issue of the legacy left by Ma;an Solonkan, their mother.

Do Kamissa said, “Donsamogo Diarra, if you refuse to share our mother’s @
gacy with me, I’ll take it myself.” · 1’1\\i•d·,v<1 s·-r-1?' e-

___you are too headstron&,”
. · “You think I can’t ta)<.e it for myse1P"

“Yes, that’s right.” The did not know she had the her- ~
sel mto 1 erent t ings. ~

” 06 Kam1ssa left the town and stayed in a farm hamlet near Do ni Kiri. At that (>1’jt,t;A
time, the place known as Q_o ni Kiri included the twelve towns of Do, the four1, 1,;t\C t’:
towns of Kiri, and the six towns on the other side he river. At the break of day~ j 1″ I~-~

-Do Kamissa trans ormed hersel into a buffalo and began to kill the people living I;\<( in those places. --------==:, O I J. I

– It became a bad time for Do ni Kiri. ~~4rt ld..
, onsamogo Diarr~ said, “This buffalo has killed all of the hunters that I U.,ru,\L

r~quested from Manden.” He sent a message to the Koroma of Negeboriy.a, but ,r
the buffalo killed all of the hunters who came from there. He sent for the hunt-
ers of Soso, but when they came the buffalo killed them all..to,o…

– 01iv’ .. d:lM11J/’L11/~1,J~/ ,(l:11.5e~ll1 ..,.,,…
3. Kamalemv: plural form of kamalen, a circumcised youth 15-25 years old. \ I kt_ ~ ~

~ ~ Gc1~ ~t1rn,>r..v{_? n ul{“{bj

/ht Wrdl t (). W~/ r;:~,,J1 ~ -ydlp Pi-sRe.s;e&
suNJATA: A wEsT AFRICAN EP1c O Wv~

Donsamogo Diarra was at a loss. He sent out the word &om Do ni Kiri. He said,
“People have died because of me. An one who kills this buffalo will et to choose
a wife from three age sets4 of Do ni Kiri s tr s. verybo y w o visited Do ni Kiri
was to a out 1s. when the traders returned to the camp under the nkiliki
tree, they told Abdu Karimi and Abdu Kassimu about the turmoil in Do ni Kiri. lll-4

The traders said, ”Things in Do ni Kiri have become very bad. Donsamogo q f’
Diarra’s quarrel with his sister has resulted in many deaths. Hunger has come to ~
Kin]. ecause no one can go m or out. I he paths to the village and farms have beeTicl\uir’ ·
closed. There is no way for crops to be brought home, for the buffalo is blocking ~’.Jr’~
the way. The Conde say that anyone who kills this buffalo will get to choose a wife
&om three sets of Do ni Kiri girls.”

The Arab kamalenw were still camped there. The younger brother, Abdu
Karimi, said, “Big brother, do you hear what they are saying?”

Abdu Kassimu replied, “I hear it.” . \tf~~
Together they said, “Let us go to Do ni Kiri.” ~btr ·
The elder brother said, “Hey, little brother, what about these things they-‘/ jf~

are talking about? Suppose the buffalo kills us?” }ft·
Abdu Karimi replied, “If the buffalo kills us, at least we’ll die for the sake of the

Conde. They are having a bad time in Do ni Kiri. I feel bad for them. Remember
how our fathers told us the story of the Conde ancestor Samasuna? 5 Before the
Prophet could make any progress, God told him to fight at Ka1bara.6 The Conde
ancestor Samasuna took a thousand of his sons to o and hel our ancestors

g t at the battle of Ka1bara, and there he lost all thousand of his sons. -2—
n{atter how difficult the fight at Do ni Kiri will be, it can’t be more difficult than
the battle at Ka1bara. _ H,~ OQ… bon A ..\- .u, sp,·r,/cp()

“The thousand sons that the Conde ancestor Samasuna gave all died on the
, V 1-, _ attlegro~nd of our a~cestors’ ~?r ~t ~1bara. If the two of us should die for the
p–· / ake of the Conde, will our deaths be equal to the deaths of those thousand

men? If it’s our time to die, we should die for a good cause. We do not equal a
thousand men. But if we should die for the sake of the Conde, we will only be
doing what t~e thousand men did_for:those_ancesto~~- So let us go to Do ni ~ri.
Knowin what the Conde ancestors suffered for our sake at Ka1bara we would
be bastar s i we retre d now, after hearin that the ~on e ares~. er.ing.” __ .-if i
Thus A~u Karimi encourage his elder brother, w_u ~’PW’\ ~ (

Abdu Kassimu now had the courage to go to Do ni Kiri. But first the brothers
packed their belongings and went straight to Konfara. They-bypassed Do ni
Kiri and. went straight to Manden. · ·

When the brothers arrived in Manden, Manjan Berete was sitting in a circle
ar Maghan ·Konf~ra. The two men were playing wari. 7 Manjan Berete was sit-

ting in the circle near Simbon, with prayer beads in his hands, praying to God:

4. Children born within the same span of about
three years are identified as a single group or
age set that grows up together, going through
the various initiation rituals into adulthood.
5. Samson· (Shamsun in Arabic) is not men-
tioned in the Koran, but according to other ·

‘sources of Muslim traditjon (e.g., a_l-Tl}a’labi
and al-Tabari), he dedici\ted- his life to· God
and continual,y.fought against idolators.

6. Maninka usage of Khaybar, an oasis ninety-
five miles from Medina, Arabia, the site of a·
famous battle fought by the Prophet Muham-
mad and his army.
7. A popular game played with two rows of
shallow holes, usually in a carved woode·n

. board, wjth small stones or cowrie shells .used as
‘- ~oui1ters. · · · – · ‘

SUNJATA 19

“~ay God not let me be embarrassed by my prediction.” They remained sitting
when. they saw Abdu Karimi ancf Abdu Kas-simii approaching. When the two
brothers arrived, all of the men met in that same circle, and Manjan Berete· and
Maghan Konfara stopped playing wari.

Abdu Karimi said, “My respected ka.ramogo, we have come to God, we have
come to the Mande people, and we have come to Simbon. What makes us walk
fast will also make us talk fast.”

After greeting the brothers, the Mande people asked them, “Where did you
come from?”

The Arab ka.malenw said, “We come from Morocco.”
“What is your family?”
“We are Sharifu.”8

The Mande people saluted them, “You Haidara,”9 to which the ka.malenw
replied, “Marahaba.” 1

The Mande people said, “The honor is yours, the honor is Simbon’s.”
The Arab ka.malenw said, “We come from Morocco. We al:”~ children of Abdu

Sharifu. We are descend~nts of Sa’idin”a Ali.”2 ·
The ka.malenw explained, “We have heard that the Conde are suffering, that

they are quarreling with their sister who has transformed herself into a buffaloi A ‘l
Every morning the buffalo has killed people in all of the twelve towns of Do, the n I.-
four towns of Kiri, and the six towns across the river. That is why we have come
We want to go to Do ni Kiri, to help the Conde with their trouble. We want you
to perform the sand divination for us. If our sand is sweet, we will go to Do ni
Kiri. And if our sand is not sweetz. we will still go to Do ni Kiri.” ,,.

[In an omitted passage, the narrator recounts that the sand is indeed sweet and
a sacrifice must accompany the divination. Before the hunters leave, Maghan
Konfara asks for a wife but the younger brother refuses. The narrator intro-
duces the buffalo’s fe1nale genie companion, who advises the brothers on how
to respond to abusive women they will meet, and how to approach Do Kamissa,
the Buffalo Woman, and avoid being killed by her.]

Do Kamissa the Buffalo Woman

After walking for one kilometer, the brothers passed into the land of Konfara, and
from there crossed into the land of the Conde. There they met a woman who had

‘ bor:ne one <;hild, just as the female genie had told them. The genie had said, "You will not see me again. But if you d~n't_ he~_d t_h~ a~v!ce I give you, the ~~ff~lo '"_'ill kill you." ··

When they greeted this woman who liad borne one child, she spoke abusively
to them. She said, “Eh! Is it the woman who should greet first, or is it the man?

~~ r,1,o< <5 lL 8. Contraction of the longer plural form Shari- or jamu (patronymic, identity). From Arabic fulu from the Arabic Shurafa' {sing. Sharif), a 111r~hba ("welcome"). lineage claiming descent from the family of the }, 'Al~ ibn Ahr Talib, cousin and son-in-law of Prophet Muhammad. - the Prophet Muhammad, and one of the first 9. A prestigious Muslim family name in Man- converts to Islam; renowned as a warrior dur- den, here used in a greeting as the equivalent of ing Islam's struggle for survival, he took part in Sharifu. most of the Prophet's expeditions and displayed I, Response to a greeting that honors people legendary courage at the battles of Badr and by saluting their ancestors with the family name Khaybar.

20 SUNJATA: A WEST AFRICAN EPIC

Yo,u do not_eass by a beautiful woman without greeting her!” She said every pos-
sible bad word to them.

They said, “M’ba.3 We are children of the road. We do not know anything
about women or men. We have never been to this country. We speak to everyone
we meet, so they can help us.”

She replied, “Am I the one who is supposed to help you?”
Huh! They passed on by her without quarreling further.
After they passed that woman, they walk(~d another kilometer and met the

full-breasted girl. When they met this girl they said, “Lady, we greet you, God
is great.”

Ah! She abused them. She said every bad \\

like you will pass by a man like that? You do not know what is happening.” (No
matter how proud a girl is, once you call her “beautiful,” she will soften.)

After the hunters passed by the full-breasted girl, she went on her way.
(!:lumility really comes only with death, but men act· humbly until they get
what ths.y want.) – -.

After walking on for another kilometer, they heard the pounding of the mor-
tars and pestles”‘ of Do ni Kiri, and there they met Do Kamissa herself. She
carried a hoe on her shoulder and a walking staff served as her third leg.

When they said, “Greetings mother.” Heech! She cursed their father. After
that, she cursed their grandfather. Then she cursed their mother.

“You are calling_me mother? Was I the one who gave birth to your father or
your mother?” She said every bad wor4 to them. _

Abdu Karimi said, “Big brother, don’t you think this lady resembles our mother?”

[In an omitted passage, the brothers help the buffalo woman feed her chickens
before they arrive in Do ni Kiri and are given lodging. They set out on their
plan, treating the buffalo woman as they would treat their mother. After three
failed attempts at fonning a bond, she finally invites them into her home for a
conversation.]

Do Kamissa’s Revelations

Do Kamissa the Buffalo Woman said, “You have outdone me. No one can get the
better of people like you. You are polite. You were brought up well. Eh! Despit~ /()~
everything you were told, you were not discouraged. You favor me? Now I wiJL.t.YLY

~operate with you. re it not for ou, I would have wiped out Do ni Kiri.
“You know that Donsamogo Diarra, with w om am quarre ing, is my brother.

I was the firstborn of my father’s children. When I reached puberty, I said, ‘My
Lord God, I will give the largest oTihe two gold earrings that are on my ears to
whoever brings me the news that my father has had a son. My Lord God, I will
also give the beautiful outer one of the two wrappers I am wearing to the person
that brings me such good news.’ I was the first to offer a sacrifice for my brothet-
So who does he think he is, telli~g me that women shouldn’t have property? Huh!

3. Contraction of marahaba, a response to a
greeting that honors people by saluting their
ancestors with the family name or jamu (patro-
nymic, identity). From Ar. mrehba (“welcome”).

4. The mortar is a large wooden receptacle in
which women pound grain with a heavy,
wooden, dub-shaped pestle that can be as long
as five feet.

LP1f0rtvic.-: t :&.n.,a – 617-

have outdone me. I will coo erate with you and give you m life, for I know that
if you kill me, you will bury me; you will not et m o to God as a bad bod .

” fore I 1ve m elf u to ou, t ou h, I wi ree t in s for
me. ir OU a ree to do those three thin s, then I will coo erate with OU, But if
you do not a ·ree to those three thin s I wi I kee a ter OU until OU do.,,

e kamalenw said, “Ma, tell us the three things you want us to do for you.”
She said, “Here’s the first: Don’t o to tOW!} immediate! after killing the buf-

falo; come to this hamlet instead. You’ll fin me ea . Because I am the only one
who knows what I have done,5 my brother must not see my corpse. When you
arrive here, you’ll see that I have poured water on the fire. There will be a hoe;
there will also be an axe. Take the axe and mt down a toro tree. Take the hoe and
dig my grave. After you have laid me in it, fire the musket. At no point can my
Tirother, m father’s son seem bod · nor can m bod be carried to Do ni Kiri.

ave not one any good for them. I have wiped out their children, I have wiped ~
out their wives, I have widowed their husbands; this is all m doin . r

“That’s the first thing you must do. Now, you nowt at whoever kills me ‘s
will be rewarded with the choice of a wife from three sets of Do ni Kiri’s girls. ?:r’
The second thing you must do for me is refuse all of the fine young girls they ~.
bring out for you. Do not choose any of those girls as your wife, bec~~s~ thc:ar \’)
would be forcing my father’s last-borQ to remain in the house. f:ive sets· of girls
nave gone to their husbands, but she has not marrie~, and !f you do not
marry her,. she will never be married. She holds something special in her breast
for whoever marries her. You, Sharifu, must marcy her.

“She is very ugly. She’s the ‘Short Sogolon’ you’ve heard about, the one who is
· so very ugly. I dama ed one of her tear ducts and now here es wat~r all the time.
Her head is bald, she has a humped back, her feet are twisted, an w en she
walks, she limps this way and that. I, Do Kamissa, did all of that to her._

“How could I make her so ugly when I loved her so much? I put my far-seeing
mask6 on her face before she was old enough to wear it, and, in doing so, cut her
tear duct, caused her hair to fall out, and put a hump on her back. By putting
her on my sorcery horse when she was too young, I twisted her feet, stretched
her tendons, and made her knock-kneed. All of this is my fault. I take the blame,
andjf she does not get married, it will be my curse.

“So, when the men of Do ni Kiri bring those beautiful Conde women to you,
do not accept any of them. Choose my father’s last-born. Some call her ‘Hump-
backed Sogolon.’ Some call her ‘Ugly Sogolon.’ Everybody used to call her what-
ever they felt like. But the real name of that last-born child is Sogolon Wulen
Conde. There will be something special in her breast for you because she’ll have

.::-all the dalilu. 7
“If you choose her over all the beautiful daughters they offer you and are not

satisfied with the way she looks, then Cl!LQ_fJ the buffalo’s tail when you kill it.
The tail is heavy with gold and silver, because I took the gold and silver earrin~

r

5. Contrary to what the narrato~ has pr~vi- but there also could have been an indigenous
ously indicated. mask’imbued with such power.
6. A magic object allowing the wearer to see- 7. The mother’s physical deformities signal her
unimaginable distances. The concept mig9t possession of special occult powers that she
have entered oral tradition when Europeans will pass on to her child.
were observed using telescopes and binocula ,

]S.S.

22 SUNJATA: A WEST AFRICAN EPIC
. : .i-~

. o eve o ni Kiri woman I killed and hun them from the hair of m tail I have
a lot of hair on my tail, and it is heavy with the_gol and silver ear jewelry of th~Po
i:ti_ K!r_! _w~1_11~n. If yo_u excl:i~ng~ so~e ~:>£’~hat gold, yo_u can go and ma:!Y. _a, b~~1:1tiful
woman som_ewhere else,.a wife toJ1ave along with Sogolon Con_cfe … Buf .. d9,JlOt
refuse to take Sogolonl Then there will be no problems. Will you dq_ili!_s1 or not?”

Th~ Sharifo said, “We agree to that.”. -·
She said, “That is ·the second thing you mustJ9. Here’s the third thing: ~

dead b11 £fa)a’s carcass must not be taken to the town”
“Eh, Conde woman! We have agreed to your other den:i~nds, but we might not

be able to do this. What i.f we can’t convi:r:ice the people of Do ni Kiri not to take
the carcass back to town? What if they force us? We’ll be powerless to fight them
off or to take the carcass from them.”

