Tale
Junbai: storias de Bolama e do outro mundo
Not translated into English
Anonymous · 1979
Synopsis
A collection of storias, the prose tales of Guinea-Bissau, gathered from oral tellers on the island of Bolama and published in Creole with their Portuguese version. Animals and men appear in them, along with fishermen, the bush, snakes and journeys to the sky. Irão-cego, the python, wants to become the friend of fire. The title evokes the djumbai, the evening gathering where stories intertwine.
Context
The collection, compiled by Teresa Montenegro and Carlos de Morais, was published in 1979 by the Imprensa Nacional of Bolama, in a series devoted to the country's popular culture. Creole fables had appeared before it in journals, since 1883, but no collection. Teresa Montenegro later co-founded the publishing house Ku Si Mon, which reissued it in 2019. Extracts from it have been translated into German.
Who it is for
Brief tales in Creole and in Portuguese, to be read aloud; no complete French translation.
Prizes and reception
The linguist Hildo Honório do Couto cites it as the starting point of the publication of the country's Creole fables.
Sources for this page 3
The pages consulted to check this page.