African Folktales at Internet Archive: Gassire's Lute

I have one more African story book to share here illustrated by Diane and Leo Dillon (more of their work); it is the West African epic tale of Gassire's Lute, as retold by Alta Jablow, just a click away at the Internet Archive:

This is a marvelous book, and don't let the word epic put you off: this is a story that is epic in its themes, but it is not long; the story-poem is about 20 pages long, and it is accompanied by beautiful full-page illustrations by the Dillons. There is also a helpful introduction by Jablow plus a glossary in the back. For more about this poem, including Jablow's further research and thoughts about it, you can read this article at JSTOR (log-in required, but the article is free to read online): Gassire's Lute: A Reconstruction of Soninke Bardic Art. (You might recall Alta Jablow from a book I featured a couple of weeks ago, a collection of dilemma tales and other folktales: Yes and No: The Intimate Folklore of Africa.)

Here are just a few of the beautiful illustrations by the Dillons:

What is especially exciting for me is that Gassire, who was born a royal warrior but who goes on to become the first griot, or bard, of his people, is that he first learned about epic song-making from the guinea-fowl who sang of her victory over the snake:

The story of Gassire's lute was first collected by Leo Frobenius (more about Frobenius) and published in German translation (unfortunately without the original text), and it was then translated into English by Douglas Fox, appearing in African Genesis: Folk Tales and Myths of Africa, which is also available at the Internet Archive. 

While Jablow has tried to re-imagine the story in a verse form in English, the version here is in prose, so you can compare the two: Gassire's Lute. You can also find this version by Frobenius reprinted in Courlander's Treasury of African Folklore and Abraham's African Folktales: Traditional Stories of the Black World, both of which I have written about earlier in this blog.

So, for the beautiful story and the beautiful art, take a few minutes to read this book; you will be glad that you did!

Gassire's Lute: A West African Epic

adapted by Alta Jablow