Sundiata - Lion King of Mali

I had never heard of this story before reading it today. First off, I really enjoyed the images throughout the story. The images did remind me of the way Disney portrayed the landscape of where their version of the Lion King is set in. The story began with a woman being given away as a piece of gratitude. The woman is used for her body as she is possesses the spirit of the buffalo. The idea that she has the spirit of a buffalo is good as it shows her as "strong and courageous" but the fact that the leaders don't want her to use this spirit for anything other than having a baby is frustrating. If she really possesses this spirit then why don't they have her help rule or lead aspects of the land. Instead, they just want her to have a child who can use this spirit that she possesses to lead. I know that the story is very old and the idea of a woman leader was unheard-of, but it still just seems ridiculous that they have such a powerful and strong woman but the only thing they think that she can contribute is to bear a child.
Maybe the reason that he couldn't walk and his destiny hadn't been fulfilled yet, at the beginning of the story, was because his father was still around. There is always the idea of living in someone else's shadow and how that restricts that person in the shadow from growing into the person they should be. His father believed in him and thought that he should still be king. But after his father died, the council of the elders "paid no attention to his wishes" and made the other son the king. The strong emotion that Sundiata felt was due to embarrassment and sadness. He used this emotion to will himself to stand.
I really liked the line where Balla Fasséké says "The lion is walking". It was a major shift in the story as Sundiata now had the strength to lead. Being unable to walk restricts you from being able to do many things for yourself and causes people to "look down on you" literally and figuratively. The typical image of a leader is one who is tall and strong and powerful. This image is usually represented in a man, who towers over everyone and is looked up to. This might be one reason that kings are always up on thrones and are always bowed to. They are always "above" other people and how could Sundiata be a king if he is always seen as below everyone else.
I also thought it was really interesting that hatred was seen as such a force that had to be avoided so intently. The hatred that the Queen had was so strong that Sundiata had to flee it in order to remain the strong person he is. In a lot of Disney movies, the main character either falls victim to getting sucked into the villain's ploy or has to save someone else from the villain. In this story however, the villain's hatred must be avoided all together in order to save Sundiata.
I also thought it was really interesting how the sorcerer was thrown into the story. I really didn't know how he fully fit into the story and thought it could've been more interesting if he had fought the queen or his half brother.

I had no idea about this story before reading it and wanted to learn more about it and see what aspects of it Disney took from it. Here is a good link to learning more about Disney and how they adapted the version.
https://www.tcdailyplanet.net/lion-king-disney-sundiata/