YMMV / Mande Mythology

• The Woobie: Poor Sogolon Konde was horribly ugly which was bad enough. Sometimes she was born this way, other times she was turned hideous (recklessly being made to wear a magical oracle mask and ride a magic horse) by the sorceress Do Kamissa when she was a small child. She was relentlessly bullied in her village and her own father King Do Moko Niamoko Djata was ashamed of her. Sogolon was the only girl of her age who hadn't married yet. Then she is handed off to two strangers as a reward for killing a monster and they try to violate her. She's then married off to a disgusted king who only wants her to be his brood mare for a perfect son. She cries bitterly while the women of Niani make her up like a bride and pelt her with a torrent of insults. She resists her groom for about a week and he eventually has his way with her while she is unconscious after being terrorized into fainting. Her jealous co-wife then tries to kill her unborn baby twice. And when her son is finally born he is an ugly paraplegic, resulting in even more constant humiliation. Eventually Sassouma Berete convinces Maghan the Handsome to make Sogolon live near the trash heap as a pariah. It makes Sundiata awakening his latent powers and (literally) standing up for her more cathartic.