Saturday, October 21, 2023

LibriVox: African Folktales

African folktales are amazing, and I am excited to share them with you here! Last year, I started making audio recordings of the stories at LibriVox. When I began, there were around 150 folktales you could listen to; now there are over 400 stories, and I have cataloged literally thousands more African folktales in the public domain that I want to record, story by story by story. (If you would like to start recording for LibriVox, just visit their website to learn more; it's a very supportive and encouraging community!)

Below this paragraph, you will see an African folktale displayed at random, and you can also see a story displayed at random in the blog sidebar. Just click the "play" button to listen, and you can also scroll down in the frame to see all the stories in that book. You can reload the page to see another story at random, and there's a complete listing of the audio stories below the frame, all free to listen to and to read online. Happy listening/reading!




Story List:
  1. A Chain of Circumstances
  2. A Family Quarrel
  3. A Jackal And A Wolf
  4. A Journey for Salt
  5. A Lesson in Evolution
  6. A Man and His Mother-in-law
  7. A Plea for Mercy
  8. A Quarrel about Seniority
  9. A Question as to Age
  10. A Question of Right of Inheritance
  11. A Snake's Skin Looks like a Snake
  12. A Story of the Great Famine
  13. A Test of Friendship
  14. A Trick for Vengeance
  15. A Tug-of-War
  16. Abundance
  17. Adventures of a Jackal
  18. Adventures of the Jackal's Eldest Son
  19. Adventures of the Younger Son of Jackal
  20. Adzanumee and Her Mother
  21. Agenda: Rat's Play on a Name
  22. Ali of the Crooked Arm
  23. All for the Skin of a Lion
  24. An Oath: With a Mental Reservation
  25. Anansi and Nothing
  26. Anansi and the Blind Fisherman
  27. Ants Carrying Bundles as Big as Themselves
  28. Baboon-Skins
  29. Bata the Duck
  30. Binti Ali the Clever
  31. Borrowed Clothes
  32. Candor
  33. Chief Kekong's Daughter 'Ndere who Married a Python
  34. Cloud-Eating.
  35. Cock And Jackal.
  36. Concerning the Human Sacrifices
  37. Concerning the Ju-Ju against Elephantiasis
  38. Concerning the Okuni Witches and Cannibalism
  39. Crocodile
  40. Crocodile's Treason
  41. Death Begins by Some One Person
  42. Do Not Impose on the Weak
  43. Do Not Trust your Friend
  44. Dog and His False Friend Leopard
  45. Dog and his Human Speech (version 1)
  46. Dog and his Human Speech (version 2)
  47. Elephant And Tortoise / Giraffe and Tortoise.
  48. Essido and his Evil Companions
  49. Farmer Mybrow and the Fairies
  50. Feeding the Hungry
  51. Goat's Tournament
  52. Goso, the Teacher
  53. Haamdaanee
  54. Honourable Minu
  55. Horse Cursed By Sun.
  56. Hottentots And Bushmen.
  57. How 'Nyambi Punished Chief Oga
  58. How a Cruel Inkum Chief Was Poisoned by His Slaves
  59. How a Father Tried to Kill One of His Sons but Failed
  60. How a Hunter Obtained Money from his Friends
  61. How Agbor Adam Broke the Hunting Law of Okuni
  62. How an Inkum Boy Was Drowned by His Companions
  63. How an Inkum Woman Abandoned One of Her Twins in the Forest
  64. How Beasts and Serpents Came into the World
  65. How Chief Alankor and All His Family Were Killed by a Big Frog
  66. How Elili of Inkum Died, and Was Brought Back to Life Again
  67. How Essama Stole Her Father's Goat in the Fatting-House
  68. How Ewa Abagi, an Inkum Woman, Was Drowned in the Cross River
  69. How Ibanang Okpong and Her Mother Were Swallowed by a Man-Eating Drum
  70. How Isuro the Rabbit Tricked Gudu
  71. How Jakhals Fed Oom Leeuw
  72. How Mafani Earned His Bride
  73. How Mushrooms First Grew
  74. How Oghabi Poisoned His Friend Okpa
  75. How the Antelope's Wife Came to Her Death
  76. How the Elephant Made a Fool of Himself
  77. How the Frog Beat the Bush Buck in a Race
  78. How the Grey Parrots Got Their Red Tails
  79. How the Hare Traded With a Bag of Corn
  80. How the Hen and the Duck Became Friends
  81. How the Jackal got his Stripe
  82. How the Monkey Saved the Antelope from Death
  83. How the River Came into Existence
  84. How the Sparrow and the Hen Became Friends
  85. How the Tortoise Got Its Shell
  86. How the Turtle Outwitted the Pig
  87. How Tortoise Overcame Elephant and Hippopotamus
  88. How Two Bendega Young Men Changes Their Skins
  89. How Two Friends Fell Out: The Spider and the Grasshopper
