“Hale!” “Halele!”
Long ago, a sultan of Mayotte was at war with a neighbouring king, more powerful than he was. His warriors were retreating, his villages were burning, and he no longer knew what to do.
He was told of an old woman who could see the future. He went to find her in secret. She listened to him, then said: “At the foot of Mount Choungui, in the heart of the forest, there is a stone that has power. Go and see it, lay your hand on it and tell it your wish. Then go home and wait nine days.”
The sultan did as she said. He found the stone, made his wish for victory and went home. The days passed, and the war went on. But on the ninth day, without anyone understanding why, the enemy king ordered his army to withdraw and left the island. The sultan had won the war.
Since then, the place has been called the “stone of power”.
What we know about it
Mount Choungui, in the south of Mayotte, is one of the most recognisable silhouettes in the archipelago. The stone of the legend has become a place for walks, but some Mahorans still come here to make wishes and leave offerings, invoking the djinns, in rituals that blend Islam and older beliefs. Read: Mount Choungui.
In Shimaore, the place is called Bwé la Yézi, “the stone of power”. The legend appears in the Légendes volume of the Contes inédits de Mayotte, collected in the villages by the Departmental Archives.
Further reading
- Voices of the archipelago Abdou S. Baco (dir.), Archives départementales de Mayotte, Contes inédits de Mayotte (série : Fables, Légendes, Djinns, Méchanceté…), 2010 –. Departmental Archives of Mayotte.
- Voices of the archipelago Noël J. Gueunier, avec le conteur Madjidhoubi Saïd, Contes comoriens en dialecte malgache de l'île de Mayotte (4 volumes), 1990 – 2011. Peeters, then Karthala.