Home Cultural Studies Tales from the Basotho
book: Tales from the Basotho
Book
Licensed
Unlicensed Requires Authentication

Tales from the Basotho

  • Minnie Postma
  • Translated by: Susie McDermid
Language: English
Published/Copyright: 1974
View more publications by University of Texas Press

About this book

"They say that the eldest of the chief's daughters..." So begins a tale from the Basotho, unfolded by the meager light of a dung fire that burns smokily behind the reed screen sheltering the entrance of the hut. The old ones of the tribe wait until dark before telling their stories, for everyone knows horns will grow from the head of one who tells a story during daylight hours. Tales from the Basotho abounds with elements familiar to folk narrative. The heroes and heroines are the chiefs and their wives, their sons and their daughters. Fantastic creatures frequent the narratives. exhibiting their awful powers.

Rustic peace and beauty pervade the stories, as Minnie Postma amply demonstrates in her versions of the tales. Something fearful may be occurring—the dreaded Koeoko pulling the only son of the chief under water—but, at the same time, girls with babies tied to their backs are searching for edible bulbs in the veld, and an old woman dreams in the gentle sunlight in front of the huts.

These tales from the Basotho are for entertainment only. There is a tabu against telling tales while the sun shines, because daylight hours must be saved for work. The telling itself is the· reason the story exists, for the audience is already aware of the outcome of each tale. As Wm. Hugh Jansen emphasizes in his foreword, "text" and "context" are often easily interpreted and made accessible in a translation, but Tales from the Basotho is ultimately successful for its rendering of "texture." And texture is doubly hard to convey when the telling itself is of primary importance. Minnie Postma and Susie McDermid have transferred the art of the Basotho raconteur onto the printed page. All the simple, understandable formulas, exclamations, and repetitions used so skillfully by the native storyteller are present. Rhythm is an important element in the tales, and a word, a phrase, even a whole paragraph will be repeated until the rhythm satisfies the storyteller, in tum increasing the appreciation of the listeners.

Author / Editor information

Minnie Postma was born in the Orange Free State on a farm bordering Lesotho. She grew up speaking the Sesotho language as well as Afrikaans, and as a child she heard many of the tales she has recaptured so vividly here. Through her many publications she h


Publicly Available Download PDF
i

Publicly Available Download PDF
ix

Hugh Jansen
Publicly Available Download PDF
xi

Publicly Available Download PDF
xv
The Tales

Requires Authentication Unlicensed

Licensed
Download PDF
3

Requires Authentication Unlicensed

Licensed
Download PDF
12

Requires Authentication Unlicensed

Licensed
Download PDF
17

Requires Authentication Unlicensed

Licensed
Download PDF
23

Requires Authentication Unlicensed

Licensed
Download PDF
37

Requires Authentication Unlicensed

Licensed
Download PDF
42

Requires Authentication Unlicensed

Licensed
Download PDF
50

Requires Authentication Unlicensed

Licensed
Download PDF
53

Requires Authentication Unlicensed

Licensed
Download PDF
58

Requires Authentication Unlicensed

Licensed
Download PDF
71

Requires Authentication Unlicensed

Licensed
Download PDF
78

Requires Authentication Unlicensed

Licensed
Download PDF
84

Requires Authentication Unlicensed

Licensed
Download PDF
92

Requires Authentication Unlicensed

Licensed
Download PDF
96

Requires Authentication Unlicensed

Licensed
Download PDF
105

Requires Authentication Unlicensed

Licensed
Download PDF
115

Requires Authentication Unlicensed

Licensed
Download PDF
118

Requires Authentication Unlicensed

Licensed
Download PDF
124

Requires Authentication Unlicensed

Licensed
Download PDF
132

Requires Authentication Unlicensed

Licensed
Download PDF
136

Requires Authentication Unlicensed

Licensed
Download PDF
142

Requires Authentication Unlicensed

Licensed
Download PDF
146

Requires Authentication Unlicensed

Licensed
Download PDF
152

Requires Authentication Unlicensed

Licensed
Download PDF
165

Requires Authentication Unlicensed

Licensed
Download PDF
175

Publishing information
Pages and Images/Illustrations in book
eBook published on:
September 12, 2014
eBook ISBN:
9781477301708
Pages and Images/Illustrations in book
Main content:
204
Downloaded on 22.9.2025 from https://www.degruyterbrill.com/document/doi/10.7560/746084/html
Scroll to top button