  90. How We Got the Name 'Spider Tales'
  91. How Wisdom Became the Property of the Human Race
  92. Iguana's Forked Tongue
  93. Is the Bat a Bird or a Beast?
  94. Ituen and the King's Wife
  95. Jackal And Monkey
  96. Jackal, Dove, And Heron.
  97. Jackal's Bride.
  98. Jan the Animal Judge
  99. Kasanke the Little Red Bird
  100. Kibaraka and the Bird
  101. King Chameleon and the Animals
  102. Kitangatanga of the Sea
  103. Kwofi and the Gods
  104. Leopard of the Fine Skin
  105. Leopard's Hunting Companions
  106. Leopard's Hunting-Camp
  107. Leopard's Marriage Journey
  108. Lila and Fila
  109. Lion And Baboon.
  110. Lion And Jackal
  111. Lion Who Thought Him Self Wiser Than His Mother.
  112. Lion Who Took A Woman's Shape.
  113. Lion's Defeat.
  114. Lion's Illness.
  115. Lion's Share.
  116. Maku Mawu and Maku Fia
  117. Mkaaah Jeechonee, the Boy Hunter
  118. Mohammed With the Magic Finger
  119. Morning Sunrise
  120. Motikatika
  121. Musoke the Moon-boy
  122. Njiwo Died of Sleep
  123. No One Can Live on Beauty Alone
  124. Not My Fault!
  125. Nunda the Slayer
  126. Nunda, Eater of People
  127. Nuts are Eaten Because of Angangwe
  128. Nya-nya Bulembu; or, the Moss-green Princess
  129. Of Chief Amaza, His Wife Achi, and the Tortoise
  130. Of the Fat Woman who Melted Away
  131. Of the Pretty Girl and the Seven Jealous Women
  132. Of the Pretty Stranger who Killed the King
  133. Ohia and the Thieving Deer
  134. One Ought Not to Despise the Little Things
  135. Origin of the Elephant
  136. Origin of the Ivory Trade (version 1)
  137. Origin of the Ivory Trade (version 2)
  138. Paka the Cat
  139. Parrot Standing on One Leg
  140. Pemba Muhori
  141. Prudence and Indolence
  142. Punished Indifference
  143. Quarcoo Bah-Boni
  144. Sad Fate of Three Little Flies
  145. Samba the Coward
  146. Saved by his Tail
  147. Segu
  148. Setuli; or, the King of the Birds
  149. Shani and Tabak
  150. Soliloquy of Old Age in a Banana Garden
  151. Story Of Lion And Little Jackal
  152. Swine Talking
  153. Tasks Done for a Wife
  154. Tests of Death (version 1)
  155. Tests of Death (version 2)
  156. The 'Nsasak Bird and the Odudu Bird
  157. The Absent-minded Bridegroom
  158. The Affair of the Hippopotamus and the Tortoise
  159. The Alligator and the Moor Hen
  160. The Animals’ Dam
  161. The Ant and the Cricket
  162. The Ape, the Snake, and the Lion
  163. The Beauty and the Beast
  164. The Buffalo Maiden
  165. The Cannibals
  166. The Cat and the Hen
  167. The Cat, the Rat, and the Fox
  168. The Cat's Tail
  169. The Cheats of Kijongo
  170. The Clever Cat
  171. The Cock who Caused a Fight between Two Towns
  172. The Cock's Kraal
  173. The Cooking-pot and the Drum
  174. The Crimson-striped Lily
  175. The Cunning Hare
  176. The Curse of Selfishness
  177. The Dance For Water Or Rabbit's Triumph
  178. The Daughter of Buk Ettemsuch
  179. The Death of Abu Nowas
  180. The Deceptions of Tortoise
  181. The Disobedient Daughter who Married a Skull
  182. The Dog and the Clever Rabbit
  183. The Dog and the Kingship
  184. The Dog and the Leopard
  185. The Dog and the Leopard
  186. The Election of the King Bird
  187. The Elephant and the Tortoise
  188. The Elephant That Wanted to Dance
  189. The Enchanted Buck
  190. The Fairy Bird
  191. The Fairy Frog
  192. The Famine
  193. The Fate of Agbor the Hunter, Who Killed His Wife and Children
  194. The Fights of Mbuma-Tyetye
  195. The Fish and the Leopard's Wife
  196. The Flame Tree
  197. The Flying Lion
  198. The Foolish Hare
  199. The Fools
  200. The Fox and the Hen
  201. The Frog and the Elephant
  202. The Frog and the Leopard
  203. The Frog and the Lizard
  204. The Game of Hide-and-Seek
  205. The Giant Goat
  206. The Golden-crested Crane
  207. The Grinding-Stone That Ground Flour By Itself
  208. The Guardians of the Snakes
  209. The Happy Age in the Animal World
  210. The Hare and the Lion
  211. The Hare Who Earned a Cow and a Chieftainship
  212. The Hawk and the Owl
  213. The Hawk and the Rooster
  214. The Heart of a Monkey
  215. The Holy Man
  216. The Home of the Rat
  217. The Horns of the Buffalo
  218. The Hunt Of Lion And Jackal.
  219. The Hunter and the Tortoise
  220. The Hunters and the Snake
  221. The Hyena and the Moonbeam
  222. The Hyena's Punishment
  223. The Hyena's Spots
  224. The Jackal and the Heron