“Oh, you_ will do your best to heed what I have said. If you can do the oth_g:
thlngs. then forget about that last request. But you must respect my other two_
wishes.” ·

“Very ~ell.” . .
As the brothers were about to· leave, she said to them, “Sit down.” Once they

were sitting, she said, “The weapons you brought won’t do anything to me. The /()
arrows and quivers you brought won~t do anything either. I am in control of my tJ(
own Hfe. .

She put her han.d in her basket of cleane9 cotton, pulled out the spind~ and
handed it to them. Then, putting her hand in her storage basket, she took out the
distaff that usually hoJd~ the thread, and ·gave it to them, saying, “Put this in your
‘bow ana shoot the buffalo _with it. It will stop t be buffalo. If y~u do not shoot the
buffalo with it-if you shoot a big arrow at the buffalo instead-then the buffalo
will kill you.” · ·

[In an omitted passage, Do Kamissa provides·the brothers with various enchanted
objects that will help them kill her buffalo ·wraith.]

Death of the Buffalo

The brothers left the town and went into the bush, past the lake of Do ni Kiri
and into the forest. They crossed another open space and entered more forest.
There, before going any further, they saw the buffalo.

(Before they came to the bush that day, the brothers’ name was Sharifu. But
afterwards they were called Diabate or Tarawele. They left their Sharifu identity
behind in Manden8 and came to be known as Tarawele and Diabate. We will
soon come to the reason for this.)

There was the buffalo. Abdu Karimi, the younger brother, said to Abdu Kas-
simu, “Big brother! You should be the one to take the magic dart and shoot the
buffalo;because the killing of this buffalo will make history. The person who

· kills this- buffalo will be mentioned in all of the future generations’ histories,
right up until thetrumpet is blown·on Judgment Day. You are my big brother, so
you kill the buffalo.” __,- -r.. /\,., ~ , “‘·-“” I 0 __ 1 / I_

I~ l(Qh\-::; q~’f’Yl~

ably originated as praise names based on the
brothers’ exploits, e.g., Danmansa Wulanba can

. be roughly translated as “Big Lord of the Soli-
ta·ry Forest Buffalo”.

~·.

SUNJATA 23

A~c!u Kassimu said, “Little brother, a job must be left to the experts. Yes, I was
the first to be.born. But rlrnow what dalilu you have-and I know you must be
the one to kill the buffalq.” He handed the magic .. dart to hi~ younger brother.

Abdu Karimi told ~is ~Ider bro~her to _g<> ~~ ahea~. g_ra~ling through ~he_ gra~s,
Abdu Karimi came ever closer to the buffalo. He remembered what the old
woman had told him: that he should not try to kill the buffalo until he was in its
shadow. She’d said, “Do not ·ss me! If ou miss the buffalo, I’ll kill you.” The
younger brother crawled unti e reached the bu a o’s sha ow. He too the dis-
taff and put it on the spindle. He pulled the string of his bow back, back, back,
he pulled it still harder, and he could feel that he had something very powerful in
his hand. When he’d pulled the bowstring back to his shoulder, he let the spindle
go, pow! It shot right into the buffalo’s chest. .

The buffalo was startled when the spindle pierced its chest. It raised its head,
saw Abdu Karimi, and bellowed, hrrr! And there, while he was still right beside
the wounded buffalo, Abdu Karimi told his elder brother, “Run!” for the buffalo
had been shot and the struggle between them had begun.

(It’s said that greatness will not be ac uired without hardshi . We’ve been tell-
_ing y_Qu a QUt e __ ar ship Manden had to endure before the country c~mld
know peace. Sunjata would not have been born without this hardship. and with-
out Sunjata, Manden would never have been sw”t. And if Manderi was never. ~
swe:et; we Mande eo le would never h·ave known ·ou 1

e o~ng, t e u a o began to chase the kamalenw:-it came up behind Abdu
Karimi, who was trying to catch up with his elder brother. Abdu Karimi dropped
the bamboo stick which instant! s routed into a rove of bamboo and before
the bu alo could get through it, the kama enw were far ahead.

Once it was clear of the bamboo, the buffalo started chasing them again. When
it came up behind them and bellowed, the brothers dropped the hot charcoal. In
those days, the Mande bush had been • there a long time and had never been
burned. So when the kamalenw dropped the hot charcoal, the bush caught on
fire, stopping the buffalo and forcing it back while they dashed ahead through the

::.

grass. -=..–
When the fire died out, the buffalo jumped into the ashes and started chasing ~

them again. But by the time it reached them and bellowed, they were already at =-
the lake of Do ni Kid. There Abdu Karimi dro ed the e which turned th -:f±
ground into deep m~. The buffalo got stuck in the mud. (This is the mud ~
referred to in the Conde song “Dala Kombo Kamba”:

‘.’Conde drin~er’.of big lake-water,·
Those who drank the big lake water,
They did not stop to clean it.
Those who clean the big lake,
Th-ey did not drink its big wafer.”

•’ ~-,,;

It was Danmansa Wulanba and Danmansa Wulanni9 who cleaned the water
of the big lake.)

By the time the mud started to dry, it was too late for the buffalo: the spindle
wounds were letting water into its intestiqes, and it fell down. When the buffalo fell,
Danmansa Wulanni said, “Big brother, look behind you! The buffalo has fallen.”

9. The elder brother is Wulunba, the you:ger WulannL ~ *. ~ f:f 11.J>..}
N~ Owi~: s~ 1-o p~J ~~t,r~i.

L:.fs (}.)ire- v:>trS ~
24 SUNJATA: A WEST AFRICAN EPIC ~~s~~ sjQ_

/’ ~J i.p~~c.,~lt
A new famil lin was created at the moment the elder brother looked back

,.and saw that the buffalo was dying. ,Going ac e pu s oot on t e u alo’s
body. He said, “Ah, little brother! You have given me a name. Ah, little brother!
You were sired by Abdu Mutulu Budulaye1 Abdu Mutulu Babatali. Aha Alibi’s own
son is Sedina Alia, to whom God gave a sword, and you were sired by Alia. Sedina
Alia’s son is Hassana Lonsani, and you were sired by him. Hassana Lonsani’s son
is Sissi; Sissi’s son is Kemo; Kemo’s son is Kcmomo Tene; Kemo Tene’s son is
Sharifu-and you were sired by Sharifu. Aah, Karimi! You have given us names.”

After hearing this praise, the younger brother said, “Eh, big brother! If you
were a praise-singer or jeli, no one could surpass you (i jemba te)!”

That was the e inning of the ·eli famiJy known as Diabate; 1 that was the ori-
gin of the lineage. “Dia ate wa.s rst sai fn Manden; in the Mande language,
when the buffalo was killed in the bush.

Once the buffalo was dead, the brothers saw that its tail was heavy with gold
and silver.

In cutting off the buffalo’s tail, the brothers were able to take for themselves
all of the gold and silver in its hair. The kamalenw were also able to use the__!~il
a.s.m-oof that they really had killed the buffalo. As soon as they showed the tail,

eople kn~w that the business was finished because the tail of Do Kamissa’s
u a o wra1t cou on y e ~ut o if the buffalo was ea . u .

the beginning.a t e custom o remo e tai so dead ame.)

[In an omitted passage, Danmansa Wulanf1a and Danmansa Wulanni try to
respect Do Kamissa’s wish that her wraith be buried in the bush, but the towns-
people insist on retrieving the buffalo carcass and dragging it into town to be
desecrated.]

Sogolon Wulen Conde of Do Ni Kiri

After the buffalo was dead, the people of Do ni Kiri started beating the ceremo-
nial drum. All of the people living in the twelve towns of Do, the four towns of
Kiri, and the six towns across the river were expected to attend, and they all
came. ·when the twenty-two towns were all present, the people said, “What did
we say? We said’.that we’ll bring out three age sets of girls for the hunter that kills
this buffalo, and that he can choose any girl from among them to be his wife.
Bring your daughters forward.” (Huh! If you bring out three age sets of daughters
from twenty-two towns, you should bring out the oldest set first

1
then the pext _J…

oldest, then the youngest set.) 0 r J.er ” ~ rttf)or\-c:.v,1′ / lii·l
The villagers brought out the beautiful Conde girls, formed them into three

circles, and told the boys to choose. The people said, “Even if you choose ten or
twen iris, the will be your wives. Or if you choose only one irI, she will be
your wife, You ave e IVere us om disaster! An everyone ere wants to have
their daughters married to you two boys.

I • The singing or chanting of praises is an
occupational specialty ofjeliw. This is a popu-
lar etymology explaining how the Dia bate jelitv
acquired their family name. When the younger
brother killed the buffalo and the elder brother

. praised his courage by reciting their family

gent’alogy, this was the way a jeli would do it.
When the younger brother said. “no one could
surpass you,” the phrase jemba te evolved
through repetition into “Diabate” which, along
with “Kouyate” is one of the two names exclu-
sive to traditional bards.

SUNJATA 25

”You Sharifu, we don’t go back on our promises. Take a look at these girls, and
take any one that pleases you.” The two men followed one another, walking
around, around, around the circle. When they had returned to where they started
they_said, ”Where are the rest of the girls?”

The Conde ancestor ~aid, ”You young men search every house, so that no one
can hide his daughter.” _ _

The villagers searched the entire town but found no other girls. Everybody·
wanted to marry their daughter J~. t~e brothers!

When the searchers returned they said, “There-is nobody left.” .
A bystander said. “What about the bad ~ld woman who was just killed? She

has her father’s last-born still in her house.”
Somebody said, “Eeh, man! Heeeye, can we show that one to the strangers?”
Danmansa Wulanni said, “Go and get that woman you’re talking about. Has

she been married to another ‘inan?”
They said, “No.”
“Has

1
she been married before?”

“No.”
The brothers said, “Well, if she is unmarried. go get her.”
The people said, “Out of five age sets of girls that have found husbands, only

she has remained unmarried.”
The brothers said, “If she is an unmarried girl, go get her.”
Ma Do Kamissa had told them that the door ofSogolon Wulen Conde’s father’s

house was the one facing the town’s meeting ground. She’d also told them,’~
Sogolon is coming from my father’s house to go into the town meeting ground, L
bttle black cat will come from behind her and pass in front of he~; ~ little bla<:k_ cat will go from in front of her and ass behind her. If you see that happening to anyone, t en you ow t at s e is the 'rl I am talk.in ab " ·

They sent or Sogo on, an as she was heing brought out of the house-just
as she reached the edge of the town meeting ground-a black cat came fro_!Jl
behind her and passed in front of her; it went from in front of her and passed
behind h .

As soon as the brothers saw Sogolon, they said, “This is the one we’ve been
talking about.”

They heard people go, “Wooo!”
They were asked, “Is this really the one you were talking about?”
To which the brothers rephed, “Yes, this is the one we have been talking

about.”
Ancestor Donsamogo Diarra said to them, “You Sharifu, is this the one you

want?”
To which they replied, “Yes, this is the one we want.”
“Are you sure this is the one you want?”
“This is the one we want.”
He said, “Th· · even more owerful than m s · er whom ou ‘lled a
~ know how much dalilu she hfili. This one as really powerful dalilu. But
if you say that you want her, I’ll give her to you. Go ahead and take her with you. If
you’re not compatible, just bring her back. I’ll return her to where you found her,
and I’ll give you another wife.

“Now, I don’t want to contradict myself, but just take another look at these
other girls. We’ll give you up to three month~: If. after three months. you’re not

26 I SUNJATA: A WEST AFRICAN E~ D .,A • I T .,.A_ _,
,6 ‘Vt ••lt:dh aJl 1-tmportvt,.. 1’11¼1’1’-, iii,/-

compatible with my sister, come hack and I wil1 give you one of these girls. I will
put my sister back where she came from.”

The brothers said, “Very well.”
She was Sogolon, the woman who was given to them, the mother of Simbon,

Simhon, whose birth was foretold and who united Manden-this is the child
,JJbaut ta be barn We can talk about Turama’an, we can talk about Kankejan, or
ofTombonon Sitafa Diawara, of Fakoli, Sumaworo, or of Tabon Wana Faran
Kamara; hut the one who· organized them all • united them ·into one place and
called it Mao

[In an omitted passage, both brothers try to consummate the• marriage but are
unsuccessful. They reach Konfara and offer Sogolon to Maghan Konfara. While
Simbon prepares for their meeting; the community shows the new bride a mixed
welcome. At the threshold of the new couple’s hmne, Sogolon and -Konfara test
each other with three magical back-and-forth attacks before Sogolon acquiesces
to her role as a traditional bride. On their wedding night, she uses sorcery to
watch the other wmnen dancing, making them wary of her.]

Sogolon was still a virgin when she came to Maghan Konfara. After three days,
her bloody virgin cloth was .taken out. The following month, she became preg-
nant with Sunjata. That is how _Sunjat~ was concei_ved.

The co-wives said, ”W~ ~on’t he able to do anything against this woman.” She
had gone to her husband almost at the end of the lunar month, and for the rest
of that month, she did not see the other moon. She had conceived.

When the women of Manden heard this, they went outside tfie town arid held”
a meeting under a baobab. tree. They said, ”Getting prew1ant. is one thjn-g, deUv-
ering is another. Make miscarria e medicine, an thin that will s qH the.belly
w..W, a tnucf-t. Everyone mu~t prepare c er own.”

Sogolon Conde also had very powerful cialilu. When her belly started to
expiind, the -~ther wives would visit her, s~wing, ”Younger sister, this is the medi-
cine we use here in Manden for pregnant women. Aah, all of the women Ii.ere
wanted a child, but we have not been able to conceive. You may be the lucky one
bearing our husband’s child-but the child belongs to all of us. Here, M’ma, 2

dilute this medicine in water and drink it.”
Heh, Sogolon, the Conde woman, diluted that medicine in water and drank it .

. S_he cl rank it _a!)d drank it, for_ S<::ven_years. And each time she drank it, her belly would shrink away, je!

After seven years of this, Sogolon Conde went outside the town.
She prayed to God. She said, “M’mari! That is enough! Enough of what those

Mande people have done to me. I come to you, God. I am only a stranger here,
and the men who brought me here cannot help.”

[In an omitted passage, the narrator describes his own family’s relationship
with characters in the narrative, and with ancestors from Arab tradition.]

2. Affectionate greeting to a woman, equivalent to the masculin_e “M’ba” [editor’s note].

SUNJATA 27

The Childhood of Ma’an-Sunjata.

God made Ma’an Sunjata into a person, made him into a human fetus and
brought him into the world. _

When the Mande women heard the news of l\1a’an ·surijata’s birth, they again
gathered together under the Mande baobab tree. They said, “It is one thing to
give birth to a son, hut another thing for him to survive.”

Then what did they do ta” him? Through sorcery ·th~y stretched the tendons of
. -his two feet. They lamed ·him and forced him to crawl on the ground for one

yearL
· Two ears!:

ree y~ars!
Four years!
Five years!
Six ears!

_ en, _m Sunjata’s seventh year, the co-wives provoked Sogolon to anger.
(Because we are walking on a straight path, we can_r1ot wande!-” from one side to
the other. We have to take the mam road, so we will know how Manden was
built.) . :· – – — – . -. —

One day, in Sunjata’s se_venth year, Maramaian Tarawel~·was picking so.me
leaves from the same ha at we’ve alread mentioned. As Maramajan
Tarawele was on her way back to the villiage, Ma Sogo on u en Conde, who
was sitting under the eaves of the house she shared with Ma’an Sunjata, asked,

.· “aig sister Maramajan Tara~el_e, won’t you give me a few of your baobab leaves?” C. f
, Maramajan Tarawele saJcJ, .. “f.:\h! Younger siste~, you __ are ~he only one of us !9
·r:have a ·sori. Why would you ask us for baobab leaves·? Y.

right there inside the h~use’. !f y~u. ~~n~ ba~hah le~ves,_ w~x. don’t you tell your
son to stand up and go get some?” ·

Ma Sogolo.n Wule!l Conde s~~d, “Ah, ~hat is JJ()_t what I meant. I thought I
sould depend on the help of my sisters. I didn’t know you were upset because
I had this child.” ro{)’t•hlr ?

