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The First Kings of Mali

• When the book opens, Djeli Mamoudou Kouyaty, a griot, is giving the oral history of the first kings of Mali, a group of religious pilgrims who traveled to Mecca in order to seek Allah's advise.

• Sundiata, the hero of the story, is introduced as a descendant of these early pilgrims. His half-brother and best friend Manding Bory, is also introduced.

The Buffalo Woman

• Sundiata's father and king of Mali, Maghan Kon Fatta, is introduced sitting under a silk-cotton tree with his griot. A hunter approaches the King with the offering of a deer he has killed.

• The king is pleased with the offering and offers the hunter a seat at his dinner that evening. The hunter expresses that he would like to read the king's fortune in the seashells he carries with him.

• The king accepts, even though the hunter is left-handed, a...

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