Bida
Bida is the great serpent of Soninke legend that protected the ancient kingdom of Wagadu, bringing rains of gold in return for a yearly maiden, until the hero Mamadi beheaded it and the kingdom fell.
| Also known as | Bida the Serpent of Wagadu, Bida of Koumbi, the snake of Wagadu |
|---|---|
| Type | serpent |
| Tradition | Soninke (Wagadu / Ghana Empire) |
| Category | Folklore |
| Associated with | Koumbi Saleh, Mauritania (traditional capital of Wagadu) |
| Earliest source | Soninke oral tradition; earliest published version verified: Leo Frobenius, Der schwarze Dekameron ("Der Kampf mit dem Bida-Drachen"), 1910 |
| Wings | No |
| Breathes fire | No |
| Guards treasure | No |
| Nature | Ambivalent |
The Story
Wagadu is the Soninke name for the kingdom that Arab geographers called Ghana, a powerful West African state that grew rich from the trans-Saharan gold trade more than a thousand years ago. Soninke griots, the hereditary keepers of history and song, tell how the kingdom's wealth depended on a pact with a serpent named Bida.
In many versions, the founder of Wagadu, a descendant of the ancestor Dinga, made an agreement with Bida, who lived in a deep well. As long as the people gave the serpent the most beautiful young woman of the land each year, Bida would send rain and make gold fall from the sky, and Wagadu would prosper.
One year the chosen maiden was Sia Yatabaré (in Leo Frobenius's version, Sia Jatta Bari). Her lover, a young warrior named Mamadi Sefe Dekote, would not let her die. He sharpened his sword and waited by the well. When Bida rose and lifted its head for the third time, Mamadi struck it off with one blow. The severed head flew far to the south, and as it went it cursed Wagadu. In the version Frobenius recorded, the head declares that Wagadu will go without its rain of gold for seven years, seven months, and seven days. Drought followed, the gold vanished, and the Soninke scattered across West Africa. In many tellings the head landed in Bure, on the upper Niger, which is why that region became one of West Africa's great goldfields.
Appearance and Powers
Bida is a giant serpent. Some modern retellings give it seven heads, but the version published by Frobenius describes a single head and a body lying in seven great coils, so the number is left open here. In Frobenius's text Bida speaks, bargaining with the founder over how many maidens it will receive. Its powers are rain, fertility, and gold. It is neither simply evil nor simply good: it gives the kingdom its wealth, but at a terrible price, and its death brings ruin.
Origins and Sources
The German ethnologist Leo Frobenius published a version, "Der Kampf mit dem Bida-Drachen" ("The Fight with the Bida Dragon"), in Der schwarze Dekameron (1910) and further Soninke epic material in the 1920s. The French colonial administrator and scholar Charles Monteil collected Soninke versions of the Wagadu legend and published a full study, "La légende du Ouagadou et l'origine des Soninké" (1953). Scholars treat both collectors with some caution, since their texts were translated and shaped for European readers. Historians such as Nehemia Levtzion have discussed whether the legend preserves memories of real events, such as drought and the decline of ancient Ghana in the 11th and 12th centuries, but the story is best read as a myth about wealth, sacrifice, and the end of a golden age.
Legacy
The legend of Bida remains central to Soninke identity and to the oral literature of the Sahel, and it has been retold in books, plays, and music, including a 1930 oratorio by the composer Wladimir Vogel based on Frobenius's text. For other African serpent beings, see dragons of Africa and Oceania.
Related
- Ninki Nanka: The Ninki Nanka is a dragon-like swamp monster from the folklore of the Gambia and southern Senegal, a huge reptile with a long neck and crested head whose very sight is said to bring sickness or death.
- Aido Hwedo: Aido Hwedo is the rainbow serpent of Fon religion in Benin, who carried the creator Mawu as the world was made and now lies coiled beneath the earth, holding it together.
- Dragon of Silene: The Dragon of Silene is the lake-dwelling, plague-breathing dragon killed by Saint George in medieval legend after he rescued a princess offered to it, the best-known version appearing in the Golden Legend around 1260.
- Yamata no Orochi: Yamata no Orochi is the eight-headed, eight-tailed giant serpent of Japanese myth, slain by the storm god Susanoo after he got it drunk on strong sake, who found the sacred sword Kusanagi in its tail.
- Dragons Across Cultures
- Saint George and the Dragon
Sources and Further Reading
- Leo Frobenius, Der schwarze Dekameron: Belege und Aktenstücke über Liebe, Witz und Heldentum in Innerafrika (Vita Deutsches Verlagshaus, 1910)
- Charles Monteil, "La légende du Ouagadou et l'origine des Soninké," in Mélanges ethnologiques, Mémoires de l'IFAN 23 (Dakar, 1953)
- Nehemia Levtzion, Ancient Ghana and Mali (Methuen, 1973)
Cite this entry: “Bida,” Draconika Encyclopedia of Dragons, https://www.draconika.com/dragons/bida.