African Stories (Lang) - Reading Diary B

The second half of the African Stories unit contained stories of Hassebu, The Heart of a Monkey, and Makoma. I found the story of Makoma to be the most interesting of them all. Makoma was born a big and strong man, so it was evident that he was different from other humans from the start. When his mother asked what he should be called, he told her to have all of the great men of the village gather at a river. At the river, he asked them all who would jump into the river and fight the crocodiles. When none of the men volunteered, he did it himself. Thus, he became known as Makoma, which translates to “the greater”. He then traveled through the lands to find a new home. Along the way, he encountered several different giants and defeated them with his iron hammer. The fact that he carried an iron hammer as a weapon reminds me of Thor. After defeating the giants, they shrank and he took them as servants. He eventually found plains with game and many trees and decided to make it his home. There, he was told by a voice that he must go find and fight Sakatirina, the biggest and strongest giant of them all. He traveled until he found the home of Sakatirina. The legs of the giant were said to look like mountains, and the rest of his body was not visible because it was above the clouds. The two fought endlessly with no winner. Eventually, a god told them that they were both so great that they would live in the heavens with the gods, and that was the end of the story. This story also reminds me of Heracles, as a single man defeats several fierce enemies and becomes a god because of it.

(Image of Makoma jumping into the pool of crocodiles. Source: Un-textbook)