Narrator as Interpreter: Stability and Variation in Hausa Tales

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Based on a corpus of 150 tales from the many towns and villages in the main Hausa states of Northern Nigeria. The author examines the stability of the form of the tales and variations in relation to narrative freedom and constraints, narrative performance techniques, the use of song, specialised vocabulary and audience enjoyment. He identifies the major themes and moral categories of the tales, and plot structure. The tales are shown to be a potent medium of preserving and transmitting traditional values, and a dynamic contemporary art form, despite the presence of alternative means of communication, and other cultural presences in Northern Nigeria. They are discussed in English translation in the main body of the work, and the original language versions are fully transcribed in the appendices.