History Myth / FulaniMythology

* MismatchedEyes: Kobbu-Nollu had one brown or red eye and one milky white eye.

* {{Animorphism}}: After failing to destroy Bagumawel’s uncles with the stone coffins, Njeddo Dewal turns into a magnificent stallion that prince Sakkai just had to have.
* BeautyEqualsGoodness: Subverted in the case of Njeddo Dewal and her entourage of seven beautiful courtesans when they arrived in a city of Heli to seduce Bagumawel’s uncles yet again.

** [[DownplayedTrope Not quite buried]], but Bagumawel’s uncles are trapped inside of seven stone coffins by Njeddo Dewal after she lures then from the safety of Heli and Yoyo.

* ChaseSceneObstacleCourse: Bagumawel conjures a gaping abyss, raging river, gigantic mountain, and burning plain to slow down the pursuit of Njeddo Dewal. This successfully throws her off their trail.

** Njeddo Dewal sleeps near the grave of Kikala the first man and magically realizes Bagumawel was born to destroy her.

* EnfantTerrible: Bagumawel speaks before he is even born, shocking his mother Wamnde and everyone else. He declares he will save his uncles from Njeddo Dewal and names himself.

* FamilialCannibalismSurprise: Njeddo Dewal’s daughters applied suction cups to Bagumawel’s brothers each night they spent together in preparation of feeding, but were thwarted by him staying awake to distract them each time. On the seventh night the brothers put the suction cups on the demonesses and swapped clothing with them. Njeddo Dewal was extremely hungry and feasted upon them before decapitating them. The next morning she woke up and realized she drained her own daughters.

* EvenEvilHasLovedOnes: Njeddo Dewal absolutely adored Bagumawel in his calf form. She didn’t even get angry when he wandered off. So he took advantage of this to wander a long way away and she sent the children she kidnapped to recover him. Once they were at a safe distance he turned back into a boy and led the children home by a trail of ants.

* FriendlyNeighborhoodSpider: Hammadi asks the Spider Queen to send for the flies to find Bagumawel.

* HostileTerraforming: Njeddo Dewal turns Weli Weli into a ruinous hellscape while trying to catch Bagumawel and his brothers fleeing her.

* IHaveYourWife: Njeddo Dewal demands the king of Heli and Yoyo give her 20 young men as well as Bagumawel if he ever wanted to see his son again. The king said no but Bagumawel and the young nobles were willing to go anyway.

* IOweYouMyLife: When Hammadi uncle of Bagumawel asks Koumbasara for help the snake god gladly does so in remembrance of his own rescue from Njeddo Dewal’s prison.

* KidHero: Bagumawel was a newborn who looked seven. He was sent by Gueno to defeat Njeddo Dewal.

* LuredIntoATrap: After Bagumawel spares her following the Sakkai episode Njeddo Dewal burrows underground and replaces the ancient jujube tree with a decoy. When mortal children gathered to play on it, she flew off with them.

** The skull is used by Bagumawel to locate his kidnapped uncles and learn how to destroy the stone coffins.
** Bagumawel later consults the skull to learn the whereabouts of prince Sakkai who had gone missing.
** Hammadi eldest uncle of Bagumawel asks the skull what to do about the hostage situation involving Sakkai.

* OurDwarvesAreAllTheSame: Averted in the case of the Yaamana-Juuju. Also known as Bagumaawel, they are servants of the god Kaidara. Resembling little old men with long beards, they stand about two elbow-lengths high. They wield enormous magical powers and are fond of shapeshifting.

* PrivacyByDistraction: In the lair of Njeddo Dewal Bagumawel prevents her from feeding on his brothers in the night by asking her to do absurd things like make him a cup of water but using a net to collect the water. This goes on for six days before she becomes frustrated.

* SelfAppliedNickname: Bagumawel nicknames himself “Gael Walo” or the Young Bull of Walo.