The two women didn’t know Sunjata was listening to them.
Afterwards, when Ma Sogolon Conde walked by, Sunjata said, “Mother!

Mother!” She did not answer because she knew he had overheard them.
He said, “Mother, what are they saying?” St..e/L( ~ 11 R~ ~
“Forget about that talk.” 0
“Ah, how can I ignore that? Mother, I’ll walk today. They insult you by saying

you have a lame person in your house, and yet you beg them for a baobab leaf?
I’ll walk today. Go and get my father’s sunsun3 staff, and bring it to me. I’ll walk
today.”

Ma Sogolon Conde went and got the sunsun- smff and brought it trr Simbon.
When he attempted-to stand by thrusting the..sunsun staff firmly into the ground
and·holding on·to it;the sunsun staff broke~- – – –

Sunjata said to Sogolon, “Ah, -mother. They say-you have ·a ·lame-son in -the
house, hut you gave birth to a real son. Nothing happens before its tim_£,, Go and
bring my father’s iron staff.” But when she gave him the iron staff, he broke it,
too.

3. An extremely hard wood called “false ebony” or “West African ebony” [editor’s note].

28 SUNJATA: A WEST AFRICAN EPIC

He said, “Go and tell my father’s blacksmith to for e an iron staff so I can
walk.” The blac m1t Carrie one oa of iron to the bellows, forged it, and
made it into an iron staff. But when S_!!nja.ta. thrus_t that iron staff into the ground
and tried to stand, the staff bent. That iron staff, the one they say was bent by

unjata into a ow, is now in Narena.)
Sunjata broke both of his father’s staffs and an iron one that was forged for

him. Th_ erefore, when he stood, he did it on his own, first lifting one foot, then )
the other foot, then th_e other one, and so on. l -‘~–, () ~ 4

His mother said, “Simbon has walked!” ~ ‘B@’4 3 c:Jtl lJ¼,.. .. ,
The jeliw sang this song: _

5
J n ~ l”

‘” ~-· ·– -t t r;..J 1(,#AC,(._ -“Has walked, “..-.re’
Jata has walked. r qi; Jl./lt-R..
Has walked,
Jata has walked.”

Thus it was his mother’s rival with her co-wives a umiliation of her,
that caused Jata to w~k. That is wh I can’t believe it when I hear eop e sa ·ng ~
~hey do not love their mother! Heh! Jelimori 4 Your father belongs to everyone,
but your mother belongs only to you. When you meet people for the first tirne,
they don’t ask you about your father; they ask about your mother} ,

After that, God gave Sunjata feet. Sunjata went into the house, took his
father’s bow and quiver, arid left town. (Some people say he made the bent iron
staff into his bow, but don’t repeat that.) ;r i· :J

_ he reached the baobab tree, he shook it, u rooted it and ut it on his “‘:.,. U) –
..!!!?ulder. He carrie it into his mothers yar and said, “Now everyone will come ~ lt”Mi
here for baobab leaves.” e CJ t.1

So it was that when the Mande women next saw Sogolon they s&d, as they
picked the baobab leaves, “Aah, Sogolon Conde? We knew this would happen for
you. The prayers and sacrifices we made on vour behalf have been answered.” ·
(Now, when you are having a hard time, everyone abuses you. But when things
are going well for you, people say, “We knew this would happen for you.” May
God help us persevere!) 5 ff\J’ C 1′ 1, rl’\

Sogolon eventually had three more children. After So’olon Ma’an was born-
but before he could walk-his younger brother So’olonjamori was born. Then,
while So’olon Ma’an was still crawling on the ground, Manden Bori was born.
Finally after So’olon Ma’an walked, So’olon Kolonkan was born.

4. During performances,jeliw occasionally speak to people in the audience, commenting on some-
thing in the narrative.

SUNJATA 29

Mistaken Murder and the Question of Exile

As So’olon Ma’an waited for the rain to stop so he could go hunting, he sat in his
hammock with his six-stringed hunter’s harp and sang to himself. (His
younger brothers Manden Bori and So’olon Jamori were also harp players.) After
playing “Kulanjan”5 for a while, Sunjata changed tunes and played “Sori.”6

Some youths passing by So’olon Ma’an’s door heard him singing in a low,
sweet voice and stopped in his door to listen. One of these youths was an appren-
tice hunter. He said, “I will listen to Sunjata until the rain stops.”

While the youth stood at the door, Sunjata put some snuff into his mouth.
When the snuff was wet, he stopped playing the harp and went to spit out the
door, where he noticed the young man. Sunjata said, “Who’s there?”

The youth said, “Brother So’olon Ma’an, it is me.”
“Ah, what are you doing here?”
“Your brother sent a message that we should bring him some food and sup-

plies. So that’s what I’m doing. But it is raining, and a slave with wet clothes
does not enter the house of his betters. I am an apprentice hunter at the farm. I
stopped under your eaves when I heard your music. Let me keep listening to you
until the rain stops.”

(Meanwhile, the mµsket7 of conspiracy was being loaded in town.)
So’olon Ma’an said to the youth, “Come into the house.”
The young man entered the house and sat on the edge of the bed. Simbon was

playing the harp. When he played certain parts, the young man would tap his
feet, because the harp music was so sweet. But the youth was also tired, and the
warm room felt good to him. He became sleepy and started to nod. Ma’an Sun-
jata told him, “Lie on the bed.” When the young man was asleep on the bed,
Simbon stood up and covered the young man with a blanket. When the rain
stopped, Sunjata-who forgot about the young man sleeping there-stood up,
put on his crocodile-mouth hat, took his hunter’s hammock, his quiver, bow, and
fly whisk, 8 shut the front door, and went out the back. Taking a deep breath, he
.}Vent into the bush.

While Simbon was in the hnsb Dankaran Tuman came and stood under the
ea~es of the house, where he heard the young man snoring. He did not know
that Ma’an Sunjata had left the house.

Dankaran Tuman went and told’the seven young men, “Didn’t I tell you that
Sunjata sleeps anytime it rains into the evening? He’s sleeping now; go get your

fhZ~ getting their clubs, the seven young men came to Simbon’s door. But
they were afraid of him. To each other they said, “Man, don’t you know who
So’olon Ma’an is? One man can’t outdo him, two men can’t outdo him, even the

5. One of the oldest melodies in the bards’
repertory; often dedicated to hunters, Suma-
woro is praised as “Kulanjan.”
6. A lesser-known melody dedicated to hunters.
7. Maninka morifa. The first firearms did not

rarrive in West Africa until the 16th century, but the jeliw frequently speak of muskets in the time of Sunjata. Linear chronology is not a pressing issue in their views of the distant past,
L-7 fo~rdiabkr

~

but what is of interest is the imagery of a formi-
dable weapon and a hero’s power to repel any
iron projectile.
8, Ideally made from the tail of a dangerous
wild animal and possibly symbolizing the one cut
from the slain Buffalo of Do, although elephant
tails were highly prized for this essential hunters’
device carrying occult protective qualities.

jQ I SUNJATA: A WEST AFRICAN EPIC

7:
seven of us together can’t outdo him. When we go in, listen carefully for the ~
sound of his breathing, and be sure to hit him on the head. If we only hit him on /;
the back, he’ll be sure to capture us.” They went in and surrounded the young ~
man. When they located the source of his breathing, they raised their clubs and ‘/,(•
hit him on the head. They beat him until his body went cold. ~ f

When the body was cold, they left to tell Dankaran Tuman that they’d finished “‘..L
the work he had given them. Dankaran Tuman told his mother, “Ahah, Mother. 1/’J T ·
The bad thing is now off our backs. He is dead.” (No matter how ood ou think
_you are ou’ll alwa s do methin bad to our enem . C {J7

“Eh! Dankaran Tuman,” she said, “has he died?”
“Yes! The son of the Conde woman has died today!”
“Ah, my son! Now I will not be the failure in my husband’s home. Now my

heart is cool. If you have killed Ma’an Sunjata, aagba! Manden Bori and So’olon
Jamori can’t stand up to you. The only brother I was worried about has been
killed.”

They did not sleep that night.
Sansun Berete said, “Heee, just wait until Sogolon Conde knows about this.”
When day broke, Dankaran Tuman and his mother went to spy on Sogolon.
“Huh!” they whispered. “Don’t say or do anything! When he’s slept for a long

time, his mother will go and open the door on him.”_ _ . .
Sansun Berete said, “If you don’t ·say anything, no one will guess that you are

the one who kiiled him.”
As the soft morning sun rose on them, they saw Sunjata, Danama Yirindi9-

yes, ·the son of the Conde woman-walking along, carrying three dead animafs;
one was hanging over his left shoulder, one was hanging over his right shoulder,
and one was on his head.

When they saw him, Sansun Berete said, ”Dankaran Tuman! Didn’t you say
that Sunjata was dead?”

Dankaran Tuman replied, “Mother, we really killed him.”
“Then who is this co_ming? Who is coming?”
“It is s·unjata who is coming.”
When they saw that it_~t!ally was Stmjata, Dankarai:i Tuman peed in his pants._
Walking up to diem, Sunjafa said to Sansu n Ber~te, -tt'”Big mother, here is somy

~l_d game for yo~.” !hen, laying a~
1

other animal before his step-:_other, he said,
Big brother, her~ IS one f~r you. ~ .c. OJ/e 7hj t:.o-en, ?£
There was nothmg they could say. … ~ –

· Surijata carried the last animal to his mother’s place and said, “Mother,’i;ere is
your animal.”

His mother said, “Ah, my son, thank you.”
When he returned to his house and pushed the door open, there were flies all

over the stinking body-wooooo!
Sunjata shouted, “Mother, Mother! Come here! I’ll kill someone todat; Ever

since I was born, I’ve never done anything bad like this. My brother did this, and
I’ll take revenge.”

Ma Sogolon Conde came to the door.
Sunjata said, ”You see this? I went to the bush and forgot about the young man

you see lying here. My brother’s men beat him to death with their clubs. I’ll kill

9. A praise-name for Sunjata that can be translated as “superhero.”

SUNJATA 31

for this young man. I know this is Dankaran Tuman’s boy, but he died my death.
1’11 prove to them that I am not the one who died..:’

Ma Sogolon Conde knew that Konfara would be destroyed by So’olon Ma’an’s
revenge, because he would kill an one known to be one of Dankaran Tuman’s
sup r ers. \ilu fA~fl.,,,- fV’- kt, ¾ -‘~ ~

unjata dashed out ·of die house. When he reached for his iron staff,
his Iiiofher rar1~ and c·alled· Jeliffiu~ortt ,:ui\kitManyan·Dfawara.

Sogolon s~1d, “Sunjata is going to kill someone··riglifnow-if you··ac;,ij\’~top
hiiti-:” · – · · ·· · · ·· ··–· · “• ·· · ·—~·· –· -·· · – ·· ·· ···• ·-~·-··· ,. .. ——–·· –· ·· ·· • -· .. d •• •

__ . _ Jelhny_sQpi J\1~kµ. Mal13/an-Diawara-went·and-tookhold ·of Simbon;· ·
She said, “Simbon, won’t you think about your mother? Simbon! Won’t you

think of me? Won’t you leave this to God? Don’t you realize that Dankaran
Tuman has poked himself in the e e?” Sunjata tried and tried to break away, but
sfie wcauld·not et o:· T ·ewas a6Itdo··hold”li111i. . … : : … , .. _,._g_ … –~–~—=””~–~-~~::,;:;,.::..:.:::..:.:;~~:.:.:.:-

·Then Ma Sogolon Conde said, “My·son·Sunjata;’jlftiTifopiilarify is-yo~ybig-
gest problem. If they have started nmcrlecing people because of you, sbau)do’t

~’:. go awavl’
This is why the~_we!:!tlPt~ ~;.. {~ne never·sells his father’s homeland. but it

san be pawned!t\C ~ i. ‘ . . ..,

,•\

.,I

~. ;:
_, .. \,.
. “·

. 1,,/wti i l110 f,sf ··vepar1«,efo, Exile °”W :; —
1
~ ~( [In an omitted passage, Sunjata re eatedly refuses to flee from his step-brother~1lJil>[.;

but.S r ues that neit r lie nor an ran n u rsta t ~ i,;.
l

f,C

srecia .circ,llr,:i,stav.c.e$_ Q V. r.. e iu.Do.nLKiri . ..a ,= .s ‘tlS rou.g t ~;,
to·t · because.D .. · ‘ aesti •. .She-convinces·Sunjatq..that.,.eye.n.if ,..

, they go aw.ay, .. ·•· ., _ -~tually.take..oizer-the.leadership~

ancestor. (This-is the·SansamnaSagaao~you· always hear about m the hislories of
Manden. He was involved with the organization of Manden-a an4 _tJ1ose towns … ·
along the bank of the rive~ elibakoro··sarts·ando, and Bal~clugu—:~re popu-

\. :fated with his Mande dest2hdanrs.-1 ·you ‘fa a out Man en wit out talk.Ing·
~ abou~ Sarisamba Sagado, ‘you have not covered the subject of Manden.)

• ·Saying, “Sansamba Sagado,” Sogolon removed her silver wrist and ankle brace-
~ • s nd ave them to the Somono ancestor as the price for a future river cross-·

\

, ~ , ingµThis way,. e wou ta e er c i ren across e nver whenever the neede
~ to cross, at any time o t without anybody in an en knowing that

lie one so.
~ The days passed. Then, one day, at three o’clock in the morning, Sogolon woke
~ up her children and said, “The time has come for what we talked about.”
~ They left together. When they came to the riverbank, she took the path to Sans-
L amba Sagado’s house. Waking him, she said, ”This is the day we talked about.”

C He was not a man to break his promise. Taking his bamboo pole and his pad-
dle, he left to meet Sogolon and her children in the bushes by the bank of the
river. The water was rising; it nearly touched the leaves on the bushes. Sansamba

I. Maninka- or Bamana-speaking sp. ecialists in fishing, canoeing, boatr~:d the water-borne

transport or people and goods. Co f)S; ~ f fl C” ,f I~ rt> #t,
h1>tf~ ~ \(~ .a—~

•·:,1,

,;.,•

~
C –…

32 SUNJATA: A WEST AFRICAN EPIC

Sagado’s canoe was attached to a npeku tree; he untied it and brought it to them,
· saying, “Get in!”

Ma Sogolon Conde, her daughter Ma Kolonkan, Manden Bori, and So’olon
Jamori got into the canoe. But when they told Sunjata to get in, he refused.

Ma Sogolon Conde said, ‘!Ah, Sunjata! Do you want to make m_e suffer?”
He said, “Mother, if I told you that I will go with you, then I will go. You take

the canoe now; I will jom you later. ,
T e crossed the nver m the canoe, and before they could reach the other

side, they saw unjata sitting on t e an . roug t is dalilu with him.

