 |
| Ikhlas Khan African Prime Minister of Bijapur, c. 1650 |
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
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 Folktales –
Over 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 Goat – Lesson 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.
