This often happens in history, at least in epic history.  These epic tales are “royal history,” that is, narratives for kings and more particularly for their sons, who have to learn from them how to rule their nations.  The epic tale is a lesson in politics.

The end of Wagadu

The fourth time that Wagadu fell, it was through discord, as the sage had predicted.  Sila Mabo was the king who had inherited Dama Ngile’s sword, long after Dama Ngile had died as king of Jerra.  Sila Mabo’s half brother, Bey Tergisi, was ugly:  His face was scarred, and his body was full of pockmarks.  That is why he refused to see his wife in the daytime.  He would only meet her at night.

The handsome Sila Mabo coveted his brother’s wife, so he said to her one day: “Do you know that your husband is the ugliest man in Wagadu? If you do not believe me, pretend tonight that you have lost a ring under the bed.”  That night the curious woman asked her husband to light a candle.  “I have lost my ring under the bed.”

If only she had been content to have a husband whom she never saw! Tergisi struck a light and his wife saw the scars on his face.  Suspicious of her actions, he made her confess who had given her the idea of discovering his deformity.  She told him that it was Sila Mabo and he swore: “That affront will be avenged!”

So Tergisi went to see Sira Nomogo, an old wise woman who knew magic.  After listening to his tale she said: “You must give me seventeen slaves and the eye of your best friend.”  Tergisi rounded up seventeen men and brought them to the lady Nomogo.  Then he went to his best friend and asked for an eye.  The friend, whose name was Siatigi, said, “Take my eye if you need it, my friend.”

Sira Nomogo took the eye and made a strong medicine with it, saying, “Take this, swim across the river, rub your whole body with it on the other bank, then swim back, but never show fear.”  Tergisi took the medicine, swam across the river, stood on the other bank and rubbed himself with the shining-eye medicine.