A Visit to Soso

[In an omitted passage, So olon decides to stop in Soso to ask for the help of
Sumaworo, a powe,ful s_orcerer w o, in is 1out been er an ‘s

unting apprentice,. eanw t e, umaworo’s personal oracle informs im t at
11ie man who will eventually take Soso and Manden away front liim has not
only been born, but has grown up into a hunter and will be identifiable as the
one who violates.Smna~oro’s taboo.] f (bf fl”-‘–\.)_
They were now m Soso. · 0- ·
Sogolon Conde arrived and said, “Eh, ~oso mansa. These µre the childr~n of

your former master. Their relationship with their brother is str~in,~d, and mµl:”der
has been committed as a result. The death of one of two friends 2 ·aoes not spoil
the friendship; the one. w.ho survives continues the friendship. I’ve come to put
Ma!an Sunjata-and his-younger-siblings under your protection:·You s·hould tram
them to be hunters eo le who can kill fl’ie1r own·game. (Oh! She did not kriow

an aran Tum a sent a message a ea o em to· Soso!)3
umaworo said, “Conde woman, t at p eases me. agree to-care or them and

take them under my protection, so long as they do not inte~re with my sacred
totem::,

“God willin they will never spoil yo~r totem.”
ell, if the do not mter ere WI my ~- em, en. I agree to pro!ect thei:n,”

–~e-sp-ent· the .. day there. That evening a . ogo 011 on e at at she had
brought a small amount of cotton she wanted to spin at.night, arid ~sk~l the
childr~n !>~ Soso t<>_~ollect a pile of dried cow dung she could use to light her
Ian.tern of conver.sa~ion:• The children b~e>,ught h~r _t~~ cow dung sh’:_ 11~e,.4e.d.
Sumaworo owned all the rriusfcal instruments, and he brought all of them-
except for the bala 5-out f~r the first time th~t ·night. He bi-ought ~’u-t the kerel~~g-·
kengbeng,6 the ki>woro,’ the donso nkoni,8 the three~stringed b~lon,9 the ~oron’,1

2. Sumaworo and Sunjata’s father.
3. Offering a reward to kill Sunjata.
4. When villagers gather after dark to socialize
and play music, they do it around a lantern to
avoid burning valuable fuel needed for cooking
fires.
5. An indigenous xylophone.
6. Named from the sound it makes (i.e., ono-
matopoeic), this child’s instrument consists of
a tin can resonator (or a tiny gourd) and a stick
for a neck that supports a single string.
7. Mo.i,:e common,ly-kqpwn P,S ~’~• ~n-invert~d
open.calabash instrument with a nec~.for eac:h

of ils six strings; technically known as a penta-
tonic pluriac.
8. The hunters’ harp, a large animal-skin-
covcred calabash ,,ith a single neck and six
strings, played to praise hunters.
9. · rhe harp used to praise warriors; larger and
deeper toned than the hunters’ harp, an animal-
skin-covered calabash with a single neck sup-
porting three or four strings.
I. ·\ large, rarely seen harp of northeastern
Guinea, similar to the kora but with twelve
strings.

.. ;
, ..

·;F

. -~·

SUNJATA 33

and the kora. 2 (The kora was the last of the instruments to be brought out;
that is why they call it ko la, which means “the last one.”3 Eventually it came to
be called kora. It is played in Kita and Senegal.)

Taking out his nkoni, 4 Sumaworo sat down by the people who were talking.
Sunjata and his siblings came and sat down too. Contented, Ma Sogolon Conde
said, ‘Wait. I will sing three songs.” They said, “Very well.” When anybody sang,
Sumaworo would accompany them on the nkoni.

For Ma Sogolon Conde’s first song, she sang:

“Big ram,
The pen where the rams are kept,
The leopard must not enter,
Big ram.
The pen where the rams are kept,
The leopard must not enter.”

Sumaworo’s nkoni was in harmony with her song.
After that, what else did she sing? She sang:

“Pit water,
Don’t compare yourself with clear water flowing over
rocks,
The pure white rocks.
Pit water,
Don’t compare yourself with clear water flowing over
rocks,
The pure ‘rhite rocks.”

Again, Sumaworo’s nkoni was in harmony with her song.
The third song she sang was:

“Big vicious dog,
If you kill your vicious dog,
Somebody else’s will bite you,
Vicious dog.
If you kill your vicious dog,
Somebody else’s will bite you.”

Sumaworo’s nkoni was still in harmony with her song.
Then the gathering broke up.

[In omitted passages, Sumaworo pe,forms a ritual to identify his rival for power,
learns that it is Sunjata, and resolves to kill him. Sunjata intentionally violates a
taboo by sitting in Sumaworo’s sacred hammock, confirming that he is the rival
described by the oracle. In an episode about Sumaworo’s youthful rebelliousness
and leadership, he invents different stringed musical instruments at various
stages of his youth. The narrator describes Fakoli’s birth by his father’s second
wife, Kosiya Kante, who was also the sister of Smnaworo. During his hunting
apprenticeship, Sumaworo encounters a group of genies and their instruments.

2. With twenty-one strings, the largest of the
calabash harps.
3. Ko la=literally “later on,” another popular
etymology.

4. Bamana ngoni; a traditional lute consisting
of four to five strings attached to a single neck
on a wooden, trough-shaped body covered with
animal skin.

J4 SUNJATA: A WEST AFRICAN EPIC

Sumaworo covets the bala, but when he hears that the price would be people,
four members of his family, he refuses. Kosiya, upon hearing this, decides to sac-
rifice herself, and Fakoli is raised by his father’s first wife, who carries him to the
sacred sites of Manden to receive protective devices and become a hunter.

The scene then shifts back to Soso at the time of Sogolon’s visit with her
children, when Sununvoro is in pawer. Sununvoro interprets the meaning of the
songs sung earlier by Sogolon. Sunjata violates Sumaworo’s sacred taboo, the two
men engage in the deadly snuff-taking ritual, and Sunjata is banished from Soso.
Continuing the journey into exile, Sunjata l’iolates sacred taboos in each of the
places they stop, including Nema, where they remain.]

Sumaworo’s Tyranny over Manden

When Sogolon and her children were staying with ancestor Faran Tunkara at
Kuntunya in Nema, he sometimes sent Sunjata on journeys out between the
edges of the village and the place where the sun sets. Whenever war broke out,
the village sent for Sunjata, who would come and join the Kuntunya army, march-
ing along with them. Whenever he captured three prisoners, he kept one for
himself. Whenever he captured five prisoners, he kept two. Whenever he cap-
tured ten prisoners, he kept four as his share. (The other six captives were given
to the Kuntunya mansa.) This is how Sunjata collected his own band of men.

Sunjata stayed in Kuntunya for twenty-seven years, and before the end of the
twenty-seventh year, well, things turned very bad in Manden. Things were terri-
ble in Manden! Sumaworo, who was looking for Sunjata, had sent his warriors
to Manden. Whenever Sumaworo consulted Neneba, his oracle, it would say,
“Your successor has grown.”

Before consulting Neneba, Sumaworo first had to have three age sets of young
men pile wood beneath Neneba’s cauldron; this had to be done morning and
evening, for the oracle always said, “Fire, fire, fire, fire, fire, fire.” Then Suma-
woro would bathe in the cauldron’s medicines whenever he went to visit Neneba.
And Neneba would tell Sumaworo what to sacrifice before setting out to war.

Every morning Neneba told Sumaworo, “Sumaworo, only God knows the day.
Your successor has grown up.”

Sumaworo asked the Mande people, “Has Ma’an Sunjata returned to Manden?”
Meanwhile, he laid waste to Manden nine times. The Mande people struggled and
rebuilt their villages nine times during Sumaworo’s failed search for Sunjata.

Whenever Sumaworo killed some Mande villagers, he would tell his men to
search among the bodies for the Conde woman’s son. But his men never found
Sunjata; instead, they would return saying, “The Mande people do not know the
whereabouts of the Conde woman’s son.”

Sumaworo then summoned all of the Mancle villagers to Kukuba. He killed all
of the men who attended this meeting except for the leaders Turama’an and
Kankejan, who could disappear in broad daylight, and Fakoli, who could stand
and vanish instantly. The people who had that kind of dalilu were the only ones
he did not kill; he killed all of the other men. The people of Manden mourned
and wept. But Ma’an Sunjata and his brothers were not there.

After another month had passed, Sumaworo summoned his men to Bantamba,
saying, “I have to finish off the Mande. If I do that, I’ll find my successor. If I kill
all the human beings, my successor will be among them.”

SUNJATA 35

So he called the Mande to a meeting in Bantamba. After looking them over he
said to his men, “Kill them all.” Only those who had the power to disappear in
broad daylight escaped. Again Manden wept.

He summoned the Mande to Nyemi-Nyemi, and they wept there, too.
Every time Mande people were summoned by Sumaworo, it ended in mourn-

ing. Sumaworo was killing the people of Manden, searching among the bodies
for his successor. After every massacre, he would go to his Neneba. (The Kantes
now have that Neneba in Balandugu, the only town they established. Suma-
woro’s descendants did not establish any other towns, because he was so ruth-
less.) The Neneba would say, “Sumaworo, uh heh. You still haven’t found him
yet? You’ve killed so many, yet the one you want is not among them.”

Sumaworo asked, “What should I do?” To which the oracle replied, “Keep
searching for him. He has reached maturity.”

When the Mande people were summoned again, this time to Kambasiga,
Fakoli went to see Kani Simbon, the Kulubali ancestor.

He said, “Simbon. Manden is about to be wiped out. We must sit down
together and find a solution to this problem in Manden. Manden will be reduced
to being Soso’s peanut farm, because Sumaworo has said two things. He·has
said, ‘Manden’s reputation is better than Manden itself,’ and ‘The Mande women
are better than the Mande men.’ By this he meant that Manden has only women
because he’s killed all the men. He said these things to provoke Sunjata, who he
now knows to be his successor, into responding.” Having said that, Fakoli then
returned to Manden and said, “Let us build a council hall at the edge of town,
and let the surviving men of Manden hold meetings there. If we don’t get
together, Manden is doomed.” So the men worked hard and built a council hall.
Afterwards, they sat in front of the council hall while Fakoli addressed them.

He said, “We have finished building this council hall, which belongs to all of
us–except for the one who wants to destroy Manden. If you are a man of cour-
age, this is your council hall. If you are a man of truth, this is your council hall.
If you are a master of sorcery, this is your council hall. If you have love for Man-
den in your heart, this is your council hall.”

The Expedition to Find Sunjata and Return Him to Manden

[In an omitted passage, the assembled elders decide to summon divi.ners to learn
who will be the liberator of Manden, and where he can be found. After an extended
period of divination it is determined that Ma’an Sunjata is the one w1io was fore-
seen, and that a special delegation must be sent to find Sogolon and her children.
Volunteering for this delegation are the Muslim divi.ners Manjan Berete and Siri-
man Kanda Toure, as well as the female bard Tunku Manyan Diawara and the
female slave Jonmusoni Manyan. They plan to visit distant markets with special
sauce ingredients that can only be found in Manden, as a way of finding the people
they seek.]

Manjan Berete laid down his prayer skin 5 as soon as he’d left town, and made
two invocations to God: he asked that no one would see the travelers leave, and
that they would meet no one on the road. He said, “Siriman Kanda Toure, we

5. His Muslim prayer rug, the hide of a goat or sheep.

36 SUNJATA: A WEST AFRICAN EPIC

mustn’t be seen on the road. It doesn’t matter whether you are a man or a
woman: every one of us must use their dalilu.” When he’d finished making his
two invocations. Manjan Berete shook hands with his companions, who asked
where they would sleep that night.

“Ahhh,” said Manjan Berete, “let us try to reach Soso today. Because tomor-
row is Soso’s market day.”

As a result of his two invocations, each of his companions became invisible
when Manjan Berete shook their hands. When he gave his hand to one of his
companions and withdrew it, the person became invisible. Then Manjan Berete
circled his prayer skin and became invisible himself.

They traveled on to the outskirts of Soso, where they spent the night. At day-
break Manjan Berete said, “Take the things to the market.” They set their goods
out in the Soso market, but nobody wanted them. They went on to the market of
Tabon; but no one wanted what they had. They went to the market of Kirina; no
one was interested.

On Thursday they took the road to Kuntuny.a and slept outside that town to be
ready for the market on Friday.

Meanwhile, at a house in that same town, Ma Sogolon Conde was saying to
her daughter, “Ma Kolonkan, aaaoy! My stomach is hurting me because it’s been
twenty-seven years since I last had dado6 in Manden. Tomorrow morning, do not
wash the dishes, do not scrub the pots; instead, be the first one into the market,
my child, and get me some dado to eat.” (When a dado eater goes for a long time
without having any, their stomach hurts; this is why Ma Sogolon Conde was
complaining all night to Ma Kolonkan. It was a good thing that the Mande
people spending the night outside of town had brought dado!)

As soon as the sun started to show its face the next morning, Manjan Berete
said, “Take the things into the market.” The two women went and sat outside the
covered part of the market. They had the dado there, along with some namugu
and some nere seedsi they had on display.

Ma So’olon Wulen Conde said to Ma Kolonkan, ”Go early to the market so
you can get the dado I want.” As soon as she’d arrived at the market, Kolonkan
saw two women standing there with dado. She clapped her hands, saying,
“From the time we came from Manden, my mother has not said anything
about dado, nothing at all. It was only yesterday that she suddenly spoke of
dado-and here it is! Heh! My mother has dalilu.” She did not even stop to
greet the dado seller; she immediately reached for the dado and put some in
her mouth.

Jelimusoni Tunku Manyan Diawara said, “Eh! You, girl, are impolite! Don’t
touch our merchandise without greeting us or asking us first.”

“Eeeh, I was so surprised! My mother told me to come to the market today to
see if I could find dado. She said she’s gone for so long without eating the old
things of.Manden that her stomach hurts. We haven’t seen dado since we arrived
here; we haven’t even seen anyone who sells it. I just wanted to taste it because
it is something we always used to have.”

6. Dried hibiscus blossoms and/or leaves, used
as a condiment in sauces.
7. Namugu is powdered leaves of the baobab
tree, used as an ingredient in sauces. Nere:

Parkia biglobosa; the seeds are pounded into a
paste that is fermented and rolled into balls to
make a pungent condiment called sumbala.

SUNJATA 37

Tunku Manyan Diawara asked, “Who are you? Where do you come from?”
“Ah, mother, we come from Manden.”
“Who is with you here?”
“I am here with my mother Sogolon Wulen Conde, my elder brother Ma’an

Sunjata, and my elder brother So’olon Jamori.”
“Aaah! You are the people we have come for! Our road has been good. Let us

go to your house.”

[In omitted passages Kolonkan conducts the Mande delegation to her house for
a joyful reunion with Sogolon. Manjan Berete announces that they have been
sent to ask Sogolon to return to Manden because her children are needed there.
Sogolon explains that her sons are hunting in the bush and concerns herself
with providing the customary hospitality to the guests.

Kolonkan goes out of town to find meat for the guests from Manden and discov-
ers animals killed by her brothers. Her brotlier Manden Bori is enraged that slie
has removed the animals’ internal organs, and they fight. Kolonkan’s curse on his
descendants-they will not be able to decide on a ruler until the final trumpet is
blown-still affects them in today’s Hamana region of Guinea. Tassey Conde
mentions a childhood experience with his famous father, Babu Conde, toward the
end of the colonial era and describes how he, Tassey, became the spokesman for
the bards of Fadmna. Reverting to his story, Tassey describes Sogolon’s great hap-
piness at the prospect of her sons’ returning to Manden. The next episode describes
a momentous family meeting of Sogolon and her children, in which the rarely
mentioned brother Jamori plays a conspicuous part.]

Sogolon Bestows the Legacy of Maghan Konfara

Sogolon said to her children, “Let us go outside the town. I want to give you my
final words.” They left the Mande delegation behind and went out of town.
When they arrived there, Ma So’olon Conde said to Manden Bori, “Break off
that termite mound.”8

When Manden Bori broke off the termite mound, Sogolon said, “Pick some
leaves.” He picked some leaves.

She said, “Lay them on the termite mound.”
When they were laid on it, she said, “Ma’an Sunjata, you sit on that.”9

Then she said, “Go and break off another termite mound.” So Manden Bari
went and broke another one and put leaves 1 on it.

She said, “So’olon Jamori, you sit on that. Now go and break off another one
for you to sit on.” Manden Bari broke off another termite mound and brought it
over.

The three men sat, but Ma So’olon Conde stood up. Ma Kolonkan stood
behind her. Women would usually be seated during a hunter’s ceremony,2 but
here they did not sit down.

