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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... taken and put into a secret place . No hole was dug in those days ; no one said that a " burial " had taken place . The people would see that he was no longer breathing . He had grown old and was no longer able to get up . But his death ...
... taken , and that cord is then severed and short- ened . Then the umbilical cord is buried beneath the very place where the woman has delivered her child . When that is done , water is taken and warmed in the hearth . Then the baby is ...
... taken , so that the real marriage can take place . " " Oh ! " and the visitors agreed . They sat down again.5 The next morning , the goat was taken and slaughtered . They took an old milking bucket and the strap with which a cow was ...
Contents
The Art of the Storyteller | 7 |
Masithathu Zenani on Storytelling | 19 |
Tales | 27 |
Copyright | |
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