The Sundiata epic says the king wanted his crippled son to rule, the council crowned his half-brother, and the exiled son came back to found Mali

The Epic of Sundiata is oral tradition passed down by Manding griots. It reached print when Djibril Tamsir Niane published the version of the griot Mamoudou Kouyaté in French in 1960; an English translation followed in 1965. In it, King Naré Maghan already has a son, Dankaran Touman, by his first wife, Sassouma Bérété. Hunters prophesy that an ugly woman will bear him a mighty son, and he marries Sogolon, a hunchbacked woman. Their son Sundiata cannot walk as a child, and Sassouma mocks mother and son. The king wants the prophecy respected. When he dies, the council takes no account of his wish and Dankaran Touman takes the throne. Sassouma, now the all-powerful queen mother, persecutes Sogolon. Sundiata finally walks, using a branch, but mother and children are driven into exile. They cross the Niger, and the kingdom of Mema takes them in. Sumanguru, sorcerer-king of Sosso, conquers Manden and drives Dankaran Touman out. The Mandinka send for Sundiata, who defeats Sumanguru at Krina and is crowned the first Mansa of Mali. Historians treat the epic critically, since few written sources exist before the 14th-century Arab writers. Boston University's teaching guide dates Sundiata's empire-building to 1235 to 1255.