Traditional African Tales Accessible for Western Readers, 16 Dec 2004

By	Donald Mitchell "a Practical Optimist" (Boston) - See all my reviews

When Westerners run into such non-Western stories, they usually want to share them with others as well. How should one do that? You can be very literal and just type out what a story teller says. But the stories often don't make sense without some appreciation of the culture. Some authors will add footnotes to fill in those gaps. Alexander McCall Smith takes a different tack; he rewrites these stories from Zimbabwe and Botswana to make them more like Western stories. As a result, these stories come across almost like Aesop's fables. The experience is an enjoyable one.

The stories are introduced by a letter from the fictional Precious Ramotswe from The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency. She relates that these stories were told to her by her aged aunt when Precious was a child. She says the stories initially make her sad, not because they are sad stories but "because they remind me of the Africa of my childhood and all the good things that there were then." But her feeling of sadness lifts when she realizes that she is lucky to remember those days at all.

Each story is quite brief. It's a magical time when animals could speak and the distinction between humans, animals and inanimate objects didn't exist.

The stories deal with common problems such as how farming should be conducted successfully, how a community should share food and water during a drought, how husbands and wives should meet one another, how families should cooperate and how trouble should be dealt with. In many cases, there are no humans in the stories. Those stories often involve hares and the parallels to Brer Rabbit and his briar patch will be lost on few readers. The stories are full of tricksters of the sort the Navajo stories and Greek legends emphasize.

One of the most delightful aspects of the stories is that differences are usually examined for their potential strengths, rather than being condemned on the face of them. These stories will remind readers of The Ugly Duckling.

There's also a strong sense of cosmic justice in the stories. I liked those tales the best. Here are some of my favorites employing this theme: Guinea Fowl Child; A Bad Way to Treat Friends; Hare Fools the Baboons; Pumpkin; Sister of Bones; Children of Wax; Brave Hunter; A Tree to Sing to; Strange Animal; and Two Bad Friends.

I enjoyed every story in the book in one way or another.

I suggest that you space out the reading so that the stories can simmer in your unconscious mind. In that way, you will be continually better able to absorb and appreciate the stories as you continue with them.

May your water hole be full and not muddy!