8. As the youngest of three sons, Manden Bori
is ordered to perform the menial tasks.
9. Of the manv kinds of termite mounds (some
well o\’er six fe~t tall), the type referred to here
is approximately one to two feet high, shaped
like a hard clay mushroom, and the larger
ones could be used as stools.

I. For a soft and clean seat.
2. If present at a hunters’ meeting, women
would be seated in the background. In this
and the following line, the bard explains that
mother and daughter remain standing because
Sogolon is in charge of this solemn occasion.

38 SUNJATA: A WEST AFRICAN EPIC

While they were standing, Ma So’olon Wulen Conde said, “Manden Bori!
What I say to you is also for So’olon Jamori and for Ma’an Sunjata3 to hear. The
people of Manden have come for you; they ,ire calling you to war.

“When your father died, Dankaran Tuman wanted your father’s gold and sil-
ver; he also wanted your father’s dalilu but did not know where to find it. That’s
why he has plotted against you all this time: he thought that when he killed you,
he could take your father’s legacy, his dalilu.

“But my sons, you do not have your father’s dalilu; Dankaran Tuman does
not have it either. I have your father’s dalilu here. If you are seeing that a
man’s dalilu went to his last wife, 4 it is because my husband trusted me.
When my husband was dying, he gave his ,lalilu to me so that I could keep
it safe and give it to you when you reached maturity. I have brought you here
now to give you your father’s dalilu, because the Mande people have come
to take you to war. But what worries me is that there are three things in your
father’s dalilu, and they cannot he separated. They can only go to one per-
son. Ah! There are three things, but your father had three sons. These three
things would not be of any benefit to you if we were to divide them up
amongst you.

“The Mande messengers have come for your brother Ma’an Sunjata. You must
allow him to be given the three things, because the three things-the sorcery
horse, the sorcery bow, and the sorcery mask–all work together: when you sit on
the sorcery horse, you must also wear the sorcery mask and take up the sorcery
bow. Then you are ready for combat against all comers.

“If you mount the sorcery horse without carrying the sorcery how, or without
wearing the sorcery mask, then somebody will strike you down while the horse is
galloping. If you put on the sorcery mask without carrying the sorcery bow and
you are not on the horse, you will not be able to kill the enemies you see. If you
take up the sorcery bow without wearing the mask and without being on the
horse, what good is that? The three things must go to one person: please, allow
me to give them to Ma’an Sunjata.”

So’olon Jamori said, “Manden Bori, tell our mother that I do not agree to what
she is saying. Ah! She herself says there are three things. There are three of us.
They are easily divided.

“Have you not heard the Mande saying that if you cannot take your father’s
legacy on your head, you must at least drag part of it behind you? If I cannot
carry it, I will drag it behind me. Let her bring the three things out and divide
them between the three of us.”

Ma So’olon Conde said, “Eh, So’olonjamori my son! Eh, So’olonjamori! I was
afraid you’d cause trouble; that is why I wanted to bring you out of the town. Did
you not hear me say that there are three things, but they can only solve one prob-
lem? Will you not be agreeable?”

3. On occasions where oral communication
must be precise, it is customary for an impor-
tant speaker’s words to be repeated several
times by various people in the presence of the
person addressed. When a jeli is available the
speaker addresses the bard, who repeats and

validates what was just heard. At Sogolon’s secret
meeting, the youngest son serves to repeat and
reallirm her words.
4. The legacy would normally go to the first
(senior) wife.

SUNJATA 39

Manden Bori said, “Big brother So’olon Jamori, 5 will you not have pity on our
mother, who is so worried about this? Let us agree to give the dalilu to brother
So’olon Maghan.”

Ahl Jamori said if Manden Bori did not shut his mouth, he would slap his ears.
Manden Bori said, “You can’t slap my ears. Why should you slap my ears for

this? Don’t you know our brother can battle Soso with or without our father’s
legacy?

“And who used up our mother’s legacy? You and I did; our brother did not take
part in that. Our mother took her gold earring and silver bracelet and gave them
to Sansamba Sagado, the Somono ancestor, as a future day’s river-crossing fee.
And how many of us got into the canoe that day, when we left Manden by cross-
ing the river? The canoe our mother paid for with her legacy? Our mother went in
the canoe, our little sister got into the canoe, you got into the canoe, and I got into
the canoe. Did our brother get in? Hah! Didn’t our brother say he was not getting
in? Didn’t my mother weep? Didn’t he say that we should go ahead and he
would follow? And by the time we got to the other side of the river, didn’t we
see our brother already sitting there?

“The dalilu with which our brother crossed the river was our father’s legacy,
and Sunjata can battle Sumaworo with that. But you say you will slap my ears?
Why didn’t you slap my ears on the riverbank?”

Ma’an Sunjata said, “Manden Bori, be quiet. Tell my mother that we will not
quarrel. If you see somebody taking your friend’s share of the sauce, your own
sauce cannot satisfy you. Does she think I will quarrel with this foolish person?
I will never quarrel with So’olon Jamori over our father’s legacy. Even if he were
to ask me to give it all to him, I would do it. Tell my mother to bring out the
legacy.

“But mother, we will never forget the two things you have done for us. First,
we were legitimately born, and it is because of our legitimacy that the Mande
people came to find us. Second, my father married fifty women-fifty wives!-
and two other women, none of whom gave birth to a child. Sansun Berete was
one of the other two women: she gave birth to Dankaran Tuman and Nana
Triban.

“But you! You were the fifty-second wife. Eh! Out of all his wives, why did my
father give his legacy to you? Because of your devotion, and it was for us you
were so devoted. I trust in God. Even if you do not give me the legacy, I will van-
quish Sumaworo because of your devotion. Bring out the legacy.”

Ma So’olon Wulen Conde said, “I am pleased with that, now excuse me.” She
pushed her hand into her abdomen. When she did that, ho! The dalilu fell out.
When the three dalilu were piled together, Ma’an Sunjata laughed.

He started to say, “So’olon Jamori,” but suddenly his mother began to shake.
So’olon Ma’an held his mother until her dizziness passed. When the dizziness
left her eyes, Sunjata said, “Manden Bori, tell our mother that she should tell
So’olon Jamori he should choose one of the things. Aheh! My little brother and I
will not quarrel over my father’s legacy.”

5. In many variants of the epic, Sogolon’s son Jamori is not mentioned at all, and the claim here
that Manden Bori was the youngest of the three brothers is an especially rare detail.

40 SUNJATA: A WEST AFRICAN EPIC

So’olon Jamori said that he chose the sorcerer’s mask. They asked, “Is that your
choice?” And he replied, “Uhuh, that is mine.” They said, “Very well, take it.”

Sunjata said, “Manden Bori, choose one.”
Manden Bori said, “I will not take a share in this legacy. I am holding your

shirt-tail, and so long as I hold your shirt-tail, nothing will happen to me in the
war with Soso. When you die, Sunjata, your legacy will come to me anyway. It
was my father’s legacy, but you are my father now, and so it belongs to you. Take
both my share and your share.”

Ma’an Sunjata said, “Is that your word?”
“Uhuh. It is your name, not mine or So’olon Jamori’s, that will become

attached to the bow and mansaya6 we are quarreling over.” (That is why, when
people go outside town for a private meeting, they say, “Let us speak with the
truth of Manden Bori.”)

Manden Bori, the youngest of the brothers. had his oldest brother’s blessing.
Ma So’olon Wulen Conde spoke. She said, ‘·Manden Bori, is that your word?
Come here.”

Taking Manden Bori behind a bush, Sogolon said, “Manden Bori, you’ve hon-
ored me, and so now God will honor you. Nobody will ever dishonor you. If
you’d acted the way So’olon Jamori acted, then all of the Mande people would
know that your father’s dalilu had been divided-and if your rival knows your
secret, he will vanquish you. You preferred to keep all of this secret so I would
not be shamed.

“Come and let me give you my legacy. My legacy is something that did not
come from here, in Nema, or Manden. It came from Do ni Kiri, the home of my
brothers. I will give this ring to you. So long as you live, it will protect you from
genies or enemies that might threaten you; it will also keep you safe in the bush.
If you find yourself in trouble, look at this ring and say, ‘Ah, mother!’ If you do
that, God will protect you. If you look at it and say, ‘Ah, genie!’ God will save you
from genies. If you look at it and say, ‘Genie and man!’ God will spare you from
both.” (That was the first of the brass rings hunters now wear on their fingers.
Some people call such a ring “genie and man.”) Sogolon said, ”This is your keep-
sake.” Then they all returned to town.

[In the next scene, Sogolon suddenly dies and Simjata tells Manden Bori to
request a plot of land for lier burial.]

The Burial of Sogolon and Departure from Nema

On the path to town, Manden Bori met with Faran Tunkara, the mansa of
Nema. He said, “Mansa, my brother says that I should come and tell you that
my mother is dead. He’d like you to agree to give him some land he can use for
her burial.”

Now, Faran Tunkara had been unhappy to see the messengers from Manden
arrive in Nema. From the time Sunjata arrived in Nema, he’d helped the Kuntu-
nya people win every single battle they’d faced, and he returned with slaves
from every campaign. But Faran Tunkara could not keep Sunjata in Nema,
because Sogolon and her family had arrived there by choice. He decided to start
a quarrel so he could detain Sunjata.

6. The bow and c1uiver were symbolic of Mande kingship (maustrya).

SUNJATA 41

So Nema Faran Tunkara said, “Manden Bori, go and tell your brother that I,
Nema Faran Tunkara, say that I own all the land here. Unless you brought a
piece of land with you from Manden to bury your corpse in, you should load her
body on your head and carry it back to Manden the same way you brought her.
Tell him that if you bury her in my land, I will blast her out of the ground with
gunpowder. Go and tell your brother that.”

Manden Bori returned on the path and relayed Nema Faran Tunkara’s mes-
sage to Sunjata. When he heard what Manden Bori reported, Manjan Berete
said, “What kind of man is Nema Faran Tunkara? Simbon, let me go and give
him a real ‘message.'”

“Eee,” said Sunjata, “just leave it alone. Don’t worry, he’ll provide the land. I’ve
spent twenty-seven years here; I’m in his army. And he says I should carry my
mother’s body back to Manden? He’ll soon provide the land.”

To Manden Bori, Sunjata said, “Go back and tell Nema Faran Tunkara that I,
the son of the Conde woman, say he should give me some land in which I can
bury my mother. Tell him it is I who say so.”

When Tunkara was told this, he said to Manden Bori, “I do not want ever to
see you here again. From the minute you first arrived here, I knew that you’re a
hotheaded man. Go and tell your brother that I don’t go hack on what I’ve said
twice. Tell him I have no land for him here.”

Manden Bori went and told this to Ma’an Sunjata. Manjan Berete and Siri-
man Kanda Toure became angry. They were all brave men; they all had dalilu,
and they all knew how to fight. But when they started to leave the house to find
Nema Faran Tunkara, Ma’an Sunjata said, “Be patient and take your seats. He
will soon provide the land.”

Sunjata took the path that passed behind the house. Along the way, he picked
up a fragment of old clay pot, a piece of old calabash, the feather of a guinea
fowl, and a partridge feather. To these things he added a stick of bamboo. He
gave all of these things to Manden Bori, and said, “Te11 Tunkara that I say he
should give me land to bury my mother in. If he’s asking a price for his land, well,
tell him I’ll pay his fees with these things. Tell him he must agree to let me lay
my mother in the ground.”

As he gave Faran Tunkara these things from Sunjata, Manden Bori said, “My
brother says this is payment for your land, and that you should agree to let him
bury his mother.”

Faran Tunkara said, “Is this what you pay for land in your country? Huh, Man-
den Bori? I do not ever want to see you here again. Take these things and go
away.”

But Tunkara’s jeli man, who was sitting there beside him, said, “He should
not take those things away from here. Heh! Sunjata has sent you an important
message.

“M’ba, when these people came to Nema, didn’t I say you should kill Sunjata?
And didn’t you reply that Sunjata had come to place himself in your care, and
that therefore you must not do anything to him? Ahuh! Well, now he has said
something to you; there’s a message in these things he sent. Since you do not
understand the message, I will tell you what these things mean.”

To which Faran Tunkara replied, “All right, tell me what they mean.”
The jeli said, “This piece of bamboo means that you should give him land so he

can bury his mother in it. If you do not give him land, the Mande people will

42 SUNJATA: A WEST AFRICAN EPIC

come and take it for themselves. If he should be named king after he finishes
fighting that war for Manden, he will bring the Mande army here to Nema, and
he will break Nema like this old clay pot or this old calabash. Then the guinea
fowls and the partridges will take their dust baths in the ruins of Nema. See?
These are the feathers of those guinea fowls and partridges. Nothing will
grow in the ruins of Nema but weeds; that’s what this piece of bamboo stick
means.”

Now, Mansa Tunkara was a good debater, and he always won arguments. So
he said, “I am right.”

The jeli said, “How can you be right about this?”
“I am right,” said Faran Tunkara, “because these people have been here for

twenty-seven years. During the time those three brothers served in my army, I
lost no battles. They never cheated me, were never disobedient to me; I never
had to discipline them for chasing women. Now their mother has died. Are they
going to do the right thing and say the corpse is mine, or are they just going to
demand that I give them land?”

Everyone agreed that the three brothers should have observed the custom of
saying, “This is your corpse.”

Faran Tunkara said, “Ah! This is why I refused. Eh! If they were raised cor-
rectly as children, they should have said that God has made this my opportu-
nity, and that this is my corpse. But did they show me the proper respect? Should
they be looking for land to lay their mother in?”

Everybody said, “You are right!” Even Manjan Berete himself came and said,
“You are right.”

“Very well,” said Faran Tunkara. “If I am right, give her to me and I will con-
duct the funeral.”

Even though she was a woman, the people of Nema gave Sogolon a man’s
funeral. They killed cows, fired their guns, and beat the special drum. (This tra-
dition started with Ma So’olon Wulen Conde’s funeral.) Then they took her
body to the town of Kuntunya, and on Thursday they buried her.

When they were finished with the burial, Simbon asked for Faran Tunkara’s
permission to leave Nema. Because all debts had now been settled between the
two men, Sunjata was able to say, “I will leave tomorrow.”

Faran Tunkara said, “Go with my blessing. l give you the road.” But once Sun-
jata and his brothers had returned to their house, Faran Tuhkara summoned
his warriors, telling them, “I cannot allow Sunjata to leave with his men, because
those men are rightfully mine; Sunjata had no men of his own until he arrived
here. Prepare yourselves and go on ahead to cut them off. Go ahead as far as the
second village and wait for them there; attack them when they arrive, and try to
capture them. If you bring them back, they will never leave Nema again .. ,

Faran Tunkara’s warriors left, passing the first village and preparing their
attack at the second. And when Sunjata and his companions arrived at the sec-
ond village, they were attacked. So’olon Jamori did not survive the attack! He
died there; he did not live to reach Manden. So the three parts of his father’s
legacy were combined and given to Simbon. (That is why we say that if a kama-
len of the Mansare lineage becomes selfish, do not bother to curse him. He
won’t live long.)

Sunjata and his men escaped that ambush, and Sunjata added the captives
they took from among Faran Tunkara’s warriors to his own troops.

SUNJATA 43

[11ie narrator explains that despite the ambush that ldlled So’olon Jamori, Faran
Timkara sent troops to support Manden’s campaign against Soso, and Sunjata
never attacked Nema. Claiming that he wants to ootify Sumaworo of his return
so lie will not be accused of sneaking back into Manden, Sunjata stops in Soso.
Smnaworo issues a series of warnings to Sunjata that he must not attack Soso.
They engage in a traditional boasting contest, concluding with Sunjata’s vow to
return and Sumaworo’s reply that he will be waiting.]

The Return of Sunjata

Sunjata took the road toward home. When they arrived at the edge of town, the
townspeople could hear nege music 7 played by Jelimusoni Tunku Manyan
Diawara.

