The World and the Word: Tales and Observations from the Xhosa Oral TraditionA master storyteller of the Xhosa people of South Africa, Nongenile Masithathu Zenani gives us an unprecedented view of an oral society from within. Twenty-four of her complex and beautiful tales about birth, puberty, marriage, and work, as told to the renowned collector of African oral tradition, Harold Scheub, are gathered here. Accompanying the stories are Zenani’s detailed commentaries and analyses and Scheub’s striking photographs of her in performance. The combination of these historical and cultural observations with a richly symbolic collection of tales from a single traditional storyteller make The World and the Word a remarkable document. |
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... finally reached their home . They arrived and reported this matter to their parents . That ended well : the parents were relieved , though alarmed . Things ended well , because she had not been harmed . This child said , " Father , I ...
... Finally , the time came when the parents were no longer there , and the son was left behind . The mother disappeared first - she died . The son lived on for a time with his father . They lacked everything ; they had noth- ing to eat ...
... finally , as she journeyed on flat land , she came to a tree - just a tree , by itself . She climbed the tree - it was deep dusk now . She climbed the tree . She got to the top and broke off some branches . She arranged these branches ...
Contents
The Art of the Storyteller | 7 |
Masithathu Zenani on Storytelling | 19 |
Tales | 27 |
Copyright | |
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