アフリカ南部カラハリ砂漠には，動物たちが語り合い，騙し合い，軽々と人間に変身するお話が伝わっている。本書は半世紀にわたってカラハリ砂漠のブッシュマンの生活を追いかけてきた著者が，その民話を記録し，語りのままに書き起こしたもの。創世神ピーシツォワゴのおどけた話，狩猟採集民の生活の中心である動植物の特徴をとらえた話，不気味な怪物や略奪者たちの恐ろしい殺人譚など29篇を紹介する。ブッシュマンの魅力的な宇宙へようこそ。好評『ブッシュマンの民話』の英語版。

In the Kalahari Desert in southern Africa, tales tell of animals who talk to each other, deceive each other and easily transform themselves into human beings. The author, who has followed the lives of the Bushmen of the Kalahari for more than half a century, has recorded their folktales and transcribed them as they were told. The twenty-nine stories presented here tell of the antics of creation god Piisi-luagu, capture the characteristics of the flora and fauna that are central to the hunter-gatherers' way of life and feature the terrifying and deadly deeds of macabre monsters and marauders. Prepare yourself for a fascinating journey into the cosmos of the Bushmen.
List of Figures
List of Photographs
Acknowledgements to the English Edition
Acknowledgements
Preface to the English Edition
Notes on Gǁana Transcription
Introduction

Part I: Myths – Piisi-ǀuagu, the Creation God in Action
1 How Piisi-ǀuagu Stole Fire
2 Wise Drongo
3 Piisi-ǀuagu Turns Himself into an Acacia Tree
4 Piisi-ǀuagu and ǁXuu-ǀuagu, the Warthog
5 ǃUan-te Was a Son of Piisi-ǀuagu
6 Piisi-ǀuagu Turns Himself into a Baby
7 Eland and Honey
8 Lion, Eland and Tortoise
9 Piisi-ǀuagu and ǃGunu-ǀuagu

Part II: Fables – Animals and Plants
10 Tortoise and Lycaon
11 Jackal and Dog
12 ǂQainǂqain-ǀuagu and ǁGu’oni-ǀuagu
13 Hyena and Drongo
14 ǃUuǃuu-ǀuagu and ǂXua-ǀuagu
15 Hare and Lion
16 Para-ǀuagu and Dzooba-ǀuagu
17 ǁNui-ǀuagu, the Fabulous Child of Fat
18 ǃGoo-ǀuagu, the Aardvark Wife
19 The ǀAan-root Woman and Her Son
20 A Son Saves His Mother

Part III: Macabre Stories – Monsters, Maneaters and Murderers
21 ’Autsi, the Monster with a Mouth at the Back of Its Neck
22 Tobolali, the Maneater with the ’Autsi Mouth
23 Kuukutsuru and the Maneaters
24 A Double Murder, or the Case of a Double Levirate and Sororate Marriage
25 Cibele, the Village of Marauding Killers
26 ǀXani-ǀuagu and ǁAa-ǀuagu

Part IV: Modern Stories and a Tale Borrowed from Neighboring Peoples
27 Jackal and Hyena
28 Cock and Jackal
29 Hare and Spider

Postscript
Bibliography
Recommended Further Reading
Index