Textbook- eBook Sundiata: An Epic of old MaliTradition says that there are many secrets about Sundiata's life, and only a few people are allowed to know them all. There are several details, however, that are found in every version. Here are a few of them: The story begins with the tale of the "buffalo woman." A prediction has been made that a great king will soon be born to the king of Mali and a monstrous buffalo woman. When hunters present King Maghan Kon Fatta with a hunchbacked woman, named Sogolon, King Maghan knows that this is the woman he must marry. According to custom, kings of Mali had more than one wife, and Sogolon becomes one of the king's junior, or less important, wives. When Sundiata is very young, he has many physical handicaps and is unable to learn to walk. The king's senior wife, Sassouma Berete, constantly ridicules both Sogolon and Sundiata. Sassouma is a jealous woman, and she fears that King Maghan will choose Sundiata over her own son, whom she intends to be the next king.
MLA 8th: James, H. P. “The Sundiata Epic: History Or Folk Tale?” Footsteps, vol. 1, no. 4, Sept. 1999, p. 30. EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=mih&AN=2385691.
