A father, at his death, left two orphans: a son, Daouda, and a daughter, Aïssata. The latter was so pretty that her brother feared that the king might take it from him by force. So he built, in his own field, a hut where he lodged it to shield it from his sight. He ceased to live in the village and lived near Aïssata to protect her if need be.
One day when Douada was hunting the elephant, a driver appeared at the door of the hut and asked for a drink. The orphan brought him water. After drinking, the driver told the girl: "You are really pretty! If you consent, I will take you as a wife and I will give you one hundred bulls in dowry.
"Get away quickly," answered Aissata, "my brother will not be long in coming. If he met you here, you'd be a dead man. "
The drover took the warning seriously and fled without even caring for his flock grazing near the orphan's field of millet. Once back in the village, he ran to find the king and said: "Lord, I know where a girl of unparalleled beauty lives and I can bring her to you, provided you give me men for them to take away, for she is guarded by her brother, who is extremely cruel. "
The king escorted the Bouvier by thirty horsemen, whom he guided towards Daouda's hut. When the little troop was not far away, the drover remembered the threat of revenge Aizata had made him. Fear took him back. He stopped short and spoke to his escort: "Circle this box. This is where the pretty girl is, whom we must bring back to the king. As for me, I am going in search of my flock, which has gone astray this morning. "
The horsemen rode to the square. Aïssata, who saw them coming from afar, called his brother, shouting to him: "Here are some horsemen coming to take me away! Daouda immediately ceased his work, returned to the hut to take up arms, and, coming back, the bow stretched out and the quiver in his shoulder, said to his sister, "I am going to kill them all, with the exception of one who will go and announce the death of his companions to the one who sent them here. "
The riders were now close to the box. They were screaming to frighten the defender of Aïssata, but Daouda had begun to shoot his arrows, each of which ran through three to four riders. He thus killed twenty-nine men and spared only the last, who fled and went to warn his master of the disaster.
The king, exasperated, ordered a hundred horsemen and a hundred warriors on foot to seize the girl. Of all these men, he only returned to the village. The others had been killed by Daouda. Successively, the Lord sent several columns which were, one after the other, annihilated by the orphan.
One day an old woman came to find the lord. "You are wasting your warriors without result," she said. If you promise me a present of value, tomorrow you will have in your power the pretty girl, sister of the one who killed more than half of your warriors.
"Find a way to bring me back this girl," said the lord, "and your son will have one of my daughters as a wife. "
The old woman bowed to the king and returned home, where she boiled a soporific plant, and after removing the leaves of this decoction, she diluted millet flour. With this light dough, she prepared pancakes. The old woman then took the path that led to the field of the orphans and, while walking, she cried: "Galettes! Who wants to buy good cakes? "Daouda, who had not tasted these cakes since leaving the village, hailed the old woman, bought two of them and devoured them with good teeth. He had not finished chewing the last bite as soon as he fell to the ground, deeply asleep. The old woman did not waste time. She ran to inform the lord that he could fearlessly send Aïssata by only two men, for his defender would not wake until the next day.
The king despatched two men with orders to seize the orphan. When Aïssata saw them, she shook her brother. " Wake up! Two men come to seize me!
- Pass me my quiver and my bow! Stammered Daouda, without making the least movement, so numbed was he by sleep.
The horsemen seized Aïssata and brought him to the king, who married him. When Daouda came to his senses and realized that his sister had disappeared, he became half mad with rage. He sank into the forest, not wanting to see any human beings anymore. He lived there, hunting with the spirits of the woods; he ate and slept in their company. He had become quite wild; shrubs and herbs were growing on his head.
One day when tired of walking, he had stretched himself under a tree, lumberjacks saw him. They threw themselves on him, tied him up, and dragged him to the village, where they delivered him to the king. The Lord cut down the grasses and shrubs growing on his head; we shaved it completely. Then he was given to Aïssata to keep the child she had from the king.
Aïssata did not recognize his brother in this captive, while Daouda knew immediately that the woman who stood in front of him was his sister. He took the child in his arms and sang: "O, my nephew, have fun! Son of the one I fed with the milk of our father's cows, have fun! "
Aissata, on hearing it, began to shriek. The lord, anxious, hastened at once. "Lord! she said, you made my brother your captive and you gave it to me to keep my son! "
The king asked Daouda if Aïssata was telling the truth. He then told his story. When his story came to an end, his brother-in-law gave him plenty of gold and silver, jewels, horses, cows, and gave him all power over half of the village. Subsequently, he entrusted him with an army to command, for Daouda had proved, at the king's own expense, that he was brave and that he was skillfully shooting at the bow.
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