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dominic_piacentini 's review for:
Tales of East Africa: Folktales from Kenya, Uganda, and Tanzania
by Chronicle Books
An enjoyable collection of short stories from East African oral storytelling traditions. An array of characters, human and non-human, fill this morally complex landscape, where one personal slight against another may carry lasting and severe repercussions and where worlds are constructed through action.
“Haamdaanee” is in many ways the most memorable of the bunch, being both the longest story and also the centerpiece of the book. In it, Haamdaanee, a man with little else but millet to his name obtains a most-impressively diplomatic Gazelle who negotiates on behalf of Haamdaanee a wife, a kingdom, and the power of a sultan. In newfound luxury, though, Haamdaanee neglects the gazelle to the detriment of his station.
The moral sounds simple enough, but each story is filled with tricksters, unexpected second chances, and comeuppances that trouble any singular interpretation.
“If this story is good, the goodness belongs to all; if it is bad, the badness belongs only to him who told it.”
“Haamdaanee” is in many ways the most memorable of the bunch, being both the longest story and also the centerpiece of the book. In it, Haamdaanee, a man with little else but millet to his name obtains a most-impressively diplomatic Gazelle who negotiates on behalf of Haamdaanee a wife, a kingdom, and the power of a sultan. In newfound luxury, though, Haamdaanee neglects the gazelle to the detriment of his station.
The moral sounds simple enough, but each story is filled with tricksters, unexpected second chances, and comeuppances that trouble any singular interpretation.
“If this story is good, the goodness belongs to all; if it is bad, the badness belongs only to him who told it.”