The Beginning of Troubles

This is part of a series: Njeddo Dewal, Mother of Calamity

At that time, Njeddo Dewal, the maleficent instrument of Guéno's anger, lived in an abode made of tiaïki branches, that magical tree which wilts in the rain and turns green in the heat (24). She was there, with her seven ears and three eyes wide open. When she coughed, sparks sprang from her lungs. When she scratched, bees burst out of her body. If she breathed in front of a tree, the tree would wither. If she screamed at a mountain, the mountain would cave and crumble and turn to sand. So there she was, lurking in her abode, performing her spells, which spread their harmful effects throughout the land of Heli and Yoyo.

One day, Fulani women who had gone to the market to sell their milk found strange things there: containers filled with sheep dung, large bowls containing human excrement, cow dung or lizard droppings, gourds filled with urine and spit, human shin-bones spread on the ground like cassava roots.

“Yoo! Yoo!” cried the Fulani women. “That which is disgusting and stinking has entered the market!”

“What has happened?” they asked each other. They did not know that Guéno had begun to impose their punishment and that Njeddo Dewal, Mother of Calamity, was the agent of its execution.

When the women looked into their calabashes, they saw that the milk had turned to blood and the unskimmed curdled milk (pen’ngal) had turned to pus. They fled and returned home, some to Heli, some to Yoyo, wailing their misfortune everywhere.

These extraordinary events came to the ears of Heli’s king.1 In turn, he informed his people. They all went to Yoyo, the capital where the High king resided. 

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1 Lit. laamdo: “he who commands”. Above the local kings or chiefs, there was a single High king of the Land of Heli and Yoyo. Immediately under him came the king of Heli (25).

He summoned the 22 silatigis and the 56 great shepherds (26) of the land. He asked them to draw up geomantic signs and to interpret them in order to know the meaning of these strange phenomena. Having performed their art, the silatigis concluded that a great misfortune was going to fall upon the country of Heli and Yoyo because the elders had prophesised:

“Woe to the country when milk turns to blood and pus, when excrement and urine are sold at the market! When that time comes, the world will change. Heli and Yoyo will be crushed and ground to dust like flour. The high banks of the rivers will subside like walls of adobe clay torn asunder by a tornado. The riverwater levels will sink to the lowest ebb, the forests will become deserts, the great cities will be nothing but heaps of ruins. Where rivers used to run, only sandbanks will be seen. The great multi-storied mansions will be piled high like dunes, or else like caves where lizards, bats or cockroaches nest. In the fields, the edible calabashes will yield only bitter squash. Women and cows will become sterile, fulsome but unproductive. And if by chance they should give birth, they will not be able to breastfeed their young.

“No one will have pity for what is pitiful! No one will have shame for what is shameful. Each man will work only for himself.2 He will think he is always right and blame his fellow man for his own shortcomings. Everyone will build themselves up by denigrating others, praising their own work, while criticising the work of others.

“You will see people talk and smile with hypocrisy at each other, then mock and call each other names behind their backs.

“Men will resemble dabbling teals.3 When one of these little ducks dives, the others pray, ‘O Guéno! Drown him, prevent him from getting out of the water!’ But as soon as the diver surfaces, they kindly tell him: ‘We were praying for you. Did you catch anything?’

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2 In African tradition, selfish ego is considered the greatest evil. In its extreme form, the one who “does not share” or who lives apart from the community is considered unnatural. Note that in the myth of the creation of the world, it is after Habana-koel (“Every man for himself”) that duality appears, therefore good and evil.

3 A species of small dabbling duck that symbolises hypocrisy.

“In this calamitous time, which will be governed over by the Great Hag, a dark foreboding star will rise in the north (27).

“Then the stranger who comes to stay with you will say, ‘I will not leave!’ He will seal his purse, keep his property and live on yours. Moreover, on the day he does agree to leave, he will expect to receive a gift!

“Indeed, in this cursed time, the Master Initiators will even sleep with their female students.4

“Close friends will sleep with each other’s wives.

