eleven tales in Kassem with audio, language spoken in Burkina Faso and Ghana

This application offers eleven tales in Kassem, the language spoken in Burkina Faso and Ghana.

The wisdom of the kassena

Oral literature fulfills many functions in society: initiation, education, entertainment ... The story is more particularly the mirror of society, it underlines mentalities, reveals beliefs and promotes certain behaviors. First, the central theme highlights a problem or conflict within the community. For example, the tale exposes problems in the relationship between co-wives. In the denouement, he proposes a solution to this problem. This is a real moral education course. The tale provokes strong feelings in the listeners and imposes moral standards. The hyena, for example, is gluttonous, dishonest, brutal, and she always fails in her dishonest actions. His rival, the hare is rather cunning, he always wins against the hyena. Also other animals such as nightjar or guinea fowl show common sense. In mirrored tales, the two characters are actually the two opposing aspects of the human person: good and evil. The characters that appear most often are the hare, the king / lion, the woman, the hyena, the orphan, the genie ...

English

This application offers eleven traditional folk-tales in Kassem, a language spoken in southern Burkina Faso and northern Ghana. If you want to listen to these folk-tales being read, click on the little icon at the top right to get the audio.

The wisdom of the kassena

Oral literature fulfills many functions in society: initiation, education, entertainment ... The story is more particularly the mirror of society, it underlines mentalities, it reveals beliefs and promotes certain behaviors. First, the central theme highlights a problem or conflict within the community. For example, the tale exposes problems in the relationship between co-wives. In the denouement, he proposed a solution to this problem. This is a real moral education course. The tale provokes strong feelings in the listeners and imposes moral standards. The hyena, for example, is gluttonous, dishonest, brutal, and she always fails in her dishonest actions. His rival, the hare is rather cunning, he always wins against the hyena. Also, other animals such as nightjar or guinea fowl show common sense. In mirrored tales, the two characters are actually the two opposite aspects of the human person: good and evil. The characters that appear most often are the hare, the king / lion, the woman, the hyena, the orphan, the spirits in the bush ...