I like I said in my last diary, The Leopard in the Tree, I have been reading up on Angolan folk tales.
The stories are very accessible to most American-educated readers, for there is a great deal of European mythology woven into them. For five centuries, Portuguese culture comingled with that of the (quite well organized and adaptable) societies of the region to produce stories with (I think it safe to say) universal themes.
After centuries of refinement, the synthesis is reminiscent of, say, what Western European fairy tales might have read like if the Roman Empire never fell. The Governor is a figure in some tales, but always at arm's length, sometimes as a protective father (of the bride that the story hero attempts to woo), or as a Solomon- or Pontus Pilate-like judge in some dispute (a motif perfectly accessible to Angolan cultures and African societies in general).
The stories, like European fairy tales, have darker aspects as well - slavery, betrayal, adultery, greed - all the endemic sins of the human condition thrive.
And again, just as with "The Leopard in the Tree", this one has relevance to the politics of the day. But careful - Angolan stories are subtle and have many morals woven into them.
Quick Man and Careful Man
Two friends, Quick Man and Careful Man, were walking between villages. They noticed an approaching storm.
"We must build shelters! Quickly!" said Quick Man, and began taking a machete to the nearest bush grass to build a hut to protect himself from the wind, the rain and the debris the storm would send flying everywhere when it arrived.
"Hmm this is going to be a bad storm," murmured Careful Man. "We must take care that they are especially strong!" Quick Man was too busy cutting and cursing to listen, so Careful Man went about measuring cuts of straw and bundling them with cord, so that they would not fly apart in the wind.
Quick Man hurriedly assembled a small hut and set himself in it. In his hurry he made a poor excuse for a shelter; it leaked and it partly fell apart during the storm. He was wet and took some cuts to his arms but he survived none the worse for wear.
Careful Man was still assembling his perfectly designed hut when the storm struck. Caught out in the elements he was bludgeoned and cut by flying debris. He did not survive.
Good or bad, that is how my story ends.