Tales of Amadou Koumba or Les Contes d'Amadou Koumba is a collection of tales from Senegal, transcribed by Birago Diop

Birago Diop

Birago Ishmael Diop was a Senegalese poet and storyteller, active as a writer in the Négritude movement in the 1930s, as well as a veterinarian and diplomat.-Biography:...

 from the accounts of the griot

Griot

A griot or jeli is a West African storyteller. The griot delivers history as a poet, praise singer, and wandering musician. The griot is a repository of oral tradition. As such, they are sometimes also called bards...

 Amadou

Amadou

Amadou is a spongy, flammable substance prepared from bracket fungi. The species generally used is Fomes fomentarius which in English is also called horse's hoof fungus or tinder fungus. The amadou layer can be found on top of the fungus just below the outer skin and above the pores...

, son of Kumba

Kumba

Kumba is a city in Southwest Province, western Cameroon also known around Cameroon as K town. It had a population of 144,268 . The N8 and N16 highways meet at Kumba.- History :...

. It was published for the first time in 1947.

This is one of the first significant attempts to put in writing stories of African oral literature. According to Roland Colin, these tales reveal the finest art of the Wolof

Wolof people

The Wolof are an ethnic group found in Senegal, The Gambia, and Mauritania.In Senegal, the Wolof form an ethnic plurality with about 43.3% of the population are Wolofs...

griots and Birago Diop makes these tales audible to the European reader and the least informed of the "Black African spirit".

Tales (in French titles)

• Fari l'ânesse
• Un jugement
• Les mamelles
• N'Gor Niébé
• Maman-Caïman
• Les mauvaises compagnies I
• Les mauvaises compagnies II
• Les mauvaises compagnies III
• Les mauvaises compagnies IV
• La lance de l'hyène
• Une commission
• Le salaire
• Tours de lièvre
• Petit-mari
• Vérité et mensonge
• La biche et les deux chasseurs
• Les calebasses de Kouss
• L'héritage
• Sarzan

Editions

• Paris, Fasquelle, coll. « Écrivains d'Outre-Mer », 1947
• Rééd. Paris/Dakar, Présence Africaine, 1960
• Rééd. Paris/Dakar, Présence Africaine, 1969