Listen to me, children of the Bright Country, and hear the great deads of ages past. . . .This is the story of Sundiata, son of the kings of Mali in the time of the great trading empires of Africa, some eight hundred years ago.

As a boy, Sundiata was unable to speak or walk. Overcoming these obstacles, he was made his father's heir, but was driven into exile by a rival queen. A few years later, Mali was overrun by the forces of a sorcerer king, and the eighteen-year-old Sundiata returned to his homeland to defeat the intruder and claim the throne. 

Distilled from the unbroken oral tradition of the griots, this inspiriting tale of courage and determination lives anew in David Wisniewski's powerful retelling and in the spectacular images of his cut-paper illustrations.

From the dust jacket