The Epic of Sundiata (Mande)
Sundiata Keita was the crippled son of King Naré Maghann Konaté and the ugly, hunchbacked woman Sogolon. A prophecy foretold that Sogolon's son would become a great king. After his father's death, Sundiata and his mother were persecuted by the king's first wife and forced into exile. During his exile in the Mema kingdom, Sundiata miraculously learned to walk by using an iron rod from a blacksmith, then a baobab branch. He grew into a powerful warrior. Meanwhile, the sorcerer-king Soumaoro Kanté conquered the Mandinka people. The oppressed called Sundiata back from exile, and at the Battle of K