Mother of the River

Film begins with a Yoruba proverb from Nigeria: "Riddles are the horses of discourse." A little girl, Dofimae, living with her father in slavery and missing her mother, learns about the world through riddles told her by her father. She later nurses an old lady shaman who calls herself Mother of the River. The Mother of the River gives Dofimae painted eggs in return and promises to take her and her father up North someday. Dofimae later uses her slingshot to hit slavecatchers in the eyes with the eggs and blind them to prevent them from catching Mother of the River.

Available for research at UCLA