The kintango informs Kunta Kinte and the others in the jujuo for manhood training that they are finally “experiencing rebirth as men.” Now they are ready to learn all about war and about how to be warriors. First, an important fact is reviewed: Mandinkas only fight when provoked, but when they are encouraged to make war, they do so with only the finest of warriors.

Kunta Kinte and his friends learn all about Mandinka battle strategy (such as to leave your enemy an escape route so he doesn’t become savage in his attack and to begin a battle after noon so that the enemy can retreat into darkness). Kunta is also taught that there are three kinds of men who should never be harmed in battle: marabouts, griots, and blacksmiths. Marabouts are so holy that they can bring down the wrath of Allah. Griots, known to memorize hundreds of years of stories, can create a story designed to make you the enemy. Blacksmiths can help the enemy fix their weapons. Next Kunta learns the art of making barbed spears and poisoned arrows (using the boiled juice from the koona shrub). Each boy is praised when he can hit a bamboo stick from at least twenty-five steps away.

Finally, it is time for the stories of past wars. These are many. The kintango tells of Sundiata who defeated the forces of Boure (whose king was so fierce that he decorated his palace with skulls of enemies and wore robes of human skin). This win secured peace for over one hundred years. Kunta Kinte and his young men listen in awe.

The news of visitors to the jujuo brings excitement, until the visiting wrestlers begin to throw young men brutally to the floor. Kunta and the others are bruised and beaten, but they learn every wrestling hold and the importance of know-how over strength. The other news of visitors is important indeed: a very important griot, one known all over the Gambia, is to spend a full day in the jujuo. When the griot arrives, he explains how griots are made: a griot must have a son. That son, then, must learn all of the stories from the past. That griot, in turn, will teach his own son. Only griots beget griots. After the explanation, the stories begin. One rich kingdom after another is revealed: Benin, Ghana, and Mali. Again, the young men listen in awe.

However, the grandest visitor comes next: a moro famous in all of Africa. A moro is a teacher of the highest class. He is a teacher who teaches other teachers (such as Kunta’s own arafang). He is a teacher who is sought “by chiefs and even by kings.” The young men prepare the village, and the moro arrives. Of course, the moro reads from the Koran, but he also reads from The Pentateuch (that the young men have never heard of before). It is in this way that Kunta Kinte and the other young men learn all about Moses and David and Cain and Able. The moro even reads further, into the book of Isaiah. It is the first time that Kunta hears of the “Christian Koran.” Before the moro leaves, he gives some final instructions on how the young men are to enter the mosque in their village. Only men may enter.

Kunta marvels that night at the great connection between humans and animals and world and family and friends and village and Allah: “Perhaps, he thought, this is what it means to become a man.”