Epic Of Sundiata Research Paper
In the Epic of Sundiata (also spelled Son-Jara or Sundjata):
Naré Maghann Konaté (also called Maghan Kon Fatta or Maghan the Handsome) was a Mandinka king who one day received a divine hunter at his court. The hunter predicted that if Konaté married an ugly woman, she would give him a son who would one day be a mighty king. Naré Maghann Konaté was already married to Sassouma Bereté and had a son by her, Dankaran Toumani Keïta. However, when two Traoré hunters from the Do kingdom presented him an ugly, hunchbacked woman named Sogolon, he remembered the prophecy and married her. She soon gave birth to a son, Sundiata Keita, who was unable to walk throughout his childhood. Despite his physical weakness, the king still granted Sundiata his own griot at young age; this was in order to have them grow together and provide constant consultation as was custom.[1] With the death of Naré Maghann Konaté (c. 1224), his first son, Dankaran Tuman, assumed the throne despite Konaté's wishes …show more content…
One day, Sundiata's mother needed some leavesfrom the mighty baobob tree for her cooking, and she asked Sassouma if she could borrow some.Sassouma agreed, taking the opportunity to insult Sogolon's useless son. At last, Sogolon could take nomore. She returned to her son, crying and angry, and told him about Sassouma's insult. Looking up, herson then said, “Cheer up, Mother. I am going to walk today.” Sundiata then told a blacksmith to make forhim the heaviest possible iron rod, and then, with trembling legs and a sweaty brow, he proceeded to lifthimself up, bending the rod into a bow in the process. Before a crowd of amazed onlookers, Sundiata thustransformed himself. And his griot composed and sang “The Hymn to the Bow” on the spot. That hymnremains a part of the Sundiata musical epic still sung by griots over eight hundred years
Naré Maghann Konaté (also called Maghan Kon Fatta or Maghan the Handsome) was a Mandinka king who one day received a divine hunter at his court. The hunter predicted that if Konaté married an ugly woman, she would give him a son who would one day be a mighty king. Naré Maghann Konaté was already married to Sassouma Bereté and had a son by her, Dankaran Toumani Keïta. However, when two Traoré hunters from the Do kingdom presented him an ugly, hunchbacked woman named Sogolon, he remembered the prophecy and married her. She soon gave birth to a son, Sundiata Keita, who was unable to walk throughout his childhood. Despite his physical weakness, the king still granted Sundiata his own griot at young age; this was in order to have them grow together and provide constant consultation as was custom.[1] With the death of Naré Maghann Konaté (c. 1224), his first son, Dankaran Tuman, assumed the throne despite Konaté's wishes …show more content…
One day, Sundiata's mother needed some leavesfrom the mighty baobob tree for her cooking, and she asked Sassouma if she could borrow some.Sassouma agreed, taking the opportunity to insult Sogolon's useless son. At last, Sogolon could take nomore. She returned to her son, crying and angry, and told him about Sassouma's insult. Looking up, herson then said, “Cheer up, Mother. I am going to walk today.” Sundiata then told a blacksmith to make forhim the heaviest possible iron rod, and then, with trembling legs and a sweaty brow, he proceeded to lifthimself up, bending the rod into a bow in the process. Before a crowd of amazed onlookers, Sundiata thustransformed himself. And his griot composed and sang “The Hymn to the Bow” on the spot. That hymnremains a part of the Sundiata musical epic still sung by griots over eight hundred years