Selected Excerpts

I. The Ancestor found in the forest

Long ago, perhaps in the time of King Danke, perhaps of his father, two hunters from Bandoumkassa went into the forest. At the heart of the forest, in a clearing no man had ever cleared, they saw a child. A newborn. Placed there, as if the earth had just laid him down. But this child was no ordinary child. A powerful aura surrounded him, so dense they could not approach. — Book I

II. First law of the Takunga

If you enter sorcery, you will not be able to kill anyone but yourself. — Book II

III. The founding scene at Kolla

And it was as I ran toward her that I heard. I heard my father say to my grandfather, to his own father: "I did not give you my son so that you could use him to despise me." And I heard my grandfather answer, calmly, without shouting, without yielding: "I have already told you. If I am no longer here, he is my successor. Not you." — Book V

IV. Doctor Ibrahim

I don't know how to tell you, but the one who is with you, your Ancestor, is a God. I can see him through you, he is with you. How can I explain? He is in heaven and I see a white crown around his head, like what is shown when depicting Jesus or the angels. — Book IV

V. The sacred place, July 27, 2024

Before speaking, she performed the gesture that opens the door of the Ancestors: she poured the jujubes. She held my hand. And she said: "Here is the very one you chose." And after that, as if freed from a weight she had carried all her life, she added: "You may take me now. I am ready. I have spoken the truth." — Book VII

VI. A quiet universalism

The Ancestor whom Doctor Ibrahim sees as a white crown in heaven, the one Brother Arnaud serves under the name of Christ, and the Nsi my grandparents served — share one common denominator: God, the good, the true, the just. — Book X

VII. Epilogue

The stone is still there. Those who wish to see it will see it. Those who wish, in thought, to weigh it, will weigh it. The stone needs neither believers nor skeptics. It simply is. — Epilogue