Faran Maka the Fisher-Giant

Songhai · demigod · Songhay heroic age; ancestor of the sorko praise singers · demigod

Hero/culture-hero tier entered as demigod: son of a mortal fisherman (Nisile Bote) and a river-spirit (Maka). 'Bote' = fisherman. The sorko priest-bards trace their line to him. Principal scholarship: Stoller (1989); Rouch (1960/1989).

Domains

fishing river mastery
magic sorcery

Powers

to overpower river-spirits with greater magic
to harpoon hippopotamus in the great river
wield the strength of a giant
win mastery of the Niger by defeating Zinkibaru

Relations

enemy: Lord of the River-Spirits
student: Thunder

Sources

Paul Stoller, Fusion of the Worlds: An Ethnography of Possession among the Songhay of Niger (1989), esp. ch. 4 on sorko descended from Faran Maka Bote
Jean Rouch, La religion et la magie songhay (1960/1989)

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