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Orality

A rocky stream in a tropical forest
Photo by Livestart Stiven on Unsplash
Catalina Loango
By Bernardino Pérez Miranda
A woman is captured by a malevolent water spirit in Bernardino Pérez Miranda’s retelling of a folktale from San Basilio de Palenque, Colombia, named a UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity site in 2008.
Translated from Palenquero by Armin Schwegler
MultimediaMultilingual
Reckonings: The Queer Issue XII
By Susan Harris
This year we celebrate Pride Month with seven pieces depicting Queer characters confronting decisive moments.
Ñe’ ẽ: An Introduction to Contemporary Guaraní Poetry
By Elisa Taber
A real work of Amerindian literature makes perceptible another way of ordering and being in the world.
Dawn
By Miguelángel Meza
water boils up from grouped stones, grips me.
Translated from Guaraní by Tracy K. Lewis & Miguelángel Meza
MultimediaMultilingual
My Fire
By Alba Eiragi Duarte
At light of dawn I rise and make fire, / and dry in nascent fire-gleam the space where dew once pearled.
Translated from Guaraní by Tracy K. Lewis & Alba Eiragi Duarte
MultimediaMultilingual
A hummingbird at sunset
Photo by Ramona Edwards on Unsplash
Our Father Is Tired
By Susy Delgado
a dark stillness / goes about sowing death.
Translated from Guaraní by Susan Smith Nash & Susy Delgado
Multilingual
Serpent
By Alberto Luna
I alone / plunge my roots / and outstretch my branches.
Translated from Guaraní by Susan Smith Nash & Susy Delgado
MultimediaMultilingual
Xirú
By Damián Cabrera
Silvio wanted to escape, race across the sown fields with his long rhea legs until he reached some place where no one could see him.
Translated from Portunhol Selvagem by Elisa Taber
MultimediaMultilingual
Enduring Tales: The Qatari Oral Tradition
By Autumn Watts
The stories are abundant with social wisdom, moral instruction, and cultural knowledge.
The Sunni and His Friend
By Qatari Oral Tradition
Cats. Carry cats!
Translated from Arabic by Tariq Ahmed
Al Fisaikra
By Qatari Oral Tradition
Set me free and I'll make you rich.
Translated from Arabic by Kholoud Saleh
Lamb and ewe
Photo by Denise Jans on Unsplash
Fatoum and Hamoud and Hamed
By Qatari Oral Tradition
The mother sheep would warn her children of the wolf that prowled the town.
Translated from Arabic by Rana Elmaghraby
Erlina’s Sugilanon
By Tito Genova Valiente
Actually, the night Erlina first saw an Onglo was the night the creature was regenerating his power.
Across Mountains and Valleys: Stories of Migration from the Kinnaur and Spiti Valleys
By Arshia Sattar
Despite their specificity, these tales transcend the places that produced them and throb with a universal appeal.
The Story of Sunni and Bhunku
By Himalayan Oral Tradition
Why, oh why, did you not come back immediately?
Translated from Lahouli by Noor Zaheer
The Girl Who Turned into a Crocodile
By Himalayan Oral Tradition
She struggled and fought back and tried to save herself but could not overcome the great crocodile that had taken hold of her.
Translated from Lahouli by Noor Zaheer
When the Deer Moved Away
By Himalayan Oral Tradition
Deeku refused to understand the close bond between the humans and the deer and their dependence on each other.
Translated from Lahouli by Noor Zaheer