African Diaspora at Internet Archive: Twins and the Bird of Darkness

In yesterday's blog post, I wrote about the collaboration between Brian Pinkney and Robert San Souci, and I wanted to say something more about San Souci today, looking at another book that, like his Cendrillon, is inspired by a Caribbean folktale: The Twins and the Bird of Darkness: A Hero Tale from the Caribbean.

The lovely illustrations are by Terry Widener. Here is the monstrous bird that the hero must defeat; if you look closely, you can see the hero and also the princess imprisoned in the tree where the bird lives, casting darkness over the land with his huge wings:

As San Souci explains in the note to the story, he was inspired by version sof this story collected by Elsie Clews Parsons on the island of Guadeloupe which she labeled as "Twin Brothers: Seven Tongues" and also "The Beast That Keeps the Country Dark." Click on the image to read more; Parsons provides this type of comparative bibliography for all the story types; it's so useful! You can see both African and European and other parallel versions listed there, along with additional Caribbean versions:

San Souci also borrowed from Philip Sherlock's West Indian Folktales, which is also available at the Internet Archive! Philip Sherlock was an important educator and writer from the Caribbean; I'll have more to say about him in future posts!

The world of Caribbean storytelling is a wonderful place to explore, and I'll have more Caribbean story books to share in the coming weeks. Meanwhile, enjoy!

The Twins and the Bird of Darkness:

A Hero Tale from the Caribbean

by Robert San Souci

West Indian Folktales

by Philip Sherlock