Griot Kouyata Summary

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Griot Kouyaté, the principal narrator, flows seamlessly in and out of the story of the context in which it is told without precise delineations. Sundiata’s story that is recounted by the griot to Mabo, begins in the 19th frame in the usual form of many stories dating back to an imprecise past: A long time ago! That brief spell is interrupted in the 21st frame by Sitan’s calling of Mabo. That sets in train the gamut of the extra-diegetical flow of their morning routine as a family up to the time when Mabo comes back from school. The Sundiata story resumes in the very close up of the 50th frame of the pensive mood of the Griot Kouyaté narrating the episode of the antelope who wandered in search of water in the time of drought in the land of Wagadu…show more content…
The hunter prophesied that an ugly woman will be brought one day to king’s court, and that he was obliged to marry her. This prophecy was carried out through a divination practice in which the hunter used cowry shells. Such a divination practice was, in itself, a foreboding that there was something amiss in the kingdom that needed to be rectified. From a narrative point of view, the diegetic story telling of the griot takes on mimetic dimensions with the characters speaking out and acting out their parts, as Griot Kuyateh continued lending his imprint on the story. But even as the story of Sundiata progresses, there is a balanced and well mixed used of the diegetic story telling scene of the griot with Mabo and the mimetic rendering of it in the real…show more content…
The buffalo not only held the village hostage, but it also killed scores of very brave hunters. This saga is however put to an end through the bravery, savvy of two Mandé hunters, and the providential surrender of Do Kamissa herself into their hands with the promise that when the king asked them to name a gift in recompense for their bravery for having killed the buffalo, they were to take the ugliest lady of the town of Do and give her a son who was going to determine the future of Mandé. The hunting brothers eventually took Sogolon Kegu (the ugly one) as the king of Do’s gift to them, and left for

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