* TagalongKid: Subverted. Bagumawel despite looking seven years old is the hero who protects his hapless seven uncles. Despite them mistaking him for a petty Suudibe at first and this trope later. He feeds them and defends them from dangers like killer bees until they agree to let him join their quest.

* VirtuousBees: Bagumawel finds a bee among his ancestor’s magic items and it leads him to his trapped uncles. The swarm of bees gather food for them on the journey back.

** Bagumawel turns into the wind and enters the womb of Njeddo Dewal’s favorite white cow. He was born as a magnificent calf.

* WeaksauceWeakness: Njeddo Dewal is vanquished when Bagumawel throws saltpeter on her water elemental form. It burns, poisons, and kills her.

* {{Mordor}}: Weli Weli is the invisible city of Njeddo Dewal.

** Koumen uses the Ostrich egg to cast spells. The Ostrich having protected its eggs using the six pointed star.

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* CreationMyth:

The Fulani (or as they are called by Wolof and French speakers, Peul) are one of the largest ethnic groups in West UsefulNotes/{{Africa}}. Alongside the Mande speakers and the Tuaregs they have been one of the most widely influential groups of people in the Western UsefulNotes/{{Sudan}}. Most research indicates that they have their origin from a synthesis of possibly Afro-Asiatic speaking caucasian pastoralists and Niger-Congo speaking black African farmers. Closely related in language and ethnicity to the Toucouleur of Futa Toro in Senegal, they both belong to the wider Atlantic language family alongside the Wolof and Serer.

The history of the Fulani has been one of near constant migrations since around the 14th century AD or the height of the Mali empire, which have given them a range from their homeland of Futa Toro across the Sahel to the modern state of Sudan. Cattle are life to the Fulani, and they are very rarely (usually never) eaten. The Fulani had both symbiotic and antagonistic relationships with the settled peoples wherever they went. Furious raids before melting back into the grasslands made them feared warriors throughout the region as much as the desert Tuaregs from the north. However they were often the only source of dairy products for settled communities as well. Fulani society is divided into four main castes whose names are different from group to group: Nobles, merchants, artisans, and slaves.

Alienated by the power of pagan or half-pagan Mande, Songhai, Kanuri, and Hausa kings the highly mobile Fulani would convert to Islam en masse under the rallying cry of charismatic fundamentalist leaders such as Usman Dan Fodio or Al Hajji Umar Tall throughout the 18th and 19th centuries. They sought to restore pure Islam and emancipate the dispersed Fulani from the rule of whichever local sovereign they lived under. Powerful states with Fulani rulers arose such as Futa Toro, Futa Jallon, Massina, and the Sokoto Caliphate. The wars between the Fulani and the pagan powers contributed to the stream of slaves for the Americas as well as North Africa.

In spite of all this, the traditional beliefs of the Fulani have not been entirely stomped out despite the best efforts of extremists. What is fortunate about many Sahelian traditional religions is their esoteric nature: only initiates may access the true knowledge of the universe. Like the initiation of the Mande peoples, Fulani initiation is a lifelong process through three main sequences: 21 years of apprenticeship, 21 years of practice, and 21 years of teaching. When a man was fully initiated he was a “Silatigi” or one who knows of the mysterious. The Silatigi was a priest, diviner, herbalist, and teacher among other things.

* TheAgeless: The black scorpions were older than the mountains, elephants, vultures, baobobs, and even Kikala the first man.

** Ndomayiri is part of this mythology as well.

** The Suudiibe are the myriad nature spirits that haunt the the worlds for good and ill.
** The 28 Lareeji are lesser in power but very important for the Fulani as they control the well being of herders and everything that concerns their lifestyle.

The animated film ''WesternAnimation/KirikouAndTheSorceress'' is loosely based on a Fulani {{fairy tale}} called Fereyel and Debbo Engal the Witch.

