59 Direct Quotes Sundiata: An Epic of Old Mali by Djibril Tamsir Niane

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 Direct Quotes Sundiata: An Epic of Old Mali 

. Since time immemorial the KouyatÈs have been in the service of the Keita princes of Mali; we are vessels of speech, we are the repositories which    harbour secrets many centuries old. (pg. 1)

. I will give you my fatherís words just as I received them; royal griots do not know what lying is. (pg. 1)

. In his capital of Nainiba he loved to sit often at the foot of the great silk-cotton tree which dominated his palace of Canaco. (pg. 4)

. The left hand is the hand of evil, but in the divining art it is said that left-handed people are the best. (pg. 5)

. Oh, who can recognize in the little child the great king to come? (pg. 5)

. You will choose her for she is my wraith. (pg. 8)

. Sogolon, I must sacrifice you to the greatness of my house. (pg. 12)

. A wife quickly grows accustomed to her state. (pg. 12)

. Soon, dark schemes took form in the mind of Sassouma BÈrÈtÈ; she determined to kill Sogolon. (pg. 13)

. The name was given the eighth day after his birth. (pg. 14)

. Sogolonís son had a slow and difficult childhood. (pg. 15)

. Whenever his mother went out he would crawl on all fours to rummage about in the calabashes in search of food, for he was very greedy. (pg. 15)

. Besides, Songolon Djata would brain the poor little things with his already strong arms and none of them would come near him any more. (pg. 15)

. The silk-cotton tree emerges from a tiny seed. (pg. 16)

. It was of no use Douaís defending the kingís will which reserved the throne for Mari Djata, for the council took no account of NarÈ Maghanís wish. (pg. 18)

. As men have short memories, Sogolonís son was spoken of with nothing but irony and scorn. (pg. 18)

. The queen mother, Sassouma BÈrÈtÈ, was the source of all this gossip. (pg. 18)

. Then she laughed derisively with that fierce laughter which cuts through your flesh and penetrates right to the bone. (pg. 19)

. The waters of the Niger can efface the stain from the body, but they cannot wipe out an insult. (pg. 20)

. In a great effort he straightened up and was on his feet at one go ñ but the great bar of iron was twisted and had taken the form of a bow. (pg. 21)

. The multitude loves and fears strength. (pg. 22)

. Each is the child of his mother; the child is worth no more than the mother is worth. (pg. 22)

. The snake has no legs yet it is as swift as any other animal that has four. (pg. 22)

. He also listened to the history of the kings which Balla FassÈkÈ told him;

enraptured by the story of Alexander the Great, the mighty king of gold and silver, whose sun shone over quite half the world. (pg. 23)

. He already had that authoritative way of speaking which belongs to those who are destined to command. (pg. 23)

. The snake seldom bites the foot that does not walk. (pg. 24)

. But nothing can be done against a heart full of kindness. (pg. 26)

. You cannot choose your relatives but you can choose your friends. (pg. 27)

. I will go and finish my days among my kinsfolk and I will say that I had a son who was afraid to rule. (pg. 27)

. He would reign alone for power could not be shared. (pg. 28)

. Our action is not us for it is commanded of us. (pg. 28)

. His body became sturdy and his misfortunes made his mind wise. (pg. 28)

. Menís wisdom is contained in proverbs and when children wield proverbs it is a sign that they have profited from adult company. (pg. 29)

. Fear enters the heart of him who does not know his destiny, whereas Sundiata knew that he was striding towards a great destiny. (pg. 29)

. God is the guestís tongue. (pg. 29)

. Thereís one that will make a great king.  He forgets nobody. (pg. 34)

. Modesty is the portion of the average man, but superior men are ignorant of humility. (pg. 34)

. It is destiny that sent you to Mema.  I will make a great warrior out of you. (pg. 37)

. Those who did not love him feared him and his voice carried authority.  The kingís choice was approved of both by the army and the people; the people love all who assert themselves over them. (pg. 37)

. The griot always has a weakness for music, for music is the griotís soul. (pg. 39)

. Kings are only men, and whatever iron cannot achieve against them, words can. (pg. 40)

. Every king wants to have a singer to perpetuate his memory, for it is the griot who rescues the memories of kings from oblivion, as men have short memories. (pg. 41)

. But whoever knows the history of a country can read its future. (pg. 41)

. Other peoples use writing to record the past, but his invention has killed the faculty of memory among them. (pg. 41)

. The prophets did not write and their words have been all the more vivid as a result. (pg. 41)

. With them (peoples with a written history) everybody thinks he knows, whereas learning should be a secret. (pg. 41)

. The fortified town of Sosso was the bulwark of fetishism against the word of Allah. (pg. 41)

