Part I: The Buffalo Woman

After giving his lineage and justifying his right to tell the tale, the narrator begins the story of Sundiata by telling how Sundiata's mother and father came to be married. Sundiata's father, Maghan Kon Fatta, rules Mali. He has one wife, Sassouma Be'rete', and a son named Dankaran Touman. One day a hunter comes to Maghan Kon Fatta's court, bringing part of his catch in homage to the ruler, as was customary. The king asks the hunter, who is also a fortune-teller, to throw his cowry shells in a divination ceremony to reveal the future. Speaking in obscure language, the hunter reveals that the king's successor is not yet born, and that his heir will come from a hideous woman brought by two strangers.

Some time later, two hunters appear at court from the land of Do with a veiled woman hunchback. The...