Summary

In Chapter 5, Kossula told Hurston about a day in which three strange men appeared in the local market in his homeland. They told the locals they were from Dahomey, and that they wanted to see their king. The men claimed their king was the strongest of all the kings, and that he required half of the local people’s crops to keep them safe from war. Kossula’s king, named Akia’on, replied that the crops belonged to the people, and that they weren’t his to give away. Kossula told Hurston that the king of Dahomey was known to have garnered great wealth by capturing people and selling them as slaves.

Kossula then explained how someone from Takkoi, his native kingdom, betrayed his people, and showed the raiders of Dahomey “de secret of de gates,” their most effective method of defense (45). Raiders...