Quotes From The Women Warriors of Dahomey
"I have no promises to make: as I have behaved and will behave, so I am ready to be judged: let my actions prove me!" "If we go to war, we cannot come back empty-handed; if we fail to catch elephants, let us be content with flies: the king only knows where the war shall be." "We have destroyed Attahpahn, let us go to Abeahkeutah, where we will conquer or die." "Carriages cannot be drawn with our wheels: we are the wheels!" "We are newly born by the king: we have and will uphold him." " Rain has fallen and washed the spittle into the ground. Rain cannot enter the king's house : it is a strong house. But give us permission, and we will cause the rain to fall on the roofless houses of Abeahkeutah." |
"We are men, not women." "By the kings off-spring I swear never to retreat." "War is our great friend, without it there would be no cloth, nor armlets; let us to war, and conquer or die." "I am a wolf, the enemy of all I meet who are the king's enemies, and if I do not conquer, let me die." "The king is like a hen, spreading her wings to protect her young from the rain. We are under the king's protection: if we do not fight, let us die." "If men give cause, do you think women can refrain from observing their faults, and commenting on them?" "What came we here for? Not to show ourselves, but to ask the king for war. Give us Abeahkeutah, and we will destroy it or die." |
Quotes taken from: Forbes, Frederick E. Dahomey and the Dahomans: being the journals of two missions to the King of Dahomey and residence at his capital in the years 1849 and 1850. Vol. 2. London: Longman, Brown, Green,and Longmans, 1851. Accessed July 10, 2017. .