This application offers thirteen tales in Kassem, the language spoken in Burkina Faso and Ghana. If you click on the little speaker icon at the top right, you can follow these stories in audio and playback.
The wisdom of the kassena
Oral literature fulfills many functions in society: initiation, education, distraction ... The tale is more particularly the mirror of society, it emphasizes mentalities, reveals beliefs and values certain behaviors. First, the central theme highlights a problem or conflict within the community. For example, the tale exposes problems in the relationships between co-wives. In the outcome, he offers a solution to this problem. It’s a real moral education class. The tale provokes strong feelings in listeners and imposes moral standards. The hyena, for example, is gluttonous, dishonest, brutal and always fails in his dishonest actions. His rival, the hare is rather cunning, he wins every time against the hyena. Also other animals like the nightjar and even the 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 genie ...