Chapter 21
- Kunta's buddies back in Juffure are so jealous of his adventure that they give him the silent treatment when he returns.
- He gets back into their graces by regaling them with stories while they watch over the goats.
- Unfortunately, his stories are so good that the boys stop paying attention to their animals, and one of Kunta's is killed by a panther. Kunta rushes towards the panther, which is a serious no-no.
- Luckily, the panther runs off. Phew. Unfortunately for him, however, Kunta's about to deal with something far more intimidating: his father.
- So he carries the bloody goat carcass back to the village. Omoro rushes over with concern on his face, but grows a lot sterner after realizing that the blood doesn't belong to him.
- To our surprise, however, Omoro's big beef is that Kunta rushed towards the panther. That's unsafe. Accidents happen, but they're not worth losing his life over.
Chapter 22
- Kunta's now ten, and he's in the midst of his graduation ceremony. In order to pass, he'll need to perform a variety of tasks, like writing in Arabic and recounting his ancestral history.
- He passes with flying colors. As a reward, his father gives him one female and one male goat, which Kunta will hopefully grow into his own herd.
- There's something weighing heavy on Kunta, however: his upcoming manhood training. He doesn't know exactly when it will happen, but it should be around the time of the harvest festival.
- And then, on the second to last night of the festival, it happens. Kunta doesn't know exactly what goes down, but all he sees is a flash of white and suddenly a hood's on his head.
- Nothing happens. For a long time. Suddenly, he feels a bunch of hands and feet striking him hard, only to stop a few moments later. This is all part of the ritual.
- After a while, Kunta feels a hand grab his own and lead him out of the hut. This is a slave hired by his father to bring him to the "jujuo" where his manhood training will take place (23.21).
Chapter 23
- It's mid-afternoon when they arrive and Kunta's hood is removed. He sees a "senior elder" named Silla Ba Dibba who will be their "kintango" and will guide them through the process (23.2).
- And by "guide" we mean "berate them like a drill sergeant in an especially bad mood." He starts by forcing them to march and having his assistants hit them with sticks when they slow down.
- Kunta is better off than most, given his experience walking long distances with his father, but even he's hurting by the end of the day. And the next one. And the next one.
- They take a break on the seventh day for their first lesson. Silla Ba Dippa teaches them how to use the stars to guide them in the dark of night.
- Later lessons focus on hunting skills. In particular, the teachers tell the kids to learn from the techniques of animals.
- One afternoon, a boy accidentally shouts when he sees a pretty bird fly near him. As punishment, the kintango orders him to catch the bird alive with his bare hands, which seems like an impossible task.
- They don't see him for another four days. But lo and behold, he suddenly appears in the distance—with a barely alive bird in his hands.
- After two months, Kunta and his mates feel like expert survivalists. Still, the kintango never seems satisfied and always pushes the boys to work harder.
- The boys also learn the secrets of male life in their society. For example, they learn the "sira kango," a secret shorthand language that only men know (23.25).
- Around the third month, the boys' fathers arrive. Should be a great day, right? Wrong. The fathers beat on their sons a little bit before departing wordlessly.
- After Omoro leaves, however, Kunta learns from an assistant that he has a new brother. His name is Madi.
Chapter 24
- The last bit of the boys' training is centered around war strategies. They also learn about the history of the Mandinka people, such as the "ex-slave general Sundiata" (24.4).
- The next several days are full of visitors: wrestlers, a legendary griot, and a moro, which is "the highest grade of teacher in The Gambia" (24.17).
Chapter 25
- Now it's time for every boy's least favorite part of manhood training: the kasa boyo operation. This seems to be a sort of circumcision ritual.
- Although Kunta is holding onto his foto for dear life (we're pretty sure you can intuit what "foto" means) the operation is actually way easier than he expected.
- After the fourth month, the boys are challenged to sneak into Juffure and steal things from their moms to prove their dominance over women. Really. The boys are super proud for pulling a fast one over on their old ladies, but the moms secretly know what's going on the whole time.
- And then, one night, it happens—the kintango tells the boys to return to Juffure.