African Folktales

The written language only came to Africa in the late 16th

century. Only then missionaries and explorers begin to
put an alphabet to the spoken African languages.
Before that, for thousands of years, African stories,
fables and myths was carried forward verbally from
generation to generation, and sadly quite often forgotten.
Most traditional African folk tales, myths and fables have
a moral point to them, or is use to educate, or entertain,
or to explain animal behaviour, educate on traditions or
correct behaviour. African mythology stories generally all
have an specific moral theme to them.

What is a folktale?
Story/legend

handed down from

generation to generation

Usually
Often

by oral retelling

convey a lesson about life

Elements of a Folktale

Moral lesson (theme)- illustrates a moral belief.

Human characteristics in animals, objects or gods
(personification) Characters may be animals or gods
and goddesses who deal with the same
weaknesses humans have such as greed, kindness,
vanity, wealth, poverty, etc.
Contains a hero or heroine may contain a character
who goes to extraordinary lengths to rescue another
character.
Explain some event in nature as in Why stories,
explanations of events in nature such as rainbows,
thunder, stripes on some animal, etc.

More Elements

A supernatural element usually explains some basic

questions about the world such as creation, humanity
conditions, or other natural occurrences.
Good triumphs over evil- desirable human qualities are
rewarded in the end. Foolish or dishonest characters
are exposed. The story often teaches a lesson, and
may state a moral outright.
Tricks played on character - tricks are played on a
character, frequently poking fun at human weaknesses.
Stereotyped character (good, bad, foolish, tricky) one
or more characters are stereotyped as the example of
human qualities (greed, curiosity, kindness, etc.)

From:http://www.tip.sas.upenn.edu/curriculum/units/2007/05/07.05.04.pdf

Stories from Africa were traditionally passed down

by word of mouth. Often they were told by the light
of the moon around a village fire after the
completion of a long day of work. The stories rarely
ended with the words we so often heard as children
when our parents told us bedtime stories -- "and
they all lived happily ever after". Most stories didn't
end happily ever after. Usually the stories taught a
lesson, and frequently, the selfish person learned
that lesson the hard way.

There is a rich, fertile legacy of folklore from Africa. On this vast

continent, folk tales and myths serve as a means of handing down
traditions and customs from one generation to the next. The
storytelling tradition has thrived for generations because of the
absence of printed material. Folk tales prepare young people for life,
as there are many lessons to be learned from the tales. Because of
the history of this large continent, which includes the forceful
transplanting of the people into slavery on other continents, many of
the same folk tales exist in North America, South America, and the
West Indies. These are told with little variation, for the tales were
spread by word of mouth and were kept among the African population.
In addition to the folk tales, there are myths, legends, many proverbs,
tongue twisters, and riddles.

Tricksters and animals play a common role in their

folklore. The stories are not only entertaining but
serve to teach a lesson as well, sometimes of a
moral value and other times of survival.
West Africans have many tales about a wandering
trickster spirit who is associated with change and
quarrels. In some stories, he is the messenger
between the world and the supreme god.
Among the Fon people of Dahomey (Benin), Legba
is the guardian and trickster of crossroads and
entrances. He speaks all languages and has the
power to remove obstacles and provide
opportunities. All ceremonies begin and end with
Legba because no communication with the gods
can exist without first consulting him .

Use of Nature

In the African folk tales, the stories reflect the culture where
animals abound; consequently, the monkey, elephant, giraffe,
lion, zebra, crocodile, and rhinoceros appear frequently along
with a wide variety of birds such as the ostrich, the secretary
bird, and the eagle. The animals and birds take on human
characteristics of greed, jealousy, honesty, loneliness, etc.
Through their behavior, many valuable lessons are learned.
Also, the surroundings in which the tales take place reveal the
vastness of the land and educate the reader about the climate,
such as the dry season when it hasn't rained for several years,
or the rainy season when the hills are slick with mud. The
acacia trees swaying in a gentle breeze, muddy streams that
are home to fish, hippos and crocodiles, moss covered rocks,
and giant ant hills that serve as a "back scratcher" for huge
elephants, give the reader a sense of the variety of life in this
parched or lush land in this part of the world.

tales about animal tricksters often describe how

helpless creatures manage to outwit fierce animals.
One of the most important animal tricksters of West
African legends is Anansi, who acts on behalf of the
sky god, Nyame. Anansi became the King of All
Stories after proving to Nyame that he could trick a
jaguar, hornets and a fairy. Anansi is often depicted
as a spider, a human or a combination of both.
Other animal tricksters common in African legends
include the tortoise and the hare. There are even
stories of animals who help humans. According to
the San Bushmen, the praying mantis gave them
words and fire. The Bambara people of Mali claim
that an antelope taught them agriculture.

