Free Essays, Term Papers, Research Papers at Anti Essays

Part 1: Sundiata’s Childhood
God has his mysteries which none can fathom. You perhaps, will be king. You can do nothing about it. You on the other hand will be unlucky, but you can do nothing about that either. Each man finds his way already marked out for him and he can change nothing of it.
Sogolon’s son (Sundiata) had a slow and difficult childhood. At the age of three he still crawled along on all fours while children of the same age were already walking. He had nothing of the great beauty of his father Nare Maghan. He had a head so big that he seemed unable to support it; he also had large eyes which would open wide whenever anyone entered his mother’s house. He was always a quiet child and used to spend the whole day just sitting in the middle of the house. Whenever his mother went out he would crawl on all fours to rummage about in the calabashes in search of food, for he was greedy.
Malicious tongues began to blab. “What three-year-old has not yet taken his steps? What three -year-old is not the despair of his parents through his whims and shifts of mood? What three-year old is not the joy of his circle through his backwardness in talking Sogolon Djata (for it was thus that they called him, prefixing his mother’s name to his)?” Sogolon Djata or Sundiata then, was very different from others of his own age. He spoke little and his severe face never relaxed into a smile. You would have thought that he was already thinking, and what amused children of his age bored him. Often Sogolon (his mother) would make some of them come to him to keep him company. These children were already walking and she hoped that Sundiata, seeing his companions walking, would be tempted to do likewise. But nothing came of it. Besides, Sundiata would brain the poor little things with his already strong arms and none of them would come near him anymore.
The King’s first wife was the first to rejoice at Sogolon Djata’s infirmity. Her own son, Dankaran...