She sang to Manden:

“The danama yirindi8 that we have been looking for,
He is at the edge of town.
Come, let us go.
For the sake of the Conde woman’s son,
Come, let us go.
The person that Manden was busy searching for,
Known as So’olon Ma’an,
Come, let us go.”

Sansamba Sagado crossed the river with his canoe that day. He put the canoe
into the river without a pole or paddle, and as soon as he untied the canoe, it
headed straight for Sunjata and his men-prrrr, just as if it had a motor.

Sunjata loaded his men into the canoe and said, “You will now see the power
of my dalilu.” He struck the water, the canoe went prrrr, and they landed on the
riverbank in Manden, where Simbon stepped out. His fathers, brothers, and all
the men of Manden were there to greet and embrace him. (The shade tree under
which the people of Manden welcomed Sunjata home is still living today.) When
he arrived, Manden was jubilant, Manden celebrated. They named that place
Nyani, the town of happiness, the town of rejoicing, ko anye nyani so. 9

As the people of Manden welcomed Sunjata and his men, they said, “Manjan
Berete, you are welcome; Siriman Kanda Toure, you are welcome; Tunku Man-
yan Diawara, you are welcome; Jonmusoni Manyan, you are welcome. You
have brought a gift for Manden: you have found Simbon! We knew that someday
the son of Farako Manko Farakonken and the Conde woman would return. But
Manden suffered while he was away; we have suffered so much at Sumaworo’s
hands. Let Sunjata see for himself how many of those he knew here have been
killed by Sumaworo. The only people left here are those with dalilu, and Suma-
woro has even caused those who have dalilu to suffer.

“When we knew Sunjata was returning, we carried out divinations and swore
oaths and saw that only he could receive ancestor Mamadi Kani’s legacy. And
now that he has come, heh! We all-the Kulubali, the Konate, and the Douno-

7. Nege = iron; also a synonym for the nkarin-
yan, a rhythm instrument consisting of a notched
iron tube seven to eight inches long, held in one
hand and scraped with a thin metal rod.

8. Roughly translated as “superhero.”
9. This and the following line comprise a
popular etymology.

44 SUNJATA: A WEST AFRICAN EPIC

say that he should accept the legacy and help Manden. Simbon, you have been
called to take the legacy.” (This saying-“Take your legacy,” or ko ila ke ta-
came to be spoken as “Keita.”)

[In the following brief departure from his narrative, the bard (who is traditionally
expected to instruct as well as entertain) reiterates his view of human origins and
explains who really built Paris. In the omitted passage, the bard explains the
power of the Conde people, their descent frmn Isiaaka, and t1ie equality of all
hunums as children. of God.]

Fakoli Reveals His Power

While the Mande men were in a meeting, a message from Sumaworo arrived. He
said that he’d been waiting a long time for a message from the Mande. He said it
had been a long time since their mansa arrived, and that he’d not seen any
Mande messengers. Finally, Sumaworo said that since So’olon Ma’an had now
returned home, he wanted to see all of the l\lande people at Dakajalan on the
fourteenth of the new month. The battle had now been set.

As soon as he heard Sumaworo’s message, So’olon Ma’an replied by having his
people beat the signal drum, calling everyone to the council hall. On his way to
the council hall, Fakoli was thinking, “We are going to march against Soso!” But
his mother and Sumaworo had suckled at the same breast, and he wondered if it
was right for him to join the Mande people in attacking Sumaworo. He decided,
“As soon as I get to the council hall, I will ask the Mande people to let me go to
Soso. Let Manden come and fight both me and my uncle.”

But before Fakoli had the chance to say this to the men gathered in the coun-
cil hall, Manden Bori laughed at him. Manden Bori always ridiculed Fakoli
whenever he entered the council hall. When he heard Manden Bori laughing at
him, Fakoli became angry and said, “Turama’an, let me give you a message for
Simbon. Tell Simbon to ask his younger brother why he always laughs at me. Of
all the people that enter the council hall, it’s me that Manden Bori laughs at.
Why does he laugh at me? What have I done to him?”

When Ma’an Sunjata was given this message, he said, “Manden Bori, stop
laughing at Fakoli. Didn’t you hear him saying that you are shaming him? Why
do you laugh at him?”

Manden Bori replied, “Big brother, the tall men always duck their heads as
they enter the council hall. Though Fakoli is only one and a half arm-spans tall,
he also ducks his head when he comes in. That is what makes me laugh. Aaah,
that Fakoli, heh, heh.”

Fakoli said, “Turama’an, tell Simbon that he should tell his younger brother
that short Mande people can do things that tall Mande people cannot do. And
he’d better believe it.”

Manden Bori said, “I won’t believe that until I see it. Really, do you believe
that? I don’t.”

Fakoli picked up his goatskin rug and, placing it in the center of the council hall,
sat down on it. He waved his hand and grunted. He raised the roof from the house!
The sun shone in on everybody. He said, “Well, Manden Bori, what about that?”

Manden Bori said, “You spoke the truth.”
(They were fair about crediting one another with the truth, for there was

respect among those with dalilu.)

SUNIATA I 45

The people asked Fakoli to put the roof back where it belonged. They said,
“No tall Mande man has ever done such a thing.”

Then Fakoli placed his hand in the middle of the council hall floor. He
crouched there and wrinkled his face. Wrinkled his face and wrinkled his face!
He squeezed everyone against the wall. That was the origin of the song “Nyari
Gbasa,” which goes:

“Fakoli, our arms will break,
F akoli, our heads will burst,
Fakoli, our stomachs will rupture.”

(That song belongs to the Koroma family.)
The people said, “Fakoli, stop! No tall Mande man has done such a thing:’

Fakoli Explains His Dilemma and Takes His Leave from Manden

After performing these feats, Fakoli spoke to the assembled elders. He said,
“Turama’an, Simbon, and everyone in the council hall: Sumaworo has sent a
message that we should meet at Dakajalan. But my mother and Sumaworo were
the children of the three Toure women, and it would be shameful for me to par-
ticipate in Manden’s attack on my uncle. I ask that you give me leave to go to
Soso. I should be at my uncle’s side when you come to attack him.”

Ma’an Sunjata heard what Fakoli said, even though Manden Bori refused to
repeat it to him. To Manden Bori, Sunjata said, “Haven’t I told you? Fakoli is
right. You and I have uncles whose home is Do ni Kiri. What if we knew that Do
ni Kiri would be attacked? Would we stay here and do nothing?”

Manden Bori said, “Would anyone dare to attack Do ni Kiri?”
“That’s not the point. If Fakoli says he is going to help his mother’s kinsman,

leave him alone and let him go.” Then, turning to Fakoli, Sunjata said, “Fakoli,
you have done well by Manden. You helped us during Sumaworo’s nine inva-
sions of Manden, and our nine efforts to rebuild our homeland. So if you should
say that you are going to help your uncle, very well; we won’t stop you. But
remember that if we meet on the battlefield there will be no brotherhood, no
friendship between us. Don’t think us ungrateful. But there’s no gratitude when
the guns start firing. That is all I have to say.”

Fakoli said, “Bisimillahi,” 1 and returned to his house for the night.
The next morning Fakoli bathed in the water of his seven medicine pots. Tak-

ing his battle-axe on his shoulder, he brought out his horse and mounted it.
His groom, Nyana Jukuduma,2 was with him. He lifted up his wife, Keleya
Konkon, and sat her behind him on his horse; then he took the ends of his scarf
and tied them together, saying, “Because I know the kind of man my uncle is, he
might wait for me on the road.”3

While he was preparing to leave, another message from Sumaworo arrived.
Sumaworo said that he’d been informed of Fakoli’s plan to help him fight against
Manden, and that Fakoli must not go to Soso. Sumaworo said he’d learned that if
the Mande were successful in defeating him, they planned to replace Sumaworo

I. Literally, “in the name of Allah” (Arabic), a 2. A slave that cared for his horse.
traditional Muslim invocation spoken at the 3, To ambush him.
outset of an undertaking [editor’s note].

46 SUNJATA: A WEST AFRICA~ EPIC

with Fakoli as ruler of Soso. When the people of Soso heard this, they promised
to cut off Fakoli’s head, just as the Mande people already wanted to. Thus, one
way or another, said Sumaworo, Fakoli’s “feet would be bringing his head” if he
dared to come to Soso. Fakoli laughed, “I’m not going to die for anyone-not
Sunjata, and not Sumaworo.” (Even today, that expression is often quoted.)

Fakoli said, “Go and tell my uncle that I’ll soon be there. If I were really plan-
ning to get myself killed, then I’d let him carry out his threats against me. But
since I don’t intend to die, I’ll go to Soso today. Tell him to get ready.”

[In an omitted passage, Summvoro deploys soldiers to intercept Fakoli and kill
him, but Fakoli makes himself and his companions invisible and arrives unscathed
at the gates of Soso.]

Fakoli Finds Trouble in Soso

When Sumaworo learned that Fakoli was accompanied only by his wife and his
slave, he told Bala Fasali,4 “Take the bala and welcome my nephew.”

Bala Fasali took up the bala and sang the song we now call “Janjon”: 5

“Eh, Fakoli!
You became a son.
If death is inevitable,
A formidable child should be born.
The Mande people said
That if you came, they would wait for you on the road.
The people of Soso said
That if you came, your feet would bring your head.
Knowing that, you still had no fear.
If death is inevitable,
A formidable child should be born.”

Sumaworo welcomed Fakoli by standing and raising his elephant tail in salute.
Fakoli sat down and explained why he had come to Soso. He said, “Bala Fasali,
you take part in this. 6 Let Sumaworo hear what I have to say. I have come
because Sumaworo has done many things, and though I was; invisible as I trav-
eled, I come in good faith.

“The three Toure women gave birth to my mother and to Sumaworo. I have
been thinking about my mother ever since war was declared between Soso and
Manden. Had my mother been a man, she would have fought in this war along-
side Sumaworo, her brother. That is why I decided to come: to fight in place of
my mother. I have come to Sumaworo through the will of God; let us unite and
fight the coming war together.”

Sumaworo replied, “Bala Fasali, I’ll tell you what to say to Fakoli. Tell him that
I appreciate his words, and that I am pleased he has come.”

4. An unusual pronunciation of this famous
bard’s name, which is usually given as Bala
Fasake, or a variant thereof.
5. One of the oldest and most famous songs of
Manden, said to have been originally composed
for Fakoli, but in later times played to honor

any distinguished personage.
6. Custom dictated that the dignitary, in this
ca~e Fakoli, would speak to the jeli, who would
dwn add weight to the message by repeating it
to 1.he person addressed.

SUNJATA 47

After this meeting, Fakoli was taken to meet Sumaworo’s wives. Sumaworo
had three hundred and thirty-three wives. Fakoli had only one wife, Keleya
Konkon.

To his three hundred and thirty-three wives, Sumaworo said: “Fakoli has
arrived just as I am going to war. The oracle Neneba says that in order to win this
war I must offer three hundred and thirty-three different dishes as sacrifice. I
want these dishes to be prepared the day after tomorrow, on Friday. I mention
this because Fakoli should know about this sacrifice if we are to be allies.”

Fakoli said, “Fine. Since I have come to take the place of my mother, my wife
will cook the one bowl of food my mother would have provided.”

When the Soso women heard Fakoli say that, they said, “Paki! We’ll show that
Mande woman how much better a Soso woman’s cooking is.” This was insulting
to Keleya Konkon, who said, “I’m going to build my fire near theirs. Fakoli, go
and find a cooking pot for me. Those Soso women want to brag? They’ll soon
learn that Mande women can also cook. They will realize that Manden has kitch-
ens, too.” Fakoli left to find a cooking pot for Keleya Konkon.

Among the three hundred and thirty-three dishes prepared by Sumaworo’s
wives were beans, rice, fonio, cereal paste, millet wafers, wheat meal, cassava,
and porridge: all of these different foods were included in the sacrifice.

Fakoli’s wife said to him, “Bring me rice, pounded cassava, and fonio for my
pot. God willing, I’m going to cook a meal that the jelilu will sing about for years
to come.”

Keleya Konkon put her one pot on the fire. Whenever she saw the Soso
women who were cooking rice put some into their pots, she would put rice in
her one pot, then sit down. Whenever she saw the Soso women who were cook-
ing fonio put some into their pots, she would add some fonio in her one pot
then sit down.

When the women who were cooking monie7 were rolling their monie balls,
Keleya Konkon also rolled monie balls. When the women put the monie balls into
their pots, Keleya Konkon would put monie balls into her pot too, then take her
seat. When the women who were baking takura8 were putting their takura balls
into their pots, Keleya Konkon also put takura balls into her pot, then sat down.

So Keleya Konkon put into her one pot all of the same things the Soso women
put into their three hundred and thirty-three pots. Then, when the women
started dishing out rice, she took her rice bowl and dished out the rice from her
pot. When the women started dishing out the fonio, she took her fonio bowl and
dished out her fonio from the same pot.

Sumaworo’s wives produced three hundred and thirty-three dishes-but Fako-
li’s wife also produced three hundred and thirty-three dishes, and all from her
one pot! The wives couldn’t get the best of her.

Some scandalmongers went to Sumaworo and told him what had happened,
adding, “Didn’t we tell you that Fakoli came to take your place? You have three
hundred and thirty-three wives, who have cooked you three hundred and thirty-
three dishes. Your nephew has only one wife, but she has also prepared three

7. A millet porridge made with small balls of
millet flour flavored with tamarind or lemon.
8. A millet cake made with five balls of soaked

millet flour and baked or steamed in a clay pot
buried in the ground; one of the preferred
foods for sacrifice or alms-giving.

48 SUNJATA: A WEST AFRICAN EPIC

hundred and thirty-three dishes! In fact, Keleya Konkon’s servings are bigger
than yours! Everything that you have, Fakoli now also has. He came to take your
place. If you don’t take this Fakoli business seriously, he will take Soso away
from you even before you go to war.”

Sumaworo said, “Huh? Oho!” And he called his people together. Sumaworo
sent the scandalmonger to go and bring Fakoli to the meeting.

Instead of going to find Fakoli, the scandalmonger simply went and stood on
the road, then returned to Sumaworo, saying, “I have called him.” A lot of time
passed; Fakoli did not come to see Sumaworo. When Sumaworo sent for some-
one, he expected that person to arrive one minute after the messenger returned.

“Ah!” said Sumavvoro. “Did you not see my nephew?”
To which the scandalmonger replied, “I saw him.”
“Ah, did you not call him?”
“I called him.”
“All right, go and tell him I am waiting for him.”
The scandalmonger went and stood in the road again. Returning to Suma-

woro, he said, “I have called him.”
More time passed and still Fakoli did not appear. Now very angry, Sumaworo

sent another messenger to get Fakoli. He said, “You go and tell Fakoli that I am
waiting for him.”

That messenger did find Fakoli. He said, “Fakoli, this is the third time you
have been called. Why didn’t you come when we called? Who do you think
you are?”

Fakoli said, “Me? Was I called three times?”
“Yes, the message came and came again.”
“Me? M’ba, I refuse.”
That messenger ran back and told Sumaworo, “Your nephew refuses to come.”
Sumaworo said, “Paki! That’s it! Fakoli dares tell me, Sumaworo, ‘I refuse’?”
Once Sumaworo’s last messenger had gone, Fakoli put on his hat with the

three hundred birds’ heads. He put his axe on his shoulder and tied his head-
band around his head, because he knew there was going to be trouble.

When Sumaworo saw Fakoli approaching, he stood up in his royal seat and
said, “Fakoli, am I the one to whom you said, ‘I refuse’?”

Fakoli replied, “I refuse,” for he believed it would be cowardly to explain him-
self to Sumaworo.

