A timely reminder ahead of International Women’s Day
No one had questioned Nana-Asante’s authority, and within a few hours she had restored order to the village. She began by effecting reconciliation between the Bantu population and the Pygmies and reminding them of the importance of cooperation. The Bantus needed the meat the hunters provided, and the little people couldn’t live without the products they obtained in Ngoubé. That would force the Bantus to respect their former slaves and be reason for the Pygmies to forgive the mistreatment they had suffered.
“How will you teach them to live in peace?” Kate asked Nana-Asante.
“I will begin with the women,” the queen replied. “They have more goodness within them.”
Forest of the Pygmies, Isabel Allende
“If women ruled the world, it would be a good thing.”
(Joan Armatrading)
Hear, hear!
In the midst of reading Forest of the Pygmies by Isabel Allende, I discovered that it’s the third and last book of a trilogy that includes City of the Beasts and Kingdom of the Dragon. Of course, now I have to go and get those two books.
It’s not the first time I’ve read Allende’s books in chronological dis-order. I’d read Daughter of Fortune before The House of The Spirits, and when reading the ending in Portrait in Sepia (sequel to Daughter of Fortune), learned that all three books are actually related and I’d read them in the wrong order. Anyway, Allende had not written and published the three books in the right order!
Allende is a wonderful writer (among other things), and she’s coming to Ubud later this year, and now I’m thinking I should be there, too.
She’s a witty speaker, too:
Inspiration from Allende
