ethnogd

The Pale Fox

Renard Pale (in English, The Pale Fox), published in 1965, is mostly an account of aspects of creation with a superficial resemblance to the Dieu d'Eau story, with Yurugu (the pale fox, used with the divining table pictured earlier here) replacing the jackal as the symbol of imperfection. For the casual reader it lacks the charm of Dieu d'Eau. This work is the most criticised of all Griaule's oevre in van Beek's study; Jacky Bouju describes it as "unverifiable." The origin of the information must be considered to be as described earlier for Dieu d'Eau and Un Systeme Soudanais de Sirius.

This book reproduces the Sirius story as printed in Un Systeme Soudanais de Sirius, with minor additions of information and completely different drawings. Meanwhile, there is the question of other interesting astronomical information presented in Renard Pale. While this information is also questionable in the context of Renard Pale's general unrecognisability, it has not been yet investigated, or at least, the results reported.

Saturn and Jupiter
as pictured in Renard Pale

(<-- "Dommo Mask" as described in Renard Pale) photo © Shawn Davis 1997

Extra astronomical information in Renard Pale includes the following: (links to astronomical tests)

Page references are for The Pale Fox, translated by Stephen C Infantino, Continuum Foundation 1986

a) about Sirius:
"Emme ya tolo" has two satellites named "ara tolo" and "yu tolo" -- pp311-312.
"Ara tolo" has "time of revolution" of 30 years -- footnote no. 122, p312.
"Nyan tolo" in Un Systeme Soudanais de Sirius is not present and one must assume it is the same as "ara tolo."
Emme ya is stated to have an orbit of 50 years, but "another source" says this may be 32 years -- footnote p506.

b) about other astronomical bodies:
"Now, the term yalu ulo, designates the Milky Way of our galaxy, which includes the entire stellar world of which the Earth is part, and which turns in a spiral." -- p128
Saturn is the "star of the Milky Way." -- p314
Saturn has a "halo" represented by a "bulging urn" -- p314.
Jupiter is represented by a circle surrounded by its four satellites, placed at the collteral directions, and called dana tolo unum, "children of dana tolo [star of the skull]". -- p352
The moon is "dry and lifeless like dried-up lifeless blood." -- p509
A Venusian calendar is determined by six observable positions in a year. -- pp514-518.
A number of other stars are important, mostly those around Orion, known as Amma's seat. -- map p501.

c) Enigmatic statement

'The spiral worlds of stars were populated universes; because, simultaneously with things, Amma, having given form and movement to the world, created all living beings. Just as on our own planet, living beings will live on those other "Earths"...'

(+ Ftnote no. 261)

"This proliferation of life is illustrated by a commentary on the myth, of explanatory value, inwhich it is said: people are on the fourth earth, but on the third there are "people with horns," inneu kelugu, on the fifth, "people with tails," inneu dullogu, on the sixth, "winged people,' inneu gammurugu, on the seventh, "crawling people," inneu bummo, etc. This is to emphasize the absolute ignorance one has of forms of life on other worlds, but also the certainty of the presence of those forms." -- p194

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