Again, Sumaworo asked, “Am I the one to whom you said, ‘I refuse’?”
“I refuse.”
“¼’hy?”
“I refuse.”
“Ah, very well.” Sumaworo said. “What they told me is the truth. You claim

that you came to help me. But you have not come to help me. You know what
you came for. I have three hundred and thirty-three wives who have prepared
three hundred and thirty-three dishes for me. You have only one wife, yet she
also produced three hundred and thirty-three dishes for you.

“Did you come to help me? Were you told that your head and my head are
equal? I gave you this wife you’re so proud of-the one with your mother’s name9-

9. Fakoli’s mother was Kosiya, so his wife Keley,1 was not exactly her namesake.

SUNJATA 49

and now I am taking her back. You can’t brag about what you don’t have anymore!
This Kosiya Kante that you have, she is my daughter, 1 so now I am taking her back.”

Fakoli said, “Ah! Uncle, have matters between us sunk so low? Has our dispute
come to the point of taking back a wife? You can have her! I don’t even want her
now, at least not until the smoke from our battle with the Mande people at
Dakajalan has settled. Until then, I don’t want her!”

He brought out his blanket and tore off a strip, prrrr! He threw it to Keleya
Konkon and told her to use it for a mourning veil, saying, “I will not marry you
again until I’ve defeated your brother2 in gunsmoke. I am returning to Manden.”

Turning his back on Keleya Kondon, he gave the tail of his horse to Nyana
Jukuduma, 3 and the two men took the road to Manden, where the diviners were
still praying to God.

When Fakoli got back to Manden, he went and stood at the door of the coun-
cil hall. He said, “Simbon, my uncle and I have quarreled. He has taken my
wife from me. I will not take back Keleya Konkon until I do it in gunsmoke.”

“Huh,” Ma’an Sunjata laughed.
Manjan Berete and Siriman Kanda Toure also laughed. They said, “Manden is

now complete.” They said they had put their trust in Turama’an. (This is why you
sometimes hear a person say that they put their trust in Turama’an instead of
Fakoli. 4 The people gave their trust to Turama’an while Fakoli was off visiting his
uncle.)

Still standing on the threshold of the council hall, Fakoli said, “Simbon, I do
not want a wife from Manden or Negeboriya. Send a message to your uncles in
Do ni Kiri, and ask them to give you your ‘nephew wife.’5 Then give that wife to
me. I want to have that woman before we go to the battle at Dakajalan. Then,
regardless of what happens, no one will be able to blame my actions in battle on
the fact that I have no wife. If I don’t have a wife before going into battle, the
people will say I fought well because I was trying to get myself a wife-that I was
afraid of staying a bachelor. So let me have your ‘nephew wife’ before we leave
for the war.” Ma’an Sunjata sent a message to his uncle (our ancestor!) in Do ni
Kiri, who sent Ma Sira Conde to Sunjata as his nephew wife. Ma’an Sunjata
then gave this wife to Fakoli.

At that time, Fakoli was feeling bitter. Having refused to live in Negeboriya,
Manden, and Soso, he’d built his own hamlet and remained there until it was
time for the battle at Dakajalan. The people all said, “Eeeh, Fakoli is bitter! He

I. Family relationships among Manding peoples
arc perceived on several levels, or “paths.” Keep-
ing in mind that this is the storyteller’s view-
point, this is probably meant in the sense that
the wife Sumaworo provided for Fakoli was a
classificatory “daughter” of Sumaworo. In Man-
ding societies, the children of one’s cousins are
considered to be one’s own children.
2. In the same wav that Keleva Konkon could
be a classificatory “daughter” ~f Sumaworo, she
could also be a classificatory “sister.” Indeed, on
one path a person can be classified as one’s sib-
ling, while on another path the same person can
be referred to as one’s father, uncle, mother, or
aunt. This reflects the polygymous practice of

men marrying wives of the same age as their
children.
3. The slave would run behind the horse,
hanging on to its tail.
4. Turama’an had acquired a leadership posi-
tion or military command that was formerly
held by Fakoli.
5. In Maninka and Bamana society, it is
claimed, both jokingly and seriously, that it is
the uncle’s duty to give his nephew a wife, the
so-called nephew wife. The obligation of this
uncle-nephew bond is implied in the Bamana
proverb: “When your uncle fails to give you a
wife, he is no longer your uncle but your
mother’s brother.”

50 SUNJATA: A WEST AFRICAN EPIC

has refused to live with us; he’s built his own hamlet:’ (That hamlet, built in Man-
den, became Bambugu, and it was there that Sira Conde was brought to Fakoli.)

A Visit to Kamanjan in Sibi

Dressed in his ritual attire, Sunjata said to Fakoli, “Before she died, my mother
asked God to help me earn the support of a l\Iande elder whose dalilu is greater
than mine, and I believe I must not go to war without having first accomplished
this. Now that you’re settled, Fakoli, I ask }OU-just as I’m asking Turama’an,
Kankejan, Tombonon Sitafa Oiawara, and all the Simbons-please give me sixty
men so I can greet Kamanjan, because I esteem him above all other elders.”

Kamanjan was much older than Sunjata; Kamanjan and Sunjata’s father,
Maghan Konfara, were born at the same time. Kamanjan never committed a
shameful deed in his entire life, and anyone who commanded an army would
seek his advice. This is why Sunjata said, “Let’s go to greet Kamanjan.”

I

With sixty men, Sunjata went to salute Kamanjan at the battle site called Kal-
assa, near Sibi Mountain, where Kamanjan liked to hold torchlit meetings at
night. It was a special honor to be asked by Kamanjan to extinguish the torches
at the end of such meetings; only those kamalenw he knew to be special in their
towns would be allowed to put out the flames.

Sunjata arrived as Kamanjan was having one of his nighttime meetings, and all
of the torches were lit. With his hand, Sunjata extinguished them all. Then he
used a little thing to reignite them, kan! Suddenly everything was illuminated
again. The people at the meeting said, “As soon as Sunjata put out the torches,
he lit his own torch.”

(Sunjata’s own light was as powerful as the light from a pressure lamp, and the
little town where Sunjata extinguished the torches is called Kalassa, which is
near Tabon on the Bamako road. The Konate live there.)

After relighting the torches, Sunjata saluted Kamanjan and explained the pur-
pose of his visit, saying, “I left here with my mother; now I have returned.”

Kamanjan said, “Simbon! Have you come?”
“Yes, I have come.”
“Ah, are you the one that Manden will send against Sumaworo?”
“Uhuh. That is why I have come to greet you, father Kamanjan. The last per-

son to be told you’re leaving on a trip must be the first person you greet upon
your return.”

“Sunjata, what dalilu did you bring with you? Hm? Sumaworo is a bad one.
Haven’t you heard people sing his praises? They sing:

‘Transforms in the air,
Sumaworo,
Transforms on the ground,
Sumaworo.
Manden pi-pa-pi,
Whirlwind of Manden,
Kukuba and Bantamba,
Nyemi-Nyemi and Kambasiga,
Sege and Babi’?”

Sunjata said, “Yes, Father Kamanjan, I’ve heard that.”
“Then what kind of dalilu did you bring to use against him?”

SUNIATA 51

“Ah, father Kamanjan, that is why I have come to greet you and tell you my
thoughts.”

“Well, I’ve become old since we last met here. I can’t go to war again, nor can
I ask anyone else to do that. All those who attacked Sumaworo have been
defeated, and this is Manden’s fault; it was Manden that made it possible for
Sumaworo to become what he is. It was a mistake for us to give him the four
jamanaw,

6
Not satisfied with that, he now wants to add Manden to Soso. That is

what we must fight to avoid.”
Kamanjan and Sunjata were talking beneath the tree that is called balansani in

Manden, and when Kamanjan said, “Ah!” the balansan flipped upside down onto
its top branches.

When Sunjata also said, “Ah!” the balansan flipped back over onto its roots.
(It’s true, binani tinima!)

Kamanjan said, “Ah!” a second time, and the balansan flipped back over onto
its top branches.

Before Sunjata could say, “Ah,” again, his sister whispered in his ear, “Big
brother, this is not what my mother told you to do. Let Kamanjan do this. Our
mother prayed that you would be blessed by an elder with dalilu stronger than
yours. Kamanjan is trying to demonstrate to you how strong his dalilu is. If you
beat him with your own dalilu, he will not give you anything. Let him do this,
and he will flip the tree back once he’s satisfied. If you add his dalilu to what you
already have, maybe you will win the war against Sumaworo. You should act like
you do not know anything, so Kamanjan will give you his dalilu.”

A Strategic Alliance: Kolonkan’s Marriage

The battle that followed Sunjata’s meeting with Kamanjan did not go well for
Manden, and the town was filled with sorrow. But Kamanjan didn’t let Sunjata
leave him empty-handed. Kamanjan said, “Simbon, I see that your sister has
matured since we last met. Yes, she has matured, and you should give her to me
so I can marry her. Though your sister spent twenty-seven years at Nema, your
mother-who was of the best stock-said she would never be given to a man
there. You yourself agreed that your sister would only be married here in Manden.
So give her to me.”

Ma’an Sunjata said, “Eh! Father Kamanjan, that won’t be possible. If I give you
my younger sister, I would be embarrassed to discuss certain subjects with you.
There are things I could discuss with you so long as there’s no marriage between
us. Now that my mother and father are both dead, I’m depending on your counsel
on such matters. But a marriage between us would make it embarrassing for me
to do so.8 Besides that, you are a battle commander. If we do something to dis-
please you, if you become offended, we might quarrel.”

6. The four main provinces of Soso that com-
monly appear in praise-lines to Sumaworo
(though rarely identified in the same way):
Kukuba, Bantamba, Nyemi-Nyemi, and Kamba-
siga. This comment, which the bard attributes
to a contemporary of Sunjata’s father, appears
to imply a failed policy of appeasement toward
Sumaworo.
7. Acacia albida; in Mande lore, one of the

many trees, including the baobab and the dub-
alen, that carry strong associations with the
spirit world.
8. In this case of buran}’a (“having an older
in-law”), Sunjata would have to practice great
restraint and lack of familiarity toward his
sister’s husband, and would no longer be able
to appeal to him for help or advice.

52 SUNJATA, A WEST AFRICAN EPIC

Kamanjan said, “Ah, give her to me.”
“Well, I’ll give her to you if you will command the Kamara people to show

respect for the Mansare people. Tell the Kamara people to show respect for my
people and for me. The Kamara should respect us, Kamaralu ye dan a na.” (The
Dannalu, who take their name from that saying, live between Balia and Wulada.
Now because of Ma Kolonkan’s marriage to Kamanjan, the Dannalu must be
men;ioned whenever the Kamara are discussed.) Ma Kolonkan was given to
Kamanjan Kamara as soon as he made this promise to Sunjata. Kamanjan
entered her, and she eventually gave birth to his son Fadibali.

The Battle of Negeboriya

Kamanjan said, “Simbon, I respect you, and believe you’ll be successful in the war
against Sumaworo. But listen: don’t go to Dakajalan yet. Go to Negeboriya first
and pay your respects to Fakoli’s relatives. Though Fakoli is from Negeboriya, not
Manden, he has done much for us. Besides, haven’t you ever heard the saying,
‘Negeboriya Maghan, Kayafaya Maghan’?

“Fakoli has said, ‘The Mande people are wrong if they think I am helping them
only because I want to win the mansaya for myself,’ and we believe him. After all,
none of the Koroma living in our Mansare towns have ever tried to take the man-
sa1·a for themselves.

··•Fakoli has also said, ‘I am only helping Manden because of Ma Tenenba
Conde; it was she who raised and blessed me. Tenenba Conde’s sister is So’olon
Wulen Conde, and So’olon Wulen Conde’s son is Ma’an Sunjata. So I am not
helping you because of personal ambition. If you listen to the Mande people’s
gossip about me now, you’ll be ashamed to face me later.’

“Turama’an and Kankejan have said the same sorts of things. So go and pay
your respects to the people of Negeboriya.”

Taking their leave from Tabon, Ma’an Sunjata and his companions mounted
their horses and rode straight to N<"geboriya. But Sumaworo had built a wall around that town by the time they arrived. In fact, Sumaworo had built waHs around many towns of Manden and was occupying them with his troops.

\Vhen Sumaworo’s men heard that So’olon Ma’an and his troops were coming
to pay their respects to the people of Negeboriya, they lined their musket barrels
along the top of the wall and wait<·d. When Sunjata and his men arrived, the muskets fired and fired and fired at them!

Forced to retreat, Sunjata returned to find Manden in mourning over his defeat
at the Battle of Negeboriya. But Sunjata’s powerful army was not destroyed, and
Sumaworo had lost his sacred drum Dunun Mutukuru during the battle. (That
drum, the Dunun Mutukuru, was never found; only the bala was saved.)

[In omitted passages, bacl~ in Manden hvo rams that are nmned for Sunjata and
Smnaworo, respectfoely, fight 011e another in a symbolic preview of the battle to
come. Preparing for the Battle of Dakajalan, Sunjata calls for volunteers. The
anny of Manden is divided into companies of men who possess occult powers,
companies of those who have no magic, and one unit made up of famous ances-
tral figures with the power to become invisible. In a secret meeting with Manjan

9. Kayafaya is said to have been ajammza, or province, attached to Negeboriya under the Koroma
ruling lineage.

SUNIATA 53

Berete, Sunjata learns the elaborate strategy lie must adopt to defeat Sumaworo.
He exchanges his sorcery horse for the sorcery mare of the jelimuso Tunku Man-
yan Diawara. He also sends a messenger to his sister, Nana Triban, who is in
Soso, to retrieve from her the dibilan medicine that she steals from the tail of
Sumaworo’s horse]

Trading Insults and Swearing Oaths

Manden mourned after each of their battles against Sumaworo. He made many
women widows. He made shirts and pants from the skins of Mande and Soso
people. He sewed a hat of human skin. He even made shoes of human skin and
then ordered the surviving Mande people to come and name them. If one of the
people tried to name the shoes “Finfirinya Shoes,” Sumaworo would say, “That is
not the name.” If someone tried “Dulubiri shoes,” he would say, “That is not the
name.” Finally, the people asked him, “All right, Sumaworo, what are your shoes
called?” He said, “My human-skin shoes are called ‘Take the Air, take the Ground
from the Chief.’ I wear your skins because the Mande people will always be
around me, Sumaworo. You will always be in my power.”

After both sides had made their preparations, the war began. Briefly, here’s
what happened:

The three Mande divisions-including those men who could become invisible
in the daytime and the five mori diviners-arrived at the first battle. Simbon was
placed in the middle of his men, with Manjan Berete directly in front of him.
The men were packed so tightly that the head of one man’s horse touched the
tail of the horse in front of him. Sanbari Mara Cisse and Siriman Kanda Toure
were there, as were Kon Mara and Djane, Manden Bori, Tombonon Sitafa
Diawara, Turama’an, Kankejan, and Fakoli. Sunjata ordered them to maintain
their positions on the battlefield, so they marched back and forth in a line, like
an army of ants. Simbon was in the middle!

When they arrived at the battlefield, Ma’an Sunjata said, “Men of Manden,
wait here,” and crossed the field with his masked flag bearers, headed for Suma-
woro’s camp. Sumaworo’s troops were also there, waiting in position. Sumaworo
sat astride his horse, surrounded by his corps of personal guards.

As he approached Sumaworo, Sunjata said, “Father Sumaworo, good morn-
ing.” (True bravery is revealed by the mouth!)

Sumaworo said, “Marahaba, good morning. Where are the Mande troops?”
“Ah, Father Sumaworo, they are over on the Mande side.”
“Ah, is that how you usually arrange your troops?”
Sunjata said, “Well, I am new at this. This is our first encounter in battle. If I

brought my men over here, they’d mingle with your troops, and ,ve’d be unable
to tell whose men are whose. 1 You can see them standing over there on the
Mande side.”