The Fulani (or as they are called by Wolof and French speakers, Peul) are one of the largest ethnic groups in West Africa. Alongside the Mande speakers and the Tuaregs they have been one of the most widely influential groups of people in the Western Sudan. Most research indicates that they have their origin from a synthesis of possibly Afro-Asiatic speaking caucasian pastoralists and Niger-Congo speaking black African farmers. Closely related in language and ethnicity to the Toucouleur of Futa Toro in Senegal, they both belong to the wider Atlantic language family alongside the Wolof and Serer.

The animated film ''WesternAnimation/KirikouAndTheSorceress'' is loosely based on a Fulani {{fairy tale}}.

* TurtlePower: Bawamnde, Koubbu, and Sire ride a giant turtle across the sea to the island of the Scorpion Queen who puts them under her protection.

* BalefulPolymorph: Sire was a sorcerer imprisoned and transformed into a HumanoidAbomination by Njeddo Dewal in order to keep anyone from discovering the nature of her being. He was somewhere between man, beast, and plant before his rescue by Bawamnde.

* TheLostWoods: Toggal Balewal was the domain of Njeddo Dewal and Dandi after their marriage.

* AlternateCompanyEquivalent: The old woman who goads Ilo’s wife into seeing Tyanaba is a Fulani variant of or influenced by the Myth/MandeMythology Muso Koroni.

* BuriedAlive: Not quite buried, but Bagumawel’s uncles are trapped inside of seven stone coffins by Njeddo Dewal after she lures then from the safety of Heli and Yoyo.

* CrossoverCosmology: Tyanaba was recognized as the Myth/MandeMythology Ninkinanka.

* DivineRanks: Koumen is subordinate to Tyanaba who is subordinate to the almighty Gueno.

* DreamingOfThingsToCome: Welore the wife of Bawamnde has a dream about giving birth to seven sons and a daughter. The daughter will bear a son who will vanquish Njeddo Dewal.In order to accomplish this, Bawande had to sacrifice a one-eyed deaf-mute sheep in Weli Weli.

* GeometricMagic: Koumen uses the Ostrich egg to cast spells. The Ostrich having protected its eggs using the six pointed star.

* HorseOfADifferentColor: Bawamnde rode a flying python.

* JustSoStory: Ilo’s wife was concerned about the mystery person he visited each day with milk that she peeked over the wall of Tyanaba’s compound to see him at the urging of her old hairdresser. As soon as eye contact was made Tyanaba grew to enormous size and left the ruined compound for the Niger River. Ilo tried to catch up for days until Tyanaba had pity and told him about his prohibition. Tyanaba could not reside with him anymore, but he did summon numerous cattle from the river and told Ilo he could have as many as he could touch with his walking stick. So Ilo frantically tapped cattle in the darkness as the herd followed Tyanaba into the depths of Lake Debo. This made Ilo the first shepherd, and is the reason the Fulani use their trademark “Nelbi” walking sticks.

* OracularHead: Bawamnde carries around the skull of his grandfather which gives him advice on his adventures.

* RuleOfSymbolism: Tyanaba figures in the initiation as a symbol of the metamorphosis a man must go through. Like Tyanaba he must shed his skin to begin anew.

* SecretTestOfCharacter: Koumen offers Sile Sadio many wonders through his magic, but Sile Sadio only wants wisdom. For this reason Koumen deems him worthy.

* SpeaksFluentAnimal: This happens after an initiate sucks the tongue of the master.
** One of Koumen’s talents.
* SwallowedWhole: Bawamnde and his companions were saved from Njeddo Dewal’s fire powers by hiding inside a giant gecko, who brings them through the tunnels in the mountain.
** They later get swallowed up and excreted by a Palm Tree, finding themselves underground.

* ThresholdGuardians: Koumen must test Sile Sadio’s sincere desire for wisdom before he can proceed.

* VoluntaryShapeshifting: Koumen is able to transform into whatever shape pleases him. He is black when dealing with minerals, he is white when caring for wild game, and he is red when acting on Tyanaba’s orders to care for livestock.

!! Works inspired by Fulani Mythology:
* WesternAnimation/KirikouAndTheSorceress