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"I met
with Nonothloya.
We cooked
each other,
I was half
cooked,
She was well
cooked."
The following books will introduce you to Hlakanyana, who said
these words in "The Story of Hlakanyana" (see Abrahams
below).
To order a book, or for more information, follow the book
title links to Amazon.com,
then return home to browse other
characters.
- Abrahams, Roger D. African
Folktales. New York: Pantheon, 1983.
- Abrahams gives a good introduction to African
Trickster characters, among whom Hlakanyana, a
southern African example, is one of the most
popular. Tricksters can be humans (such as
Hlakanyana) whose rapacious appetites create
mischief in their communities and usually bring
about their demise, or they can be animals, such
as the many varieties of Trickster hares, African
ancestors of Br'er Rabbit in the Uncle Remus
stories.
- Makhuphula, Nambulelo. Xhosa Fireside Tales (Muzi
Donga, Illus.). Johannesburg: Seriti sa Sechaba, 1988.
- Includes another version of Hlakanyana's tale,
with nice illustrations. (Available at the
Library of Congress)
- Andrzejewski, B. W., Pilaszewicz, S., and Tyloch, W.
(Eds.). Literatures
in African Languages. Cambridge University Press,
1985.
- Scholarly survey of African literature samples a
wide variety of Trickster characters in many
languages, including Xhosa and Zulu tales of
Hlakanyana.
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