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“I have come back, and as long as I breathe Mali will never be in thrall - rather death than slavery.”

As reported by Djibril Tamsir Niane · Sundiata: An Epic of Old Mali, recorded from the griot Djeli Mamoudou Kouyaté, trans. G. D. Pickett (1965), p. 56 — his address to the clans at Sibi

Context The line belongs to the epic's account of the Mande clans swearing alliance at Sibi before the march on Soumaoro, in the version recorded from the griot Djeli Mamoudou Kouyate.

Portrait of Sundiata Keïta
Sundiata KeïtaMali · c. 1217–1255 (reigned c. 1235–1255)
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