Summary

Chapter 11

Mawdo’s mother, called Aunty Nabou by Rama, has not progressed with the times and is stuck in the past. She believes Aissatou’s marriage to her son will compromise her family’s nobility and she comes up with a plan. Aunty Nabou leaves the city to visit her brother Farba Diouf, a customary chief in the Sine. Borrowing money from Modou and a suitcase from Ramatoulaye, She brings with her fabric, toys, and food unavailable in the Sine, as a gift to her brother’s family of four wives and their children. She visits the burial ground of her royal ancestors, equipped with a prayer mat and water for ablutions. She surveys the tombs and prays, swearing that Aissatou “will never tarnish her noble descent.”

Aunty Nabou then asks her brother to provide her a child she can take to her home and...