The Dallas express. [volume] (Dallas, Tex.) 1893-1970, 1922-07-29
By R. H. Nassau.

nEhE ANIMALS lALAg
BY R. H. Nassau.
Publihed by the Four Seas Co., Bos-
ton. Mass. Price $500 Postage 10
cents.
African Lore. this volume will be Of
great value. 1t is collection of West
African Folk Lore tales translated
! from the native idiom. The tales are
from the Mpongwe, Benga and Fang
tribes Many of them seem vaguely ia
miliar as they tell of the Leopard and
the Rat, the Tortoise and other ami
mails But there are stories that do
not recall Br'er Rabbit, Bear or Fox
stories like an Arabian Night. A son
goes away from his native town to
get wife, He showsh kindness to-
all he meets, thus gaining the good
will of the animals, and is present
ed with a magic gourd not unlike AL
ladin's lamp. By means of the gourd
he turns forest into a garden in an
hour, dams river and furnishes fish
for month, and fights and conquers
multitudes of his opponents His pro-
wess wins him the hand of the prin-
cess, only it is not put exactly that
way, and he carries away his beau
tiful wife. His follish brother, striving
to emulate him, fails to show kind
/ ness or wisdom and gets ugly, di-
seased woman as his mate. The adj
venture is delightful, an Arabian night
in new setting.
But what is most interesting in the
hook is the side light that is cast on
West African custom To explain
the tales we have short notes such
as this: Polite natives will neither
sit unlimited the presence of Their
superiors nor watch them while eat
ing Sitting in visitors lap for a
few moments, mode of welcome. .
Among native Africans. in the case
of man and his wife even If they
fight together, her father or her bro
Their does not usually interfere There
will be the description of the building
, OF town such as this, And all busy
They that worked at stakes went Out
to cut saplings; those that made rat
tan-ropes, went to cut the rattan vines
they that shaped the bamboo for build
ing, went out to cut the bamboo-palml
they that made the thatch went to
gather the palm-leaves; they that set
up the stakes of the house frame
went to thrust them into the ground:
they who fastened the walls, fastened
them: they who tied thatch on the
roof, tied it; they who split the rat
tan vines for tying, split them. The
town was full of noise"
We often hear of two drums. the
common drum and the elembi, drum
made to transmit information by a
system of signal strokes. Thus infor-
nation travelled through Africa with
extraordinary rapfdity
In his preface, the author tells us
how these tales are told There are on
ly few skilled narrators, but these
few are like great actors, and just as
a play will un with us for hundreds
of nights, the same people going to
see it again and again, so the tales
win be retaid endlessly, made at
tractive by Che dramatic use of ges-
ture, tone anc startling EXPLANATIONS.
"The occasions selected for the rem
lditicns are nights, fter the days
WORKS are done, especially If there
be visitors to be entertained. The
places chosen are the open street, or
in forest camps where almost all the
population Of a village go for weeks
work on their cutting of new planta
tions; or for hunting of for fishing in
ponds AT night all gather around the
damp fire and the Tales are told, with
at intervals, accompaniment Of drum;
and parts Of the plot are illustrated,
by an appropriate song, or ly short
dance, the platform being only the
earth, and the scenery the forest sha-
dows. and the moon or stars
It is this recital and this setting
that we miss as we read these series
and we realize that we are getting
about as much of what the listener
in the African forest sees and hears,
as we get an opera by reading the
lihretto. Wien will the time come
when we shall bear these tales on
Z the stage with their real setting? We
had a beginning in New York this