THE IROKO-MAN

So hideous and powerful is the man-spirit dwelling in the iroko tree that anyone who looks at his face goes mad and dies. Nonetheless, the women of a childless village entreat his help; the wood-carver's wife even offers her firstborn in payment. Later, when she refuses to give up the child, the irate spirit changes her into a bird—until the wood-carver tricks him with a wooden boy. In the end, everyone is satisfied: the child is returned while the iroko-man gains a companion that doesn't go mad and smiles continually. This simple retelling of a vivid Yoruba tale accompanies flat acrylic and collage figures placed as if on a flannel board; the spirit is appropriately treelike (and not particularly horrible of aspect), while humans are painted in a rich brown, evoking the grain of tropical wood. A handsomely set out African ``Rumpelstiltskin.'' (Folklore/Picture book. 6-8)