DIRE STORIIS,

54 pages, orange paper wrappers, front cover torn at the bottom, back cover missing, contents stapled together.

Dictionary of South African Biography volume 1 pages 857-858. Gideon Retief Von Wielligh 1859 -1932, surveyor and early popular writer in Afrikaans, was the son of Nikolaas von Wielligh and his wife Martha M. Retief. He was educated privately and at the Paarl Gymnasium. In 1879 he passed the examination for the Certificate of proficiency in the theory of land surveying of the University of the Cape of Good Hope and the next year was admitted as a government land surveyor in the Cape Colony. He was admitted to practice as a land surveyor in the South African Republic (Transvaal) in 1883 and the next year was appointed surveyor-general of the territory, succeeding G.P. Moodie. He held this post until 1895, when he was succeeded by Johan F.B. Rissik.

Von Wielligh's narratives are simple in construction and plot, but their very simplicity explains the charm of his Bushmen and animal stories. His main significance lies in this type of story and its educational value. His Boesmanstories and Dierestories are told simply, discursively and colloquially. His reshaping of their material makes these didactic tales more than historically interesting. The second work is an amplification of his Dire Storiis which was published at Paarl in 1907.