SUNJATA: Prologue
Lyrebird Productions
in Association with Le Societe du Manden Djelilu International, Presents:
SUNJATA:
An Audio Cinema Series
PROLOGUE
EXT. TOWN OF DO NI KRI/SANKARAN, DUSK
SOUND: We hear the rushing of the river, then the calling of an evening bird, perhaps an owl.
NARRATOR: It is dusk in the town of Sankaran, or the town of Do ni Kiri, depending on who you ask- the town is halved by a ribbon of river.
The buildings of the town are of smooth, sun-baked mud brick. Grandest among these is the palace of Mansa Gnemo Diarra or Samo Conde, depending on who you ask- Lord of the House of Condè, spired and crenellated like a gigantic, ornate sandcastle, painted by the setting sun with golden-red and purple shadows. The huts of the people are squat cylinders roofed in shaggy thatch. These are organized in groups of five or six and neatly delineated into family enclosures by low walls or little gardens. Chickens mutter softly in the yards. Lean, sandy-colored dogs laze in the dirt paths.
On the banks of the Sankarani River, some townsfolk take their ease after the evening meal. Men and women lounge on the banks, sharing idle conversation. Some smoke tobacco from rough-carved wooden pipes.
A few of the women have rolled up their lafe- long cloth wraps richly dyed with ornate patterns- to cool their feet in the river. Some are absently fish the shallows with hand-held nets. Some sing a soft call-and-response folk song together.
SOUND: Soft chatter among the women, at first in Maninka, then the English translation filters in.
BAME: Did you hear about the princess?
CESAMA: What about her?
BAME: Eeee! She stormed out of the palace this morning. My cousin saw the whole thing. I heard she made quite a scene!
CESAMA: What was wrong with her?
BAME: I heard it was the king‘s name she was spitting on. As for what it was about, with brothers and sisters, who knows. You should see my two go at each other. They hardly need a reason!
SOUND: As if on cue, we hear the screeching of a young girl of around 14 years old from further down the riverbank.
NARRATOR: BAME’s two children come running down to the riverbank from the town. DENBA, a boy of about 10, has stolen his elder sister, KAFUNE’s lafe. KAFUNE is a tall, slender 14. Unaccustomed as of yet to the new-sprouted length of her limbs, she sprints ungainly after her brother, wearing only her undergarment and an chain of beads wound around her waist to protection from sorcery. She holds in one hand her wooden sandals. General laughter and sounds of amused surprise can be heard from the assemblage of townsfolk on the riverbank.
KAFUNE (yelling from further down the riverbank): Give it back!
DENBA: (big juicy raspberry)
CESAMA: Ah! There go your two now, Bame!
We hear general laughter from among the women.
BAME (shouting down the bank to her son): Eh! DENBA! Give that back to your sister!
The microphone draws close to DENBA. We hear his joyful, impish panting and giggling as he runs away from his sister and ignores his mother.
DENBA(to himself): Won’t catch me if I go in the water....
We hear DENBA begin to slosh into the water.
BAME: Denba! Boy, if you don’t come out of there this instant, you will know me!
KAFUNE: (reaching the riverbank now): You think I won’t come in there after you??? I can swim!
BAME: Kafune, don’t you go in after him! (Sucks her teeth as she sees FATOU ignore her) ugh! And there she goes. This girl!
CESAMA (concerned): Bame, the river is deeper than it looks out there...
BAME: What do you mean? Denba is half Kafune’s height and he looks like his feet are still touching the bottom even way out in the middle there.
CESAMA: No, look. That’s not the bottom. You see, he’s too high up. There’s no way the river’s that low this time of year. He’s standing on something.
BAME: (Squinting at the object). What is that? (She gasps as a sudden realization dawns on her.) DENBA! GET AWAY FROM THERE! NOW!!!
We hear BAME’s labored breathing and her bare feet pounding on the wet earth as she sprints down the riverbank after her children. The laughter of the townsfolk has turned to shouts of alarm.
CESAMA: Get help!
BAME (frantically): Get away, Denba! Get away!
We hear DENBA’s taunting singsong voice from the river: Come get me!
BAME (spits in frustration): Curse that boy! I’m going in after him!
We hear BAME frantically dive into the river.
The mic draws close to DENBA once again.
DENBA: Haha! Mommy’s swimming! Wha- aaaa!
We hear a deep burbling and a rush of water as the thing DENBA has been standing on begins to rise from the river. Sheets of river water stream off the thickly muscled back of a gigantic buffalo, looming over the buildings of the town, its body carved from the night itself. The eyes and wicked horns are molten gold, as are the hooves, each one like an anvil, eerily illuminating the dark waters of the river from beneath the surface. DENBA struggles and fails to keep his footing, and we hear him scream as the BUFFALO tosses its massive head, flinging the boy far away. BAME screams.
A group of warriors arrive and launch spears and arrows at the beast. Some stick in its hide, but the BUFFALO simply shakes itself as though shaking off water, and laughs in a deep, otherworldly, woman’s voice as the missiles go flying in every direction.
We hear deep, guttural ROARS from the buffalo, and screams from the crowd of villagers and children as it commences to trample and gore all of them to death.
THE BUFFALO: Yes, run for your lives, children of the Condes. Your suffering has barely begun.
The screams and sounds of destruction continue, and then gradually fade out.