This animated folktale from the Liberian rain-forest recounts the death and return to life of the spirit to conquer death. Ogaloussa disappears and is forgotten by his family until a new son, Puli, in his first words asks for his father. A search yields Ogaloussa’s bones and his sons magically restore him to life. When Ogaloussa wants to give a beautiful cow tail switch to the son who did most to resuscitate him, he rewards Puli. For, the saying goes: “A man is not dead until he is forgotten”. The entire story is told by an African mother to her children. Adapted from the book “The Cow-Tail Switch” by Harold Courlander and George Herzog.
Content notification
Our collection comprises over 40,000 moving image works, acquired and catalogued between the 1940s and early 2000s. As a result, some items may reflect outdated, offensive and possibly harmful views and opinions. ACMI is working to identify and redress such usages.
Learn more about our collection and our collection policy here. If you come across harmful content on our website that you would like to report, let us know.
How to watch
Collection
In ACMI's collection
Credits
Collection metadata
ACMI Identifier
002490
Language
English
Subject categories
Animation → Animated films - United States
Childrens Films → Children 0-6
Childrens Films → Children 12+
Childrens Films → Children 6-12
Economics, Philosophy, Politics, Religion & Sociology → Death
Food, Health, Lifestyle, Medicine, Psychology & Safety → Death
Literature → Children's literature - Film and video adaptations
Literature → Folk literature - Film and video adaptations
Sound/audio
Sound
Colour
Colour
Holdings
16mm film; Access Print (Section 1)