"The Little Leopard that Became a Big Leopard"

The Little Leopard that Became a Big Leopard (rendered as bé gɔ̧ nɛ kifa gásá gɔ̧ in modern Gbaya orthography) is a mimeographed pamphlet that surfaced in 2023 among Smathers Libraries’ uncatalogued materials purchased from African historian Donald Abraham. It included none of the information we needed to understand what it is, so Principal Cataloger William (Hank) Young brought it to my desk. I called for help from my linguist contacts, who narrowed down the possibilities. Eventually, I contacted professional linguist Dr. Phillip Noss, a Gbaya specialist who, surprisingly, lives right here in Gainesville! He proved to be the key to understanding this mystery pamphlet. Noss confirmed the pamphlet was written in the 1940s by linguists at the Sudan Mission in Meiganga, Cameroon. There and in nearby Central African Republic (CAR), Canadian linguist Madel Nostbakken served as Book Editor with overall responsibility for Gbaya language work until her retirement in 1975. She may be the author. Our pamphlet bé gɔ̧ nɛ kifa gásá gɔ̧ is now cataloged for Rare Books along with about twenty titles donated by Noss. We may now own the largest collection of Gbaya texts and teaching resources documented in WorldCat, but the Little Leopard is my favorite!