The Storyline
Based on the Epic of Sundiata, still sung by griots across West Africa. Sundiata Keita was born the son of a king, but he could not walk. He was mocked and exiled while his kingdom fell to the sorcerer-king Soumaoro Kanté. This is the story of how he stood up, gathered the scattered peoples of Manden and founded the Mali Empire.
Chapter I · The Prophecy
A hunter-seer tells King Naré Maghan that a buffalo woman, Sogolon, will bear him a son who will rule the world. The son is born, and for seven years he cannot stand.
Chapter II · The Iron Rod
Shamed by the queen mother, Sundiata calls for an iron rod. The first one bends. The second, forged by the master smiths, holds. The boy rises to his feet and the griots sing for the first time.
Chapter III · Exile
Driven from home, Sundiata and his mother wander from kingdom to kingdom, learning the ways of hunters, kings and warriors. Meanwhile Soumaoro, the sorcerer-king of Sosso, crushes Manden.
Chapter IV · Kirina
Sundiata returns at the head of a united army. At the battle of Kirina he breaks Soumaoro's magic with a single arrow tipped with a white rooster's spur. From the victory comes the Mali Empire and the Kouroukan Fouga, one of the world's earliest charters of rights.
A lion's strength is not in rising first, but in rising.
