Mamadi attacks and kills Bida, the serpent benefactor of the city of Wagadu, in order to rescue his lover Sia Yatta–Bari. The girl was saved but the city was lost.

The mythical city of Wagadu was located in the Upper Volta region of West Africa and is believed to be an idealized compilation of four historical places, Jerra, Agada, Ganna, and Silla, which date from antiquity. These bardic accounts were first collected by Leo Frobenius between 1899 and 1915. In the two stories published in the July issue of The World & I, the city is lost for the first time, then rediscovered by a great prince, Lagarre. Our story continues from that point.

Wagadu, the great city, lived, prospered, and grew rich and famous. Every year a girl was sacrificed to Bida, the giant serpent who lived in a pond near the great river. And once a year Bida flew over the city, spewing gold from her huge mouth like golden rain, like sun-mist.

In the year where we again take up the thread of our history of Wagadu, the name of the girl on whom the lot had fallen to be sacrificed was Sia Yatta-Bari.