Dolo Anah looked up at them. "Each of you must come in turn and look
into the ball," he said.
Faltering, though all eyes were turned to him, Amadijuè led the way. His
eyes rounded, he stared, and they widened still further. For within,
mystery upon mystery, men danced in seeming celebration. It was as
though it was a funeral party but of dimensions never known before, for
there were scores of Kanaga dancers, and, yes, above all other wonders,
some of the dancers were Dogon, without doubt, but others were Mosse and
others were even Tellum!
Amadijuè turned away, shaken, and Dolo Anah spoke sharply, "The rest,
one by one."
They came. The headmen, the Hogons, the witchmen and finally the sons of
the headmen, and each in turn stared into the ball and saw the tiny men
within, doing their dance of celebration, Dogon, Mosse and Tellum
together.
When all had seen, Dolo Anah placed the ball back on the ground and
stared at it and slowly it returned to from whence it came, and Dolo
Anah gently spread dust over the spot. When the floor was as it had
been, he looked up at them, his eyes striking.
"What did you see?" he spoke sharply to Amadijuè.
There was a tremor in the village witchman's voice. "Oh juju, come out
of the sky, I saw a great festival and Dogon danced with their enemies
the Mosse and the Tellum--and, all seemed happy beyond belief."
The stranger looked piercingly at the rest. "And what did you see?"
Some mumbled, "The same. The same," and others, terrified still, could
only nod.
"That is the message I have come to give you. You will hold a great
conference with the people of the Tellum and the people of the Mosse and
there will be a great celebration and no longer will there be Dogon,
Mosse and Tellum, but all will be one. And there will be trade, and
there will be marriage between the tribes, and no longer will there be
three tribes, but only one people and no longer will the headmen and
witchmen of the tribes resist the coming of the new schools, and all the
young people will attend."
Amadijuè muttered, "But, great juju come out of the sky, these are our
blood enemies. For longer than the memory of the grandfathers of our
eldest Hogon we have carried the blood feud with Tellum and Mosse."
"No longer," Dolo Anah said flatly.
Amadijuè held shaking hands out in supplication, to this dominating juju
come out of the skies. "But they will not heed us. Tellum and Mosse have
hated the Dogon for all time. They will wreak their vengeance on any
delegation come to make such suggestions to them."
"I fly to see their headmen and witchmen immediately," Dolo Anah bit out
decisively. "They will heed my message." His tone turned dangerous. "As
will the headmen and witchmen of the Dogon. If any fail to obey the
message from above, their eyes will lose sight, their tongues become
dumb, and their bellies will crawl with worms."
Amadijuè's face went ashen.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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