African Tales
Publication Year: 2005
Published by: University of Wisconsin Press
Cover

1. Asante (Ghana) Kwaku Ananse and Aso
"There once lived a certain man called Akwasi-the-jealous-one. His wife was Aso, and he did not want anyone to see Aso or anyone to talk to her. So he went and built a small settlement for Aso to live in. No one ever went into the village. Now Akwasi-the-jealous-one could not beget..."

2. Apinji (Gabon) Akenda Mbani
"Redjioua, a king, had a daughter called Arondo, and she was very beautiful. Redjioua said, 'A man may give me slaves, goods, or ivory to marry my daughter, but he will not get her. I want only a man who will agree that when Arondo falls ill, he will fall ill also, and that when Arondo dies,..."

5. Batanga (Cameroon) The Favored Daughter
"Ra-Mborakinda lived in his town with his women and sons and daughters and servants. Among his women were Ngwekonde, his chief wife, and Ngwe-lege, whom he neglected. But Ngwe-lege had a beautiful daughter named Ilâmbe, much beloved by him. Ra-Mborakinda prized this daughter so much that he left everything to her direction."

7. Berber (Libya) Dschemil and Dschemila
"There was once a man whose name Dschemil, and he had a cousin who was called Dschemila. They had been betrothed by their parents when they were children, and now Dschemil thought that the time had come for them to be married. He went two or three days’..."

8. Berber (Morocco) Half-a-Cock
"In times past, there was a man who had two wives, and one was wise and one was foolish. They owned a cock in common. One day, they quarreled about the cock, cut it in two, and each took half. The foolish wife cooked her part. The wise one let her part live, and it walked on one foot and had only one wing."

11. Fiote (Republic of Congo) The Twin Brothers
"A certain woman, after prolonged labor, gave birth to twins, both sons. And each one, as he was brought forth, came into the world with a valuable harm. One of the sons the mother called Luemba, the other Mavungu. And they were almost fully grown at their birth, so that Mavungu, the firstborn, wished to start upon his travels."

12. Fuuta Jalon (Guinea) Samba Gueladio Diegui
"This is the story of Samba Gueladio Diegui, Peuhl prince of Fouta. Samba Gueladio Diegui was the son of Gueladio, king of Fouta. When Samba arrived at the age of adolescence, his father died. The brother of the dead king, Konkobo Moussa, took command of the country. Konkobo..."

13. Gourmanchéma (Niger) Fountinndouha
"A man who was very jealous of his wife had retired to live some distance from the village, so there should be no possibility of her deceiving him. Another man named Fountinndouha determined to possess this woman. So he chose a fine fat sheep from among his herd and went to the cautious husband."

14. Grebo (Liberia) The Man and the Leopard
"A man once had for his personal friend a leopard. As times became hard and the financial condition of the town more straitened, he moved his little family out on to an elevated tract of land nearly fifteen miles from every neighboring community. Though it seemed..."

16. Herero (Namibia) The Fleeing Girls and the Rock
"A tale goes like this: Girls were building houses in the river. And when they had built the houses, the kraals were removed to new pastures.57 As they were on the way, the children said, 'He who has a burden, let him give it to his mother! He who has a burden, let him give it to..."

17. Jindwi (Zimbabwe) The Old Woman
"There once lived an old woman who had four daughters and four sons with their two dogs. Her one knee was very large and looked as if it were swollen. She would walk about leaning on a staff. Now, this old woman wished to have some place where she could stay, and in search of this she at last came to a chief."

18. Kabyle (Tunisia) Thadhellala
"Thadhellala was a woman who had seven daughters and no son. She went to the city and there saw a shop rich in merchandise. She went a little farther on and perceived at the door of a house a oung girl of great beauty. She called the girl’s parents and..."

20. Khoikhoi (Southern Africa) The Little Wise Woman
"A girl, it is said, went to seek onions. As she came to the place where the onions grew, she met some men, one of whom was half-blind, having only one eye. As she dug for the onions, the men helped her, digging also. When her sack was full, they said to..."

21. Kikuyu (Kenya) The Old Woman, Her Sons, and the Python
"A girl named Kasoni, on her way to get water for her father to drink, saw a large python basking in the sun near the path. The python had two mouths, and its hair was beautifully arranged like that of a warrior. Kasoni stood and admired it for some minutes."

