Agotime : her legend

The story of 19th-century West African Agotime, the daughter of a Mall priest, captured by the King of Dahomey and made one of his queens. Their son is chosen by the oracles as successor, but upon the king's death he flees into the jungle and Agotime is sold into slavery. Before she leaves, Agotime consults the voodoo priest, who insinuates a special destiny for her, soon verified by the successive appearances of Zomadonu, Dahomean water spirit, who consigns her the task of establishing his cult in Brazil. Surviving the "Middle Passage," Agotime is bought by a family in San Salvador where she works for several years trying to establish Zomadonu among the local Condombles. She joins the Hausa Uprising of 1807 and escapes, dogged by her impatient voodoo, appearing "out of fountains or waterjars or the nearest stream." Taking over a deserted Jesuit seminary, Agotime fulfills her pact with the Dahomean deity, and (apparently in exchange) her son takes the throne in Africa, and sends ambassadors to find his mother and bring her home. ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Judith Gleason was born in 1929 in Pasadena. She received a B.A. in literature from Radcliffe and her Ph.D. in comparative literature from Columbia. She presently acts as a consultant for schools and organizations beginning African humanities and literature programs. She is married; has five children; and lives in New York. She has written This África and after a trip to Nigeria is finishing a children’s book, The Gods of Yoruba Land.