Umbundu: Folk Tales from Angola

xxix, 316 pp. "In the middle of the wild bush country of West Africa live the Ovimbundu of Angola. For generations the transmission of their culture has been by word-of-mouth through the art of tribal storytellers. Now for the first time an American who lived among them for almost 40 years has translated and written down these tales and legends from the Umbundu, without altering their tone, pace and frank detail. There is a mine of fresh material in these stories of magic and bizarre adventure, with special insight into the sensitivity, tensions, exuberance and pride of Angola and Black Africa. Here are thrilling records of fact and fancy, of ogres, taboos, witches, cannibalism, primitive courtship, tribal domestic problems, hunting, famine, adventures with animals and many more dramatic complications intrinsic in the lives and lore of these long isolated peoples."