The spirit of Xhosa society was enshrined in an oral tradition through which, fiom generations to generation, the community transmitted its customs, values, and norms. The poet and the storyteller stood at the centre of this tradition, as the community's chroniclers, entertainers, and collective conscience. Xhosa novelist and critic A C Jordan was an enthusiastic observer of the customs and history of his people, particularly of the oral narrative performances he witnessed first as a child, and later during his many journeys throughout South Africa. Now, when traditional storytellers, and the oral tradition itself, have almost been lost to us, Jordan's vivid written translations and versions of some of the best land Xhosa folk tales, with their heroes and monsters, children lost and found, wayward adolescents and their rites of passage, are a celebration of the vibrant heart of the culture. "Tales from Southern Africa" was first published in America in 1973; this is the first South African edition.