22. Krio (Sierra Leone) Five Dead Men Attend a Dance
"One day, a big dance was held in a village.While this dance was going on, spirits from the forest came to attend. Dead people also came out of their graves to attend the dance. There were five young women who lived in this village and who were very fond of men. Five dead men came to the dance in the village. They..."

24. Luba (Democratic Republic of Congo) The Jackal and the Little Antelope
"The little antelope had been going apace. He had been buying up in the market everything that was good and dear, food, drink, and the most costly raiment. Then, as the moon rose, he invited his friends, and the drums were beating and the animals were dancing and singing until the first rays of the sun drove them home."

28. Nandi (Kenya) The Hyenas and the Sage
"The hyenas once all met together, and they decided to appoint a sage who would be able to advise them in all matters concerning the welfare of their country and who would divine future events and interpret omens and dreams. There was some discussion as to who should be invited to take..."

29. Nyanja (Malawi) Kachirambe
"Some young girls once said, 'Come, let us go and pluck leaves for a relish with our porridge.' And when they were gathering them, one of the children saw the egg of a hyena and picked it up and put it in her basket. She said to her companions, 'I have got all I want. I am going.”

30. Nyarwanda (Rwanda) The Girls Who Went to Have Teeth Made for Them
"I shall tell you a story, I shall stir you with a story. Some young girls said to one another, 'Come, let’s go and have teeth made for us.' But one of the girls no longer had a mother. The wife of her father always hindered her, and she was therefore unable to go with them..."

31. Ronga (Mozambique) Nwampfundla
"The lion is the chief of all the animals. He is the great chief of all the animals that are in the wild. He is chief even over the elephants, though they are bigger than he. There is no beast of them all that does not say, 'Hail, king!' when they meet him on the path.

32. San (Namibia) The Young Man Who Was Carried Off by a Lion
"A young man of the early race was, while hunting, ascending a hill, and he became sleepy. While he sat looking around for game, he became sleepy. And he thought that he would lie down, for he was not a little sleepy. But what could have happened to him today, because he had not previously..."

33. Sena (Mozambique) The Magic Mirror
"A long, long while ago, before ever the white men were seen in Sena, there lived a man called Gopáni-Kúfa. One day, as he was out hunting, he came upon a strange sight. An enormous python had caught an antelope and coiled itself around it. The antelope, striking out in despair with its horns,..."

35. Somali (Somalia) The Sultan’s Wife
"There was a sultan who had a son. His son said, 'I want to marry.' So the sultan gave him many presents and also a ship. The sultan’s son set sail and came to a town. When he arrived at the town, he became friends with a sultan, and the sultan gave him a house."

37. Swahili (Tanzania) The Physician’s Son and the King of the Snakes
"Once there was a very learned physician who died, leaving his wife with a little baby boy, who, when he was old enough, she named, according to his father’s wish, Hasibu Karim Ed Din. When the boy had been to school and had learned to read, his mother sent him to a tailor to learn his trade, but he could not learn it. Then he..."

39. Tigre (Ethiopia) The Man Who Passed the Night in the Middle of the Sea
"Abunawas was very clever. And when the chief of his country heard of his cleverness, he sent messengers to him, saying, 'Tell him: ‘The chief says this to you: Come to me quickly and in a hurry. But do not come to me when the sun shines, nor come to me when there is shadow. And do not come to..."

41. Vai (Liberia) Spider
"There was a spider. And a great famine came into the country so that there was no rice, no cassadas, no plantains, no palm-cabbage, no meat, no victuals: a great famine had come into the country. The spider and his wife had been begetting children for a long time: a hundred children."

43. Xhosa (South Africa) Children of the Anthill
"Now for a story . . . A woman of a certain homestead was pregnant. Because she had become pregnant before getting married, she realized that her condition was shameful. She hid her growing stomach, she attempted to disguise her pregnancy."

46. Zulu (South Africa) Combecantsini
"There was a certain king of a certain country. He used to have children who were crows, he had not one child that was a human being. In all his houses, his children were crows. But his queen had no child; it was said that she was barren. She remained a long time without having any child. All used to jeer her, and..."
E-ISBN-13: 9780299209438
Print-ISBN-13: 9780299209445
Illustrations: 15 b/w photos
Publication Year: 2005
OCLC Number: 841859465
MUSE Marc Record: Download for African Tales