Moon Witch, Spider King

Sogolon lives with the woman, Mistress Komwono, and her husband. The house is so grand and sprawling, she constantly discovers new rooms. She is wary of the master of the house, fearing he will try to assault her, but he wants Sogolon to leave because he still assumes his wife doesn’t know how Sogolon came by his talisman. Mistress Komwono instructs Sogolon in the basics of hygiene and comportment, grooming her for something, although Sogolon doesn’t know what.

From the high windows of the house, Sogolon observes the city. The cook takes her out to run errands, and Sogolon is awed by the size of the buildings and the hustle-bustle of the people on the streets. The cook warns her of danger in certain quarters, but to Sogolon, the city is a “wonder,” and she’s left the real danger behind in the termite pit. One night, the master does come to her room, but he comes instead for the enslaved girl who shares Sogolon’s room. Unable to sleep afterward, Sogolon sees a gang of boys on the street, who trigger a memory. She follows them through the winding streets to an open square marked by the Tower of the Black Sparrowhawk. There, the boys, all bearing long sticks, begin to spar like her brothers did, although less viciously. Watching the boys “swing, sweep, dodge, and parry and strike and strike again” (28) makes Sogolon yearn for a stick of her own, to mimic the dance of battle.

The next day, Sogolon eavesdrops on a conversation between the master and mistress. The details are unclear, but Sogolon gleans that the mistress is the real brains of the household, understanding far more of social and political matters than her husband gives her credit for. Because of strict gender roles, she must defer to him, stroke his ego, and give him credit for her ideas.

One night, Sogolon ventures out to watch the boys stick-fighting, and after they all disperse, she finds one stick left behind. She takes it, swinging and leaping in the darkness.

After four months in the Komwono house, the mistress decides Sogolon is more suited for “gentler ways,” like brushing the mistress’s hair. She continues with Sogolon’s etiquette lessons and orders her never to refuse her master if he comes to her in the night. One evening, while bathing, Sogolon considers the women in the household—the mistress, who is able to keep her own wealth even throughout marriage; Nanil, the enslaved girl who may one day bear the master a child (the mistress is not interested in children); and Sogolon herself, who wants to move on. She is captivated by the master’s stories of far-flung nomadic tribes who wander the “sand seas” and never put down roots, always moving even when still.

One night, Sogolon watches the donga (stick fight). After the current champion wins his fight, a stranger enters the ring. The two men fight, and the stranger defeats the champion with ease. Sogolon flees back to the house, fearful of a man in the crowd. The mistress is visiting her sister, and the master is asleep, so Sogolon explores the house. In the library, she finds a boli, a statue of sand, dirt, blood, and clay: a “power object.” She is discovered by the master, who knows where she goes at night. He knocks her to the floor and tries to rape her, but Sogolon, envisioning a storm and a strong wind, taps into the power of the boli. The master is flung against the wall and impaled on a sharp beam.

Mistress Komwono is joined by her sisters in the grieving ritual. She isolates herself in her room but believes the bed is haunted by a spirit. The family fears that the master’s death is the work of evil spirits. As the house swells with visiting family members, tensions flare over how to handle the master’s death—exorcise the house, flog the enslaved girl until she confesses to witchcraft, or allow the magistrate to complete his investigation. They cannot even agree on a time for the burial since he didn’t die “properly,” and his spirit could be lost.

Sogolon sleeps in the grain bin, fearful that the mistress will implicate her in the master’s death. She dreams of running away, lost in a swirling wind. The next day, the men slaughter a cow, looking for divine portents in its blood. They bicker over the family name and wealth as well as how to keep evil spirits at bay.

Sogolon notices a change in herself, an indefinable feeling that creeps under her skin at night. She relives the scene of the master’s death, blaming herself—she trespassed in the library, she fought the master’s advances when she was ordered not to—but her inner voice disagrees: “I didn’t do anything. The wind do it” (51).

After the master’s burial, they slaughter another cow and celebrate the master’s passing. He is now an ancestor “watching and making judgment of both the living and the dead” (52). After a cleansing ritual, the Komwono house is “restored in favor” (52), and the mistress evicts all the family members. The wealth is hers, not her husband’s, so they all leave empty-handed.

Mistress Komwono is invited to an audience with the King Sister of Fasisi (a kingdom in the North Lands) from whose court she was banished years ago. The night before they depart, Sogolon has a vision of Namil accusing her of the master’s murder. On the road to Fasisi, Sogolon imagines the mistress’s stares are accusations of guilt. They pass deserted villages and ruins of old kingdoms. They stop to rest, and Keme, their royal escort, disrobes and bathes in the river. Sogolon is mesmerized by his naked body, more confident and less “violent” than the bodies who visited Miss Azora’s. He offers to teach her how to ride a horse, but she declines. 

Sitting around a campfire, Keme recounts a myth. The great god of the sky has two sons who “run rough through the kingdom” (62). The god banishes them to an earth that has not yet been created. One son, Dumata, sprinkles yellow dust beneath him, creating a land of gold. The other son, Durara, sprinkles white dust and creates salt. The land of gold values only beauty, the land of salt only practicality. Trade and cooperation would seem the best strategy for these two lands, but instead, they wage war and plunder the other’s resources.

Keme and the mistress’s guards (the “Seven Wing”) debate the nature and value of war. Keme asks Sogolon her opinion—what is a cause worth fighting for? She doesn’t have an answer, and she feels humiliated for seeming ignorant. When she admits to Keme that she never wants war. He replies, “Girl, war is always upon us” (66). The next morning during a riding lesson, Keme “spikes” Sogolon’s horse; it rears and gallops off. Terrified, she struggles with the horse until she discovers how to ease it into a slow turn. She is furious with Keme, but he simply smiles—she has learned how to handle a runaway horse.

As they ascend the mountain to the city gates, Keme asks Sogolon about her parents. She doesn’t know either of them, she replies, only her three brutal brothers. Keme pities her, but she rejects his pity. Her life has been too hard for her to waste time reflecting on the hardness of it.

They enter Fasisi, a city very different from Kongor. They pass the nobles’ enclosures first before making their way to the royal palace. They stop in the trade district, but the mistress demands to be taken directly to the king and queen. As a safety measure, however, all visitors must stay in the trade district until vetted by the king’s chancellor.

They spend their days in a grand guest house. One night, Sogolon sees Keme tussling with a lion, one more strange sight in this strange city. He invites her “around back” to show her something, but she is suspicious of his motives. She retires for the night, lying awake and staring at the rich tapestry of artwork.

Mistress Komwono trades court gossip. Rumors tell of a witchfinder in court, who is accompanied by seven demon children. When did witchcraft become a crime, Mistress Komwono wonders. The king, Kwash Kagar, is near death, and the crown prince is waiting in the wings with the manipulative witchfinder at his side. The current court—its personnel and inner dynamics—is completely unfamiliar to the mistress.

Keme and Sogolon tour the vast city market when a group of Okyeame— heralds of the court—announce the king is “about his business” (a euphemism for near death). Just then, a cook informs them that the mistress has been summoned to the court; they rush back to the guest compound where the Aesi—the court chancellor—questions the mistress. Next, he interviews Sogolon, asking her about the master’s death. Later, the mistress wonders how to initiate contact with the king’s daughter “not as a subject, but as a friend. As a woman” (86).