Wednesday, January 27, 2021

Celebrating the Continent of Africa

Ikhlas Khan
African Prime Minister 
of Bijapur, c. 1650
I have been researching and writing for Storytelling Magazine for 17 years and have amassed many stories from a variety of cultures and I decided to organize the stories by country and/or continent. This is the third in the series and today I am highlighting the continent of Africa. There are 54 countries in the continent of Africa. Conventionally, there are five main geographical regions or subregions in Africa. North, West, Central, East, and Southern. Wherever possible I have placed the stories in their specific subregions.

My hope is that this will make it easier for you to find new and unique tales to add to your repertoire, and in the process, we will learn more about our global neighbors. I encourage you to conduct further research on the specific region and/or culture behind the stories.

At the end of this blog post you will find the previous two countries I have researched and shared, India and Turkey. Who knows where my next stop will be?

STORIES

Let’s begin with one of the stories told in Africa. 

How African Stories Were Born

The mouse goes everywhere into rich people's houses and into the poorest people's houses, too. In the old days, the mouse made stories from all that she saw. Stories were her children. Each story-child had its dress - white, blue, red, green, and black. The stories lived in her house and did everything for her.


One day a sheep ran against the door of the house where the mouse lived. The door was old, and it broke, and all the stories ran out. And now they run up and down over all the earth.

CENTRAL AFRICA

How Frog Went to Heaven A Tale of Angola – retold by Aaron Shepard
http://tinyurl.com/yk8cdjh

Virtual Chad
Five stories from the country of Chad along with additional information links on the culture, language, animals, and literature of the country.
http://www.tchad.org/research/folktales.html

Why Does Lion Roar? – Angola
http://angolarising.blogspot.com/2010/03/african-folklore-why-does-lion-roar.html

EAST AFRICA

The Ape, the Snake, and the Lion - Tanzania
http://tinyurl.com/nky7avl

Fadhila’s Secret - Kenya
https://www.pressherald.com/2013/08/05/fadhilas-secret-a-kenyan-folktale/

The Hare and the Lion – Tanzania
http://www.worldoftales.com/African_folktales/African_Folktale_40.html

The Hare and the Water – Tanzania
https://tinyurl.com/y7uo3nlr

How the Monkeys Saved the Fish – Tanzania
https://afriprov.org/how-the-monkeys-saved-the-fish/

Lion, Chameleon, and Chicken - Tanzania
https://tinyurl.com/ya6hht2m 

The Strange Creature – Zimbabwe
http://tinyurl.com/oy6sz8p 

Why Death is Like a Banana Tree – Madagascar
https://spiritoftrees.org/why-death-is-like-the-banana-tree

NORTH AFRICA

The Cruel Creditor and the Judge’s Wise Daughter - Morocco
http://tinyurl.com/y8gjxurb

The Story of Chicken and Elephant – Sudan
https://tinyurl.com/y99ffwym

SOUTH AFRICA

The Dance for Water or Rabbits Triumph
http://tinyurl.com/y99ccfx 

The Ostrich-Egg Wife
https://www.learningtogive.org/resources/ostrich-egg-wife 

Why Does Lion Roar? – Angola
http://angolarising.blogspot.com/2010/03/african-folklore-why-does-lion-roar.html

Why Mongoose Kills Snakes - Angola
http://tinyurl.com/bolyrnz

WEST AFRICA

The Brother and His Sisters
http://tinyurl.com/bdsyyj2

The Farmer’s Son Becomes a Hunter 
https://tinyurl.com/ycl97zws 

The Hippopotamus and the Tortoise – Nigeria

http://tinyurl.com/ydjd4x8

The King’s Drum – Nigeria
https://tinyurl.com/y6xgnp3g

How Monkey Stole the Drum
http://teacher.scholastic.com/writewit/storyteller/transcription.htm   

One Man and His Precious Cow - Nigeria
http://tinyurl.com/jpjd8on

The Talking Goat – Liberia
https://tinyurl.com/y5bh4g3c 

The Tortoise and the Magic Drum – Nigeria
https://tinyurl.com/y6sr745c

The Tortoise and the Elephant - Nigeria
http://tinyurl.com/p252edy

The Tortoise Captures the Elephant

http://tinyurl.com/k7ax99r


The Tortoise, the Dog, and the Farmer - Nigeria
http://tinyurl.com/mlfogkc

Why a Hawk Kills Chickens – Nigeria
https://tinyurl.com/yc4wtzlj

Why the Cat Kills Rats - Nigeria
https://tinyurl.com/y7z6f3hv 

Why the Sun and the Stars Receive Their Light from the Sun - Lagos
https://www.surlalunefairytales.com/books/africa/barker/whymoonstars.html