“When that time comes, women need say nothing more than: ‘I want to divorce, I will divorce!’ And too bad for the children of the marriage.

“When that time comes, leaders — who can take advantage without risk because they are leaders — will tell brazen lies,5 and the richest will not shy away from stealing from the poorest.

“When that time comes, earth will be believed to be heaven and heaven will be believed to be earth.”6

Such were the predictions. The leaders of Heli and Yoyo asked the silatigis and shepherds:

“Is there a sacrifice that can rid us of this evil or lessen the torment that will erupt like a volcano? What can be done to ensure this calamity is stopped in its tracks, so that this tornado of misfortune will not fall upon the land of Heli and Yoyo and our country will not be destroyed?”

The shepherds turned their eyes to the silatigis,7 because the latter surpassed them in knowledge. 

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4 Symbol of the reversal of values, because the master initiators (silatigis, masters of the earth, masters of the knife etc.) are considered the very model of probity and morality. Their functions are valid and effective only if they respect major prohibitions: to never lie, to not be prejudiced, to not commit adultery, etc..

5 It is said that a chief, or a king, does not have to stoop to lying because, in any case, whatever he does, he runs no risk. In Africa, it is understood that a leader can abuse his power, but never lie. In The Radiance, when Bâgoumâwel gives the royal sceptre to Djendo Diêri, the young king whom he initiated, he tells him (p. 91): “In your speech, let no lie enter, for the end result of one who lies is to be corrupted. He who has power to abuse must never lie.”

6 Symbol of the most extreme confusion, the total upheaval of values.

7 The silatigis, it has been said, represent the supreme degree of Fulani initiation. Every shepherd or initiated pastor dreams one day of becoming silatigi (see Koumen).

It is said that the most difficult thing for a subject to do is to look his king in the eye and tell him the truth without concealing, downplaying or sugar-coating.8 But this is what the silatigis of Heli and Yoyo did without hesitation. Their answer was straight to the point and did not equivocate:

“Nothing can stop this prophecy from coming to pass.

Those who have sinned will pay.9

Heli and Yoyo will be destroyed and the bricks of its dwellings turned to dust.

The tree branches will wither on their trunks.

The rivers will dry up and the grasslands will become bush.

Things will not return to normal until after the death of Njeddo Dewal, mother of calamity.

But alas! The dark night will last long, because she is strong as metal and will not easily melt. (28).” 

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8 In ancient Greek, this was known as parrhesia meaning “speaking truth to power” or “fearless speech”, the latter being the title and subject of French philosopher Michel Foucault’s final book before his death in 1984..
9 Sub-text: those who have not sinned will be saved and will escape calamities.

Endnotes:

24. Wilts in the rain and turns green in the heat: this inversion of phenomena is frequent in the tales. It indicates that we are in another world, to which material laws do not apply. It often occurs in connection with great initiates (e.g. Bâgoumâwel in The Radiance) or great magicians.

25. King: In traditional society, the functions of the king (or chief) were not totalitarian and did not give absolute rights. Kings had to rely on the power of traditional spiritual chiefs, true masters of decisions in their own domain (“Master of the land”, "Master of the blade" or sacrificial priest, Fulɓe silatigi etc.). In addition, they were bound by very strict prohibitions.

26. 22, 56: Among the Fulɓe (as in Islam), the numbers 11. 22 and 56 are powerful numbers, with a very strong symbolic function.

27. Dark Foreboding Star: The appearance of a star is always either a negative sign (as here) or a positive one, as later in the tale when a star announces and precedes the conception of Bàgoumâwel. Whether the star remains visible for a long time or disappears quickly, it is always highly charged with meaning.

28. End of the Prophecy: this description of a society in decline is comparable with descriptions of the same kind in other traditions, especially in Islam. In each case, history is cyclical and there comes an end to each cycle when values become inverted and society experiences a great calamity before starting afresh on new foundations.

Translation from Amadou Hampâté Bâ, Contes initiatiques peuls 

Painting: “The Scream” by Edvard Munch.