mia moraru’s Reviews > Sundiata: An Epic of Old Mali > Status Update

‘But me, I am the rain that extinguishes cinder, I am the boisterous torrent that will carry you off.’

‘The Sossos were surprised by this sudden attack for they all thought that the battle would be joined the next day. The lightning that flashes across the sky is slower, the thunderbolts less frightening and floodwaters less surprising than Sundiata swooping down on Sosso Balla and his smiths.’

‘It is in the midst of calamity that man questions himself about his destiny.’

‘Kings are only men, and whatever iron cannot achieve against them, words can.’

‘The multitude loves and fears strength.’

‘“But has the seed really germinated?” said the king.
“Of course,” replied the blind seer. “Only the growth is not as quick as you would like it; how impatient man is.”’

‘…soothsayers see far ahead, their words are not always for the immediate present; man is in a hurry but time is tardy and everything has its season.’

‘“Oh you who come from the Sangaran, land of the favourites of Kondolon Ni Sané, you who have doubtless had an expert master, will you open your pouch of knowledge for us and instruct us with your conversation, for you have no doubt visited several lands.”’

‘I am going to tell you of Sundiata, he whose exploits will astonish men for a long time yet.’

‘Formerly “griots” were the counselors or kings, they conserved the constitutions of kingdoms by memory work alone; each princely family had its griot appointed to preserve tradition; it was from among the fruits that kings used to choose the tutors for young princes.’