Anansi

Anansi, the Spider, is one of the major trickster

figures in African folk tales. This spider can be wise,
foolish, amusing, or even lazy--but always there is a
lesson to be learned from Anansi. The spider tales
have traveled from Africa to the Caribbean Islands.
Sometimes the spelling is changed from Anansi to
Ananse. In Haiti the spider is called Ti Malice.
Anansi stories came into the United Stated through
South Carolina. The Anansi spider tales are told as
"Aunt Nancy" stories by the Gullah of the
southeastern part of the U.S.

Animals play an important

role......
In

other African Legends, animals play

an important role in how death came
into the world, such as the tale of the
lizard that carried the message of death
to mankind or the hyena that severed
the rope between heaven and earth.
Many stories are based on talking
animals with human characteristics,
such as greed, jealousy and loneliness.

CROCODILE TALES

There are a wealth of crocodile tales from Africa. In

parts of West Africa, a person attacked by a
crocodile is said to be the victim of the vengeance of
someone he has harmed. It is said that he who kills
a crocodile becomes a crocodile. A South African
Vandau proverb reminds us that: "The strength of
the crocodile is in the water." In another tale, the fox
claims to have the answer to killer-crocodiles who
terrorize the people. He says the solution is simple.
He eats their eggs. The ending proverb is, "Get rid
of your enemy before he is stronger than you."

THE KIND LION

This

type of tale is from Africa, where

lions live in the wild. It is the idea that the
Lion, King of the Beasts, lets his victims
go for one reason or another, and then
this good deed is rewarded in the end by
the victim saving the life of the lion. It is
the "one good turn deserves another"
motif. This kindly lion theme spread from
Africa to Europe.

THE SACRED VULTURE

"Opete"

is the Twi term for the vulture.

This bird is believed to be an
instrument of the gods by the Ashanti
and other West African peoples. This
feeling of the sacred bird has survived
in the New World and in the Caribbean

A WEALTH OF PROVERBS

There are many thousands of proverbs from African

folk tales. A single tribe may have as many as a
thousand--or even several thousand--of their own.
So there are proverbs in abundance from this
continent. Many times, a proverb is spoken in a tale
by a character, rather than being left for the end of
the story. Some of the more familiar proverbs do not
need a story context in order to figure out the
meaning. For example, "Do not set the roof on fire
and then go to bed"; "He who runs and hides in the
bushes does not do it for nothing; if he is not doing
the chasing, we know that something is chasing
him"; and "Chicken says: We follow the one who has
something."

DILEMMA TALES
Many

stories are deliberately left

without an ending. This leaves the
ending wide open for audience
discussion and participation. The
ending of the tale would be determined
by the group of people involved in the
exercise. The ending, therefore, is
flexible and might change depending
upon who is participating.

STRING STORIES

Making a simple loop from string and telling a tale

with the string by twisting and turning the string to
represent different parts of the story, is one of the
oldest forms of storytelling in the world. In parts of
Africa, the native children who cannot speak a word
of English can often communicate with an Englishspeaking foreign visitor via a string story. It is a way
of getting acquainted without words, and is a form of
communication as different cultures share string
stories. Some of the African string figures are the
same as those of Pacific Ocean islanders or
Eskimos of the far north.

THE ROLE OF THE AUDIENCE

IN STORYTELLING

Many of the folk tales have musical participation

by the audience that adds much to the tale. It is
common for the audience to answer questions
aloud, to clap their hands in rhythm to word
repetition (chorus), and to join in the chorus.
The audience participation cannot be cut short,
or the audience will let the storyteller know it.
Some of the tales have a repetitive quality to
them (such as, the same chorus may be used
repeatedly) because the audience wants to
enjoy the story and participate in the experience
for as long as possible

THE VOICE OF THE DRUM

Language can be conveyed by drums. The

Ashanti and other West African tribes, just by
the rhythms and intervals in beating their
drums by their fingers, the flat of their hand,
or the thumb, can convey messages and be
understood over long distances. Many
different tones can be made by the pressure
of the arm under which a drum is held. The
stick for beating the drum came later. We still
refer to a turkey leg as the "drum stick."

Magical element?

Trickster traits?

Human characteristics?

Title:

Repeated words or phrases?

Moral?