Tales of the Peoples of Africa

Many of our compatriots became acquainted with ancient mythology by reading the now-famous book by Nikolai Albertovich Kun «What the Ancient Greeks and Romans Told About Their Gods and Heroes» (1914). Having brilliantly graduated from the historical and philological faculty... of Moscow University, Kun devoted his entire life to studying mythology. His interests encompassed not only Greek or Roman legends. Kun was deeply interested in the folklore of the Roma, numerous peoples of Africa, and distant Oceania. N. A. Kun published the results of his research in the form of separate books: «Tales of the Roma» in 2 volumes (1921 and 1922), «Tales of the Peoples of the Islands of the Great Ocean» (1922). In this series is his book «Tales of African Peoples» (1910). It includes fairy tale stories of the Khoikhoi, Zulus, Kaffir peoples, Bantu, Ovaherero, Somalis, Sudanese black people, and some other ethnic groups of the Black Continent. It is worth noting that before each such block of tales, Kun provides an extensive preface in which he explains the peculiarities of the habitats, history, and way of life of each people. In terms of material coverage, this is a unique collection. In this edition, it is complemented by tales of the Zulu people collected and translated in the first half of the 20th century by the Egyptologist and Africanist Igor Leontyevich Snegirev. In the introductory article to these tales, Igor Leontyevich details the lifestyle of the Zulus and the characteristics of their folklore.
This collection of African tales is illustrated with stylish drawings by Nikolai Alekseevich Ushin. He was a versatile artist. The future artist and book graphic artist was born in 1898. He learned the intricacies of classical painting at the Academy of Arts under the famous teacher Pavel Alexandrovich Shillingovsky. In the first third of the 20th century, Ushin was engaged in the design of theatrical productions, then began collaborating with the magazine «The World of Adventures» and with the publishing house «Academia». He illustrated Swift's «Gulliver's Travels», and stories and novellas by Conan Doyle. The colorful drawings made by Ushin for the eight-volume «Tales of 1001 Nights» received a gold medal at the Paris Exhibition in 1937. By style, they somewhat resembled the famous Palekh lacquer miniatures. The illustrations for the African tales are nothing like them. This emphasizes that Nikolai Alekseevich was a wonderful master of his craft and could freely change his style depending on the task at hand.