Lagarre, having obtained Tabele, confronts the great serpent Bida and negotiates his rights to rule the lost city of Wagadu.

King Lagarre married the daughter of the leading chief in his kingdom and had a large family.  His eldest son succeeded him when, after a long and peaceful reign, the king finally died.  The son, too, died after many years and was succeeded by his eldest son.  Wise kings preserve the peace in their kingdom so that prosperity will increase.  As long as the king is wise, his subjects will not be foolish.  They can only hope that it will last as long as God permits.

In the city of Wagadu there were many people who appeared suddenly, because the city was now blessed with a good, wise king.  That is how the saga expresses an evolution that in reality took many years to develop.  A wise king will attract people the way a fertile valley will attract many settlers.  The people will come and beg the king to allow them to “build” (to cultivate crops and raise a family) on his land.  The wise king will then assign each man a plot of land where he can build a house, plant crops, raise a family, and worship his god in the manner his parents taught him.  In this way a wise king is the creator of his nation, because people who come to him from different lands are welded together by the king into one nation.  Thus what the saga represents as a sudden creation was in reality the reward of sagacity, that is, of the king’s wisdom.

Jan Knappert is a lecturer at the School of Oriental and African languages at the University
of London.