FEATURE 98 two hunters—the power to kill me lies in this marvelous weapon. My children, I give you my spindle and my distaff. Here is my little bow for threshing the cotton to be spun: my children, I also give you this bow.”53 Speaking directly to the hunter who will kill her, she says: “Here, young man, take this distaff, take this egg, go into the Ourantamba plain where I graze on the king’s crops. Before using your bow, point this distaff at me three times and then use your bow ….”54 The spindle and the distaff refer to techniques of weaving, which, along with other tools for ginning or carding cotton, Cissé and Kamissoko describe as “ultimate instruments of the black magic practiced by women.”55 Speech is considered active because of its performative qualities, and in Mande oral traditions weaving is directly related to the “fabric” of words.56 The advice Dô Kamissa provides regarding these tools will lead to her own death, but she is willing to sacrifice herself solely because both huntsmen showed respect for her.57 FIG. 14: CT scans of figure 1, opaque 3D views taken from the side. © Dr. Marc Ghysels, Brussels. for good or evil purposes. These three examples of IND sculptures indicate that we are in the domain of the interpretation of a primary story, either as recited by the griots, whose families have passed on a specific version of the story for generations,48 or as depicted by the artists who modeled the clay of the terracotta figures. These variations support rather than undermine the hypothesis of a common fund of historical events that the oral tradition has embellished with familiar details. Apart from the hump that is so obviously characteristic of Sogolon, among the other features shared by the three statues is the strange sternal protrusion. This could be symbolic of the close relationship, bordering on fusion (sister or double), between Sogolon and the buffalo woman (see fig. 15), who terrorizes the Dô. It can also be literally interpreted. In some stories the buffalo woman warns the hunters that Sogolon has something on her chest,49 something dangerous that can injure them. This brings supernatural powers to mind and indeed Sogolon can fight off assailants by shooting porcupine quills from between her breasts, as a suitor discovered: She ejected two porcupine quills from her chest and they stuck in him. He jumped up and fell on the ground. He spent the rest of the night sleeping on the opposite side of the room, Because of her sorcery.50 Sorcery aside, another explanation may lie in her medical condition. Clasping a person with a sternal protrusion in a passionate embrace will immediately reveal the prickly metaphor. Certain aspects of the epic cannot be translated in visual terms. For example, some versions mention a spindle and a distaff when the buffalo is talking to the two hunters, who will eventually kill her, instructing them exactly how to accomplish this:51 “Indeed, I, the buffalo of Dô, I cannot be killed by a bullet; 52 no buffalo bullet can kill me, the buffalo of Dô … she raised her spindle high in the air and showed it to the
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