STORY COLLECTIONS

African Folk Tales - Forty-two short stories can be found here.
http://www.english-for-students.com/African-Folk-Tales.html

Conversations With Ghana – West Africa 
Five folktales from the country of Ghana. The site also offers some additional background information useful to teachers who may be exploring this culture with their students.         http://www.ncsu.edu/chass/extension/ghanatalk/folktales.html

Congo Life and Folklore – Within this public domain book you will find thirty-three native stories as told “round the evening fires.”
https://library.si.edu/digital-library/book/congolifefolklor00week

Ethiopian FolktalesOver 300 folktales “…many of which had never before been written down or translated into English. You can also listen to many of the original recordings in the voices of the narrators…” 
http://www.ethiopianfolktales.com/

Felids and Friends
A non-profit organization based in Florida that offers information, articles, quotes and stories and folktales about our fine furry and feathered friends. The following two links will lead you to animal tales. African folktales http://www.felid.org/activities/page_103.htm and Native American legend http://www.felid.org/activities/page_18.htm

Folktales from Liberia - From the American Folklore Center 43 Liberian folktales, published in 1919.
https://tinyurl.com/t3evw63

Folk-tales of Angola – Fifty tales collected and edited by Heli Chatelain, 1894 with Ki-mbundu text, literal English translation introduction and notes: stories of antelope, wolf, turtle, leopard, monkey and much more.
http://tinyurl.com/6f6nt2m

Folk Stories From Southern Nigeria by Elphinstone Dayrell, 1910 – Forty folktales at your fingertips.
https://www.sacred-texts.com/afr/fssn/ 

Kaffir (Xhosa) Folk-Lore
by George McCall Theal, 1886 - From the South African Xhosa people, a scholarly collection of Xhosa tales; part of the cultural heritage of South Africa. 
http://tinyurl.com/742v3cp

Kikuyu - Fables and Legends - Kenya - Twelve unique stories from the Kenyan culture and an interesting article on storytelling customs in Kenya.
http://www.bluegecko.org/kenya/tribes/kikuyu/stories.htm

The King of the Snakes and Other Folk-lore Stories from Uganda
http://tinyurl.com/c7nkznm

South-African Folk-Tales by James A. Honey, M.D. 1910. “This is a collection of South African folklore collected during the 19th century. It includes many great animal tales with classic African wisdom.”
https://tinyurl.com/y7r52e79

West African Folktales by W.H. Barker and Cecilia Sinclair – Children love animal and Anansi stories. This book will help add some new tales to your repertoire. 
https://www.surlalunefairytales.com/books/africa/barker.html

CURRICULUM

Exploring Africa
http://exploringafrica.matrix.msu.edu/curriculum/

The Talking GoatLesson plan for the story found in the West Africa section above.
https://www.peacecorps.gov/educators/resources/talking-goat-lesson/  

Teaching African History and Cultures Across the Curriculum
https://www.edutopia.org/article/teaching-african-history-and-cultures-across-curriculum 

Teacher Vision - Activities for African folktales K-5.
http://www.teachervision.fen.com/folk-tales/activity/3721.html

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

Celebrating the Country of India
http://karenchace.blogspot.com/2021/01/celebrate-country-of-india.html

Celebrating the Country of Turkey
https://karenchace.blogspot.com/2017/11/celebrating-country-of-turkey.html

 

Please note, websites change at a rapid pace and weblinks may change or break without notice. I cannot be responsible for redirected or broken links.  At the time of this posting all links were in working order. Thank you for understanding.

Karen Chace 2021 ©

This blog post was researched and compiled by Karen Chace. Permission for private use is granted. Distribution, either electronically or on paper is prohibited without my expressed written permission. For permission, please contact me at storybug@aol.com. Of course, if you wish to link to my blog via your website, blog, newsletter, Facebook page or Twitter please feel free to do so; I greatly appreciate your support and personal integrity.