The origin of Attie

The following narrative is a story told between the Attié. It is a story about their origin and how they defeated the Asante.

Below we document the story in the way it was told to me as a little boy in the village Grand-Alépé by Anrdé Yapo who we called Kotiyi which means 'father of Koti'.

The Beginning of the Attié

In the past the Attie and the Asante were living in the same land. They were citizens of the same country. They were good neighbours until the king died. His succession led to a big problem in the country. A war started. In this time, several tribes lived together. The reign should have gone to us but the Asante refused. This is the true origin of the problem. We began fighting, we were fighting beyond what we had ever done. People were changing in different forms.The land was trembling. Men were displaying their magic.Things fell apart. The Asante took the sabre which was the symbol of the king' s power.The Attié ceased the blade of the sabre.The Asante ceased the handle of the sabre.They tore the sabre apart, and the Asante could not take it away (from us). The battle was fought, the battle was fought, it was hard. They could not defeat us.