Roots_ The Saga of an American Family - Alex Haley [49]
One by one now, the arafang asked each graduate to stand. Finally came Kunta’s turn. “Kunta Kinte!” With all eyes upon him, Kunta felt the great pride of his family in the front row, even of his ancestors in the burying ground beyond the village—most especially of his beloved Grandma Yaisa. Standing up, he read aloud a verse from the Koran’s last page; finishing, he pressed it to his forehead and said, “Amen!” When the readings were done, the teacher shook each boy’s hand and announced loudly that as their education was complete, these boys were now of the third kafo, and everyone broke out into a loud cheering. Binta and the other mothers quickly removed the covers from the bowls and calabashes they had brought, heaped with delicious foods, and the graduation ceremony ended in a feast that soon emptied both.
Omoro was waiting the next morning when Kunta came to take the family’s goats out for the day’s grazing. Pointing to a fine young male and female, Omoro said, “These two are your school-finishing present.” Almost before Kunta could stammer out his thanks, Omoro walked away without another word—as if he gave away a pair of goats every day—and Kunta tried very hard not to seem excited. But the moment his father was out of sight, Kunta whooped so loud that his new charges jumped and started running—with all the others in hot pursuit. By the time he caught up with them and herded them out to the fields, the rest of his mates were already there—showing off their own new goats. Treating them like sacred animals, the boys steered their charges to only the most tender grasses, already picturing the strong young kids they would soon produce, and the kids would have soon after, until each boy had a herd as large and valuable as his father’s.
Before the next new moon appeared, Omoro and Binta were among the parents who gave away a third goat—this one to the arafang as an expression of gratitude for their son’s education. If they had been more prosperous, they would have been glad to give even a cow, but they knew he understood that this was beyond their means, as it was beyond the means of everyone in Juffure, which was a humble village. Indeed, some parents—new slaves with nothing saved—had little to offer but their own backs, and their grateful gift of a moon’s farm work for the arafang was graciously accepted.
The passing moons soon flowed into seasons until yet another rain had passed and Kunta’s kafo had taught Lamin’s kafo how to be goatherds. A time long awaited now drew steadily nearer. Not a day passed that Kunta and his mates didn’t feel both anxiety and joy at the approach of the next harvest festival, which would end with the taking away of the third kafo—those boys between ten and fifteen rains in age—to a place far away from Juffure, to which they would return, after four moons, as men.
Kunta and the others tried to act as if none of them were really giving the matter any particular thought or concern. But they thought of little else, and they watched and listened for the slightest sign or word from a grown-up that had anything at all to do with manhood training. And early in the dry season, after several of their fathers quietly left Juffure for two or three days and just as quietly returned, the boys whispered tensely among themselves, especially after Kalilu Conteh overheard his uncle say that much-needed repairs had been made on the jujuo, the manhood-training village that had gone unused and exposed to weather and animals for almost five rains since the last training had been completed there. Even more excited whispering followed talk among their fathers about which elder might be selected by the Council of Elders to be the kintango, the man in charge of manhood training. Kunta and all of his mates had many times heard their fathers, uncles, and older