Tale
Ngano
Not translated into English
Anonymous · 1973
Synopsis
The animals of the bush, from the elephant to the lion and the buffalo, gather to dig a well that the strongest cannot manage to open; the hare plunders a peasant's finger millet, and the peasant sets a trap for him; a widow, then two orphans, ignored by all, set off for unknown lands. These Shona tales told at the evening gathering open with a formula that carries the audience far away in time and space, and the listeners join in chorus on the storyteller's songs.
Context
The volume appeared in 1973 from the department of African languages of the University of Rhodesia, in Salisbury, under the direction of George Fortune, with an introduction by Kumbirai Mkanganwi. A second volume followed in 1974: a student, R. Mufuka, had collected its tales in 1972 at his home, in the Chesa area, Mount Darwin district, from Korekore and Zezuru storytellers. The series, which comprises four volumes, was published in Harare by Mercury Press in the early eighties, and the University of Florida holds the cassettes of the recordings.
Who it is for
In Shona, with no published translation; short tales, made to be spoken and sung before an audience that takes part in them.
Prizes and reception
Studies of the Shona tale still draw their examples from it, from Godwin Makaudze in 2016 to Francis Matambirofa in 2017.
Sources for this page 6
The pages consulted to check this page.