Africa at the Internet Archive: Tales from the Basotho

I've been sharing mostly books from western Africa lately, so today I have something from southern African instead: Tales from the Basotho by Minnie Postma.

Minnie Postma (1908-1989) was a South African writer who lived and worked both in South Africa and also in London. She grew up in the Orange Free State on the Lesotho border, and she spoke both Afrikaans and Sotho as a child, and her books later helped to popularize Basotho stories for an Afrikaans audience. You can find out more at Wikipedia (that's Afrikaans Wikipedia, but Google Translate can render the page in English).

This book was translated by Susie McDermid, a South African journalist who later settled in the United States, and she also wrote a very helpful introduction. There's a tale type and motif index in the back of the book supplied by John Vlach, a professor of African and African Diaspora Studies.

You'll find 23 stories in the book; here's a list of titles linked to their pages at the Internet Archive: The Giant Bird Mothermelle / Wolf and Jackal and the Beautiful Girl / The Outcast / Fenya-fenyane / Hen, Hawk, and the Needle / Toaqo, the Woman Who Ate People / Tortoise and Dove / The Guilty Woman / Monyohe, the Great Snake of the Deep Waters / Maliane and the Water Snake / Molaetsane / Obe, the Monster of the Dark Canyon / The Dove, the Heron, and Jackal / The Mother-in-law and the Clear Water / The Milk Tree / Jackal and Hen / The Whirlwind and the Land of the Half-men / Nanabolele, Who Shines in the Night / Sheep and Baboon / The Woman With the Big Thumbnail / Tsananapa / Masilo, Masiloyane, and the Old Woman / The Bride of Chief Bulane.

As you can see, it's a great mix of animal tale plus supernatural adventures too, very much representative of the great Sotho storytelling tradition. Enjoy!

Tales from the Basotho

by Minnie Postma