Musa Nyame and The Hira

The myth I read was “Musa Nyame and The Hira.” This myth was interesting to me because it is from the same area as “Sundiata.” The Mali empire, which stretched down the Niger river, through modern day Mali and Nigeria, is the location of this myth. Because of this, many of the same societal attitudes in Sundiata are present in this myth. For instance, the role of magic is similar in the two myths. In Musa Nyame, magic is used both by the hira (the beast they hunt) and the humans. Just as in Sundiata, the main conflict arises between a warrior and a magical enemy. The Hira uses magic to transform itself, while Musa Nyame uses strength and weapons to defeat it every time it transforms. This shows to me the acceptance of magic as a force that should work in harmony with fighting strength and valor. Most interesting to me is the casual mention of many different spells, such as Musa transforming the elephant into a camel, and Meynsata going through all the spells she knows from her family. Magic, based on my interpretation of the text, is a natural force that does not even deserve special mention. Casting a spell is as simple as shooting a bow, and just as common.

The second attitude the myth brings up is the role of women in ancient Nigerian society. At the end of the story, the women believe Meynsata killed the Hira, while the men believe Musa killed it. The last line is “Later, Musa and Meynsata married.” (24) To me, this shows women and men had very independent roles and groups from each other. In a sense, men and women are competing groups, as happens when the Hira is killed. Each group wants to claim the person of their sex did it, rather than come together. However, men are ultimately the superior group, as Meynsata admits Musa was the one who killed the Hira and saved her. To me this story reflects on the general gender structure and the roles of the sexes in Nigeria. The last line indicates marriage is the bond that keeps these two groups together in one society. Marriage prevents women from becoming too independent, and keeps men in need of women to marry. This is shown in the story because Musa uses magic and force to make Meynsata his wife. Even though throughout the story there is no indication she is interested in him, at the end they are married. This is important in understanding marriage in Nigerian society because it shows marriage is not for love, but for creating bonds between men and women as groups as I said earlier. Marriage is more of a social bond than an individual one, just as in Sundiata. Sundiata marries the ugly hunchback woman because it is his fate for the good of the kingdom. He does not protest that he has no choice in the matter. And even though it is hard for us to understand, it is what was expected both by society and by grooms in the Mali empire.