. Sooumaoro was not like other men, for the jinn had revealed themselves to him and his power was beyond measure. (pg. 41)

. His greatest pleasure was publicly to flog venerable old men. (pg. 41)

. Oh! How power can pervert a man. (pg. 42)

. Whatever rank you may hold here, leave all these honors and come and deliver your fatherland. (pg. 45)

. Sundiata got up and all the envoys stood up while Djata went out. He was already king. (pg. 46)

. How ungrateful, thought the king, the son of another is always the son of another. (pg. 46)

. Give him the land for if he reconquers his kingdom he will deal gently with you, your family, and his will be forever allied. (pg. 47)

. The snake, manís enemy, is not long-lived, yet the serpent that lives hidden will surely die old. (pg. 47)

. No matter how small a forest may be, you can always find ther sufficient fibres to tie up a man. Numbers mean nothing; it is worth that counts. (pg. 48)

. The battle of NeguÈboria showed Djata, if he needed to be shown, that to beat the king of Sosso other weapons were necessary. (pg. 52)

. As usual, the men grouped themselves by tribes and busied themselves cooking their food. (pg. 53)

. In the same way as light preceded the sun, so the glory of Sundiata, overleaping the mountains, shed itself on all the Niger plain. (pg. 54)

. I have come back, and as long as I breathe Mali will never be in thrall ñ rather death than slavery. (pg. 56)

. With scrupulous care, Sundiata had made his preparations at Sibi. (pg. 56)

. In order to defeat Soumaoro it was necessary first of all to destroy his magical power. (pg. 56)

. You know that he has never thought ill of you, and besides, all that was in his destiny. (pg. 57)

. I knew how to flatter him and make him jealous. (pg. 57)

. Oh son of Sogolon, I am the word and you  are the deed, now your destiny begins. (pg. 58)

. There would not be any heroes if deeds were condemned to manís forgetfulness, for we ply our trade to excite the admiration of the living, and to evoke the veneration of those who are to come. (pg. 58)

. Balla FassÈkÈ mentioned all the chiefs by name and they all performed great feats; then the army, confident in its leadership, left Sibi. (pg. 59)

. Those fighting should make a declaration of their grievances to begin with (pg. 60)

. After the war of mouths, swords had to decide the issue. (pg. 61)

. I defend the weak, I defend the innocent, Fakoli. You have suffered an injustice so I will render you justice, but I have my lieutenants about me and I would like to know their opinions. (pg. 61)

. Justice had to be granted to the man who came to implore justice. (pg. 61)

. Sixteen generations have consolidated their power. (pg. 62)

. I would have you know, son of Sogolon, that there is not room enough for two kings around the same calabash of rice. (pg. 62)

. When a new cock comes to the poultry run the old cock picks a quarrel with him and the docile hens wait to see if the new arrival asserts himself or yields. (pg 63)

. Strength makes a law of its own self and power allows no division. (pg. 63)

. You have the strength and majesty of the lion, you have the might of the buffalo. (pg. 63)

. By what distinguished actions will our sons be brought to regret not having lived in the time of Sundiata? (pg. 63)

. But words are nothing but words; power lies in deeds. (pg. 63)

. A great blackbird flew over above the fray and he understood. It was a bird of misfortune. (pg. 65)

. Sosso is now a spot where guinea fowl and young partridges come to take their dust baths. (pg. 69)

. Sosso the Proud is nothing but a memory in the mouths of griots. (pg. 70)

. After the destruction of Soumaoroís capital the world knew no other master but Sundiata. (pg. 70)

. The arms of Sundiata had subdued all the countries of the savanna. (pg. 72)

. One by one all the kings received their kingdoms from the very hands of Sundiata, and each one bowed before him as one bows before a Mansa. (pg. 78)

. I give the KouyatÈs the right to make jokes about all the tribes, and in particular about the royal tribe of Keita. (pg. 78)

. Sundiata pronounced all the prohibitions which still obtain in relations between the tribes. (pg. 78)

. A year of war had emptied all the granaries so each came to take his share of the king of Sossoís reserves. (pg. 79)

. With Sundiata peace and happiness entered Niani. (pg. 81)

. He was feared, but loved as well. He was the father of Mali and gave the world peace. (pg. 82)

. Mali keeps its secrets jealously. (pg. 83)

. But never try. Wretch. To pierce the mystery which Mali hides from you. Do not ever go into the dead cities to question the past, for the spirits never forgive. Do not seek to know what is not to be known. (pg. 84)

. Everywhere I was able to see and understand what my masters were teaching me, but between their hands I took and oath to teach only what is to be taught and to conceal what is to be kept concealed. (pg. 84)

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