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The dùndún as a literary instrument rather than a technical curiosity: oríkì and proverbs delivered on the drum, what the drummer composes from, and how drummed, sung and spoken text relate in one performance.

A tortoise tale in which Ìjàpá rescues a drowning hunter's son on condition of enslaving him, hides him inside a drum that appears to sing by itself, and loses him when he drinks himself unconscious at a dance.

A tale in which a bird left off the king's invitation list sings the cleared bush back into growth three times, and the king's son, who lost an ear over the bird's escape, recaptures him by drumming him into a dance.

Oríkì delivered on the talking drum rather than the voice, with the patron deity of drumming's own praise text and a documented case of drummed praise used to warn a rival.