The Lion of Mali

Sunny Hao, Meher Jabbar, Safura Syed

Once upon a time, in a land far far away named Mali...

...there lived a king and queen. They ruled over a beautiful and wealthy kingdom.

The king and queen were expecting a baby boy.

When the people of Mali heard the news they happily danced and sang for days. They celebrated with mountains of delicious food and fun.

One day a magical genie came to visit the king and queen. He told them, “Your son will be a powerful and kind hearted king.”

Hearing this, the couple became very happy and proud., and decided to name their son sunjata, which meant lion.

Sunjata grew up to be a kind and loving prince who was admired by all. He loved nature and animals, and always tried to help people whenever he could.

Soon, Sunjata grew up and traveled to the countryside. One cold night, Sunjata was getting ready to set up his tent, he noticed animals shivering and huddling together for warmth.

Sunjata greeted them and introduced himself as the prince of Mali.

Then, he showed them how to collect firewood to start a fire to keep themselves warm through the night.

One day Sunjata heard that his father had fallen ill and His brother Dankaran had taken over the throne. Sunjata rushed back to the city to see his brother.

He saw that the people who had once been so happy and rich, were now sad and poor.

The palace was more grand than it had ever been. The royals had feasts everyday, while the people had nothing to eat.

Upset by seeing his people so hungry and sad, Sunjata challenged his brother for the throne to bring back happiness to the kingdom.

In order to win the throne, the two brothers would see who could move the large boulder that was stuck in the center of the town.