“Ah, So’olon Ma’an, this is not the usual procedure.”
Feeling bold, Sunjata said, “Well, you killed all of the other leaders; there was

nobody left to lead the Mande troops.”
Sumaworo said, “I say to you, Bala Fasali, tell Simbon that I am doing him a

favor by inviting him to meet here on the battlefield. I understand that the Mande

I. The problem of distinguishing between ally book, the narrator describes how Kamanjan
and enemy in the heat of battle was a serious Kamara introduced facial scarification for that
concern. In an episode not included in this purpose.

54 SUNJATA: A WEST AFRICAN EPIC

people sent for Sunjata so he could be their commander in battle. But apparently
they did not tell him about anything that happened while he was away.

“This is why I have invited him to come and meet in the field: so that I can tell
him what I have to say, and he can tell me what is on his mind. Then I will do to
him what I planned to do-or he can try to do to me what he wants to.”

Simbon said, “I appreciate the invitation. Ah! You are my respected elder. The
person who has helped one’s father is also one’s father. But let me tell you some-
thing, father Sumaworo: people may refuse peanuts, but not the ones that have
been placed right in front of them.”

Sumaworo said, “M’ba, give me some snuff from Manden.”2

“Ah! Father Sumaworo, it is more appropriate for the master to give snuff to
his apprentice, rather than for the apprentice to give snuff to his master. Give me
some snuff from Soso, so that I will know I have met my master.”

Sumaworo took out his snuffbox and handed it to Sunjata. Simbon put some
snuff in his palm, took a pinch and snorted it, took another pinch and snorted it,
and put some in his mouth. He closed the snuffbox and gave it back to Suma-
woro. The snuff did not even make Sunjata’s tongue quiver.

Sumaworo was surprised. Anybody who took that snuff would immediately fal)
over. It was poison! But So’olon Ma’an sucked on the snuff and didn’t even
cough. He spit the snuff on the ground.

Then Sumaworo said, “Give me some Mande snuff.” Simbon reached in his
pocket, took out his snuffbox, and handed it to Sumaworo, who put some in his
palm. He took a pinch of snuff and snorted it, took some more and snorted it,
and put the rest in his mouth. That was specially prepared snuff, too, but it did
not do anything to him.

Sumaworo said to him, “I asked you to meet with me because the Mantle
people seem to think you are their mansa, and it’s true that you would not be
here if you didn’t have some dalilu. But your dalilu will do no good against me. I
told you before, when you passed through Soso, that if the Mande people tried to
send you to fight me, you should refuse. As you now know, I have become hot
ashes surrounding Manden and Soso; any toddler who tries to cross me will be
burned up to his thighs. And yet here you are.”

“Ah, father Sumaworo, as I told you, this is my father’s home, not yours. You
are not from here: your grandfather came from Folonengbe; your father was a
latecomer to Manden. You are only the second generation of your people in
Manden. But we have been here for eight generations: our ancestor Mamadi
Kani first came here from Hejaji. After him came Mamadi Kani’s son, Kani Sim-
bon, Kani Nyogo Simbon, Kabala Simbon, Big Simbon Mamadi Tanyagati,
Balinene, Bele, and Belebakon, and Farako Manko Farakonken. Now I am Far-
ako Manko Farakonken’s son, the eighth generation. My people have been
here all along; you only arrived yesterday, your dawn is just breaking today.

“Huh!” continued Sunjata. “And you say that I have just arrived? M’ba, huh!
You are my respected elder, so I will not be the first to make a move. You invited
me here to tell me that rm a disrespectful child? You just go ahead and show
what you’ve got.”

Sumaworo said, “Bisimillahi.”

2. This request commences a standard ritual
called sigifili, conducted between O[>posing
commanders before a battle; it involved boast-

ing about one’s powers and swearing oaths
while taking a poisonous snuff that would kill a
liar.

SUNJATA 55

The Battle of Dakajalan and Fakoli’s Revenge

When something is filled to the brim, it will overflow.
When Sumaworo took his sword and struck at Sunjata, his blade flexed like

a whip. Sunjata also struck with his sword; the blade of his sword also bent.
Sumaworo raised his musket and fired, but nothing touched So’olon Ma’an.
So’olon Ma’an then fired his musket at Sumaworo but failed to wound him.

With that, the dalilu was finished, and the two men just stood there. Suma-
woro reached into his saddlebag and took his whip. As he raised his hand like
this, So’olon Ma’an seized his reins like this-Clap!-and dashed away.

The two armies were waiting, Soso on one side, Manden on the other. Every-
body was watching the commanders on the battlefield. Fakoli stood off to one
side of Sunjata; Turama’an was on his other side. Sumaworo was also flanked by
his men.

Blu, blu! Sunjata, Sumaworo, and their men dashed across the field and up
the hill. Near the top of the hill, they faded from sight; even their dust dis-
appeared. Soon they reached the edge of a very deep ravine. Gathering all her
strength, Sunjata’s sorcery mare (Tunku Manyan Diawara’s horse) jumped the
ravine and landed on the other side. When Sumaworo’s horse tried to jump the
ravine, it tumbled to the bottom. 3 Fakoli and Turama’an-whose horses safely
jumped the ravine-turned and, with Sunjata, went to look down at Sumaworo
who was trapped at the bottom of the ravine.

Sunjata called down, “Sumaworo, what is the matter?”
“So’olon Ma’an, kill me here; do not carry me to the town. Do not bring such

shame to me. God controls all time. Please do not take me back.”
Sumaworo removed his dalilu and dropped his horse-whip. He stripped com-

pletely, taking off his human-skin shirt and trousers.
Sunjata said, “I am not going to finish you off. No one can climb out of that

ravine; you’re stuck. I do not want your shirt of human skin, because it is the
skin of my father’s relatives. I will not take it.” Turning to his companions he
said, “Come, let’s go home.”

They had gone some distance when Fakoli made a decision, turned, and went
back to the ravine. When he arrived there, he said to Sumaworo, “What did I tell
you? When you took back your sister,4 what did I say?” Taking his axe from his
shoulder, Fakoli struck Sumaworo on the head, poh! He said, “This will be men-
tioned in Ma’an Sunjata’s praise song.” (And he was right! Though we sing,
“Head-breaking Mari Jata,” it was Fakoli who broke Sumaworo’s head.) 5

Fakoli started to leave. But he was still angry, so he went back to the ravine
again and struck Sumaworo on the leg, gbao! Fakoli broke Sumaworo’s leg,

3. Though not usually seen in versions of the
Sunjata epic, the incident of the horse tumbling
into a ravine is a popular motif in jeli storytell-
ing, a favorite way of disposing of the hero’s
enemy.
4. Fakoli’s wife, Keleya Konkon.
5. It is unusual for a jeli to describe the death
of Sumaworo, as Tassey Conde docs here. In
many versions, Sumaworo flees to the mountain
at Koulikoro where he disappears. The Kouyate
and Diabate jeliw, among others, are usually
careful not to say that Sumaworo was slain by

Sunjata, Fakoli, or anybody else. Such things
arc taken seriously in modern times, because
Maninka and Bamana identify with the ances-
tors whose names they carry. The version trans-
lated here was recorded in a private performance
in the narrator’s own house, but in a public per-
formance, giving details of a humiliating defeat
(even one alleged to have occurred more than
seven centuries ago) risks embarrassing any
people in the audience who regard themselves
as descendants of the defeated ancestor.

56 I SUNJATA: A WEST AFRICAN EPIC

saying, “This will also be mentioned in Ma’an Sunjata’s praise song.” (That is
why we sing, “Leg-Breaking Mari Jata.”) ,

With his axe, Fakoli returned to the ravine a third time and broke Sumaworo s
arm, saying, “This, too, will be mentioned in Ma’an Sunjata’s praise song.” (And
so we sing, “Arm-Breaking Mari Jata.” Aheh! It was not Jata who broke it! It was
Fakoli who broke it.)

Finally Sunjata and his men went home. Laughter returned to Manden, and
eventually Soso joined in.

[In omitted passages, the narrator describes how, following the defeat of Suma-
woro, the people of Soso dispersed and eventually settled in various communities
along the Atlantic coast. Meanwhile, Sunjata begins to initiate refonns and orga-
nize the newly unified Mali Empire.]

The Campaign against Jolofin Mansa

After the war was over, Ma’an Sunjata said, “My fathers and my brothers: now
that the war has ended and the mansaya has come to us, the Mansare, let’s send
our horse-buyers to Senu to replace the many Mande horses killed by Suma-
woro. We should buy enough horses for each of our elders and warriors to
have one.”

So the horse-buyers went to Senu an

The two horse-buyers arrived in Manden and gave the message to Ma’an Sun-
jata, who said, “Jolofin Mansa has extended an invitation to me. I myself will
lead the campaign against Jolofin l\[ansa.”

His younger brother Manden Bori said, “Elder brother, are you going to lead
us in that campaign? Give me the command, and I will do the fighting.”

“I am not giving you command of the army.”
Fakoli said, “Simbon, give me the army! We will not stay here while you lead

the army. Give the army to me. Fakoli, so I can go after Jolofin Mansa.”
Simbon said, “I will not give you the army. I will go myself.”
Meanwhile, Turama’an was digging his own grave. He cut some toro branches,

laid them on his grave, and had his shroud sewn. Then he said to Ma’an Sunjata,
“Simbon, I’ll kill myself if you do not give me the army. Would you really leave us
behind while you lead the army to go after Jolofin Mansa? Give me the army. If
you don’t, if you go after Jolofin Mansa yourself, you will lose me, for I’ll kill
myself.”

“Ah,” said Simbon. “I did not know you felt so strongly, Turama’an. Yourdalilu
and my dalilu are tied together: my mother was given to your fathers, who killed
the buffalo of Do ni Kiri. If your father and my mother had gotten along, my
mother would have stayed with your father. Because my mother did not get
along with your fathers, your fathers brought my mother to my father, and I was
born out of that marriage, as were my younger brothers Mand en Bori and So’ olon
Jamori.

SUNJATA 57

“My father took my younger siblings Nana Triban and Tenenbajan, and gave
them to Danmansa Wulanni and Danmansa Wulanba, your fathers. You,
Turama’an, are the son of Danmansa Wulanni. Considering what you have said,
you and I are equal in this war, and I will let you take the army.”

So Sunjata gave Turama’an command of the army, and Turama’an prepared
the army for war. With the campaign underway, they marched to Jolofin Mansa’s
land.

(You know Jolofin Mansa, he was one of the Mansare. The son of Latali Kalabi,
the Mansare ancestor, was Danmatali Kalabi; Danmatali Kalabi then also named
his son Latali Kalabi. This second Latali sired Kalabi Doman and Kalabi Bomba,
and Kalabi Doman sired Mamadi Kani. Mamadi Kani sired Kani Simbon, Kani
Nyogo Simbon, Kabala Simbon, Big Simhon Madi Tanyagati, and M’balinene;
M’balinene sired Bele, Bele sired Belebakon, Belebakon sired Maghan Konfara,
and this Farako Manko Farakonken was Ma’an Sunjata’s father.

So Jolofin Mansa and Ma’an Sunjata both descended from the same person.
And Jolofin’s people-the Jolofin na mo’olu-became known as the Wolofo. 6

Have you heard people calling the Wolofo “little Mande people”? That’s because
they all came from Manden.)

Turama’an marched the army of Manden to Jolofin Mansa’s land and there
destroyed Jolofin Mansa’s place like it was an old clay pot; Turama’an broke it
like an old calabash. He also captured those who were supposed to be captured,
killed those who were supposed to be killed.

Though his soldiers had been defeated, Jolofin Mansa had not been captured,
so he fled with Turama’an in pursuit. Jolofin Mansa headed for the big river/

At that time, no one knew that Jolofin Mansa could transform himself into a
crocodile, living on land or under water. When he came to the big river, Jolofin
Mansa plunged in and swam into a cave; there he transformed himself into a
crocodile and lay down to wait.

Standing above the cave, Turama’an and his men said, “Jolofin Mansa went in
here.” The Mande men were good warriors, but they were not used to water
fighting. All of the battle commanders standing there were dressed for fighting
on land; they were all wearing hunting clothes and carried quivers and bows.
Until they stood at the entrance to that cave, the Mande people did not know
that they had a warrior who could fight under water.

Turama’an said, “Jolofin Mansa has changed himself into a crocodile and gone
into that cave. We can’t leave him there, for if we destroy the war mansa’s home
without killing the war mansa himself, we have not won the battle. But who will
go after him?”

Everybody kept quiet, Zele!
Again Turama’an asked, “Who will go after him?” Nobody spoke up, so

Turama’an asked a third time, “Who will follow this man?”
The Diawara chief, whose name was Tombonon Sitafa Diawara, stepped out

from among the soldiers. He said, “Turama’an, tell the Mande people that if they
agree, I, Sitafa Diawara, will go after Jolofin Mansa. But also tell them that I am

6. Maninka pronunciation attaches an extra
vowel. The Wolof, who call their country Jolof
(see previous sentence), arc mainly in Senegal
(the narrator’s “Senu”), and they speak a Ian-

guage that is not interintelligible with Mand-
ing languages.
7. The Senegal River.

58 I SUNJATA: A WEST AFRICAN EPIC

not doing this to prove my manhood. I’m doing it because we can’t return home
to Simbon having only destroyed Jolofin Mansa’s home. If we return home with-
out also having killed Jolofin Mansa himself, Simbon will wonder why we told
him to stay home.”

(That is why, if you are a real man, you should stay low to the ground when
you are among the k.amalenw. You should only reveal the kind of man you are
when somebody challenges your group.)

Meanwhile, Jolofin Mansa’s crocodile wraith was lying in the cave, its mouth
open wide. The upper jaw reached to the top of the entrance, the lower jaw
reached to the bottom. Anybody who went after the crocodile would end up in its
stomach, and the crocodle would just close his mouth. Eh! There would be no
need to chew.

Sitafa Diawara said, “I’ll give you two signs when I get down to where the
crocodile is. If, while the water is bubbling and churning and turning the color of
blood, you see a pelican flying from where the sun sets to where it rises, Manden
should weep, for you’ll know that Jolofin Mansa has defeated me. But if, while
the water is bubbling and churning and turning the color of blood, the pelican
flies from where the sun rises to where it sets, you Mande people should be
happy, for it will mean I have honored you and God. Those are the signs I’ve
given you.”

Diawara put on his medicine clothes and gathered all his dalilu. He had a
small knife fastened to his chest, and a short Bozo8 fish-spear hung from his
waist.

To the other warriors Diawara said, “Excuse me. We may meet in this world or
we may meet in God’s kingdom. If I’m successful, we’ll meet in this world; I’ll
come back and find you here. But if I’m overcome by the crocodile, we’ll meet in
God’s kingdom.” Then he dove into the water and swam into the cave, unaware
that he was actually swimming straight into the crocodile’s stomach. The croco-
dile closed its mouth on him.

As the crocodile closed its mouth on him, Diawara the hunter demonstrated
his dalilu. Though he was trapped inside the crocodile, he was still alive, as com-
fortable as if he were in his own house. Taking his spear from his side, he
stabbed the crocodile here, pu!; he stabbed it there, pu! The crocodile went
kututu. Diawara speared the crocodile over and over again.

The water bubbled, and blood came to the surface. As the water around him
turned bloody, Diawara reached for the knife on his chest. He sliced a hole in
the crocodile’s belly and swam out of it. Then, still under the water, he twisted
the crocodile’s front legs and tied them together.

As Diawara swam to the surface with the crocodile, a pelican flew by, squawk-
ing, from east to west. Manden laughed. As they hauled the crocodile wraith
up onto the riverbank, Jolofin Mansa himself appeared. He was captured, tied
up, and taken to Sunjata, the mansa.

Turama’an, who was the commander at that battle, brought Jolofin Mansa’s
treasure to Ma’an Sunjata. Manden was at last free, and the war was over.

8. An ethnic group of the Middle Niger, spe- mainly located between Sansanding and Lake
cializing in fishing and boating occupations, Debo in Mali.