Two Stories Same Truth

"Two Stories Same Truth"

In the narrative of "The Buffalo Women" in Sundiata: Epic of Old Mali and the film clip Keita: The Heritage of the Griot the story is told of the King of Mali, Nare Maghan Kon Fatta, who is approached by a hunter who is passing by his kingdom. The hunter tells him of an ugly women, Sogolon Kenjou , who would approach his kingdom and would bare the seventh conqueror of the earth. He told the king that he should marry this woman so that the child she bares can inherit his kingdom. In the narrative it explains the journey of the two hunters to the kingdom of Do, and the buffalo that they were to kill and be rewarded with any women in the kingdom. The buffalo turned out to be the sister of the king who wanted revenge , she told the soldiers how to kill her and also told them of hunchback women and why she was to be picked by the hunters. The narrative also went into details of the king's marriage to the hunchback women and the kings thoughts of sacrificing her because he thought he misinterpreted the message of the hunter. Both the narrative and the film depict the same story though they were told in different ways

Though both versions told the same story they had some differences. One difference between the narrative and the film was the way the story was told. In the narrative the hunter explained the purpose of the kings marriage to the ugly women, Sogolon Kenjou. While in the film clip he only told the king that he was to marry her. Also in the film clip the king tells the griot that he didn't believe what the hunter had told him. That he thought the hunter was mocking the destiny of his kingdom, while in the narrative the king embraces this message and believes that hunter. In both stories the hunter came about this information though the cowries but one was more detailed than the other in telling the story. Another difference in the way the two versions were told is that in the narrative it was that King Nare Maghan Kon Fatta was King of Mali. While in the film clip the man telling the story, D'Jeliba, calls him the King of Mande. Mande refers to the specific culture while Mali just refers to the place in general. This shows the differences in the way the narrator described the story.

In the film the person telling the story name is D'Jeliba, and he is telling Mebo, the young boy, the tale of the griot. His telling of the story compared to the narrative where very similar. The form that is used in which the story is told by both works is different, though both versions tell the same story. D'Jeliba tells the story in such a way as to pass down the heritage of Mali and the past of Mebo's ancestor. He tells of the dry planes and drought over the kingdom that is not described in the narrative.

Between the narrative and the film both depicted thirteenth century Africa in the same way in my opinion.