Gassire's Lute (original) (raw)

Gassire's Lute is an epic by the Soninke people of West Africa. It was collected by Leo Frobenius and published in 1921. An English prose translation was made by Douglas Fox, published in African Genesis (first printed 1937). This lyrical epic narrative tells the story of a prince who gives up his ambition to become king, and instead becomes a diari, the Soninke equivalent to a griot.