  225. The Jackal and the Hyena
  226. The Jackal and the Leopard
  227. The Jackal and the Spring
  228. The Jackal And The Wolf.
  229. The Jackal, the Dove, and the Panther
  230. The Jackal, the Hare and the Cock
  231. The Judgment Of Baboon.
  232. The King and the 'Nsiat Bird
  233. The King and the Ju Ju Tree
  234. The King of the Snakes
  235. The King who Married the Cock's Daughter
  236. The King's Magic Drum
  237. The Kites and the Crows
  238. The Law Concerning Fortune-tellers
  239. The Leopard and the Crane
  240. The Leopard and the Goat
  241. The Leopard and the Goat
  242. The Leopard and the Python
  243. The Leopard and the Ram
  244. The Leopard, the Hare, and the Monkey
  245. The Leopard, the Squirrel, and the Tortoise
  246. The Leopard, the Tortoise, and the Bush Rat
  247. The Lies of Tortoise
  248. The Lion And Jackal
  249. The Lion And Jackal
  250. The Lion and the Wolf
  251. The Lion of Manda
  252. The Lion-girl
  253. The Lion, the Hyena and the Hare
  254. The Lion, the Hyena, and the Hare
  255. The Lion, the Hyena, and the Rabbit
  256. The Lion, The Jackal, And The Man
  257. The Lion's Talisman
  258. The Lioness And The Ostrich
  259. The Little Hare
  260. The Little Red Tortoise
  261. The Locusts
  262. The Lost Message
  263. The Lucky Fisherman
  264. The Magic Date Trees
  265. The Magic Drum
  266. The Magic Mirror
  267. The Magician and the Sultan’s Son
  268. The Man Who Knew Too Much
  269. The Man Who Wanted to Fool Death
  270. The Monkey Finds Worry
  271. The Monkey, the Shark, and the Washerman’s Donkey
  272. The Monkey's Fiddle
  273. The Mpa Bana Bird
  274. The Oil Merchant
  275. The Omanhene Who Liked Riddles
  276. The One-handed Girl
  277. The Origin Of Death (5 versions)
  278. The Orphan Boy and the Magic Stone
  279. The Ostrich Hunt
  280. The Owl and His Friends
  281. The Parrot and the Owl
  282. The Physician’s Son and the King of the Snakes
  283. The Poor Man and His Wife of Wood
  284. The Punishment of the Turtle
  285. The Quits of Gomba
  286. The Rabbit and His Ears
  287. The Rabbit and the Alligator
  288. The Rabbit and the Animal Wizard
  289. The Rabbit and the Elephant
  290. The Rabbit and the Moon
  291. The Rabbit and the Other Animals
  292. The Rabbit Escapes the Wolf's Anger
  293. The Rabbit Prince
  294. The Race Between the Turtle and the Antelope
  295. The Reward of Industry
  296. The Rival Roosters
  297. The River Fairy
  298. The Robber and the Old Man
  299. The Rover of the Plain
  300. The Royal Puff Adders of Budo
  301. The Sacred Milk of Koumongoe
  302. The Savior of the Animals
  303. The Sea-turtle When Caught
  304. The Sense of the Weasel
  305. The Serpent's Bride
  306. The Singing Skeleton
  307. The Slave Girl who Tried to Kill her Mistress
  308. The Squirrel and the Kingship
  309. The Squirrel and the Spider
  310. The Stars and the Stars’ Road
  311. The Story Of A Dam
  312. The Story of a Gazelle
  313. The Story of a Panic
  314. The Story of Dschemil and Dschemila
  315. The Story of Halfman
  316. The Story Of Hare
  317. The Story of Hassebu
  318. The Story of Igiri and Her Husband Inkang
  319. The Story of Kibate
  320. The Story of Kintu
  321. The Story of Mpobe the Hunter
  322. The Story of Nsangi and the Apes
  323. The Story of Semai-mai
  324. The Story of the Chief Kasuju
  325. The Story of the Cock and the Hen
  326. The Story of the Drummer and the Alligators
  327. The Story of the Fairy Bee
  328. The Story of the Fairy Foxes
  329. The Story of the Frog
  330. The Story of the Grey Heron
  331. The Story of the Hero Makoma
  332. The Story of the Hippos
  333. The Story of the King's Son and the Magic Song
  334. The Story of the Lightning and the Thunder
  335. The Story of the Little Birds who lived in A Cave
  336. The Story of the Shining Princess
  337. The Story of the Two Friends
  338. The Story of the War between Inkum and Enfitop
  339. The Story of the Witch who Tried to Kill Her Husband
  340. The Story of the Wonderful Goat
  341. The Stranger
  342. The Suitors of Njambo's Daughter
  343. The Suitors of Princess Gorilla
  344. The Sultan's Daughter
  345. The Sultan's Snake-child
  346. The Sun
  347. The Three Little Eggs
  348. The Tiger, The Ram, And The Jackal
  349. The Tortoise with a Pretty Daughter
  350. The Trapper, the Lion and the Hare
  351. The Treachery of Tortoise
  352. The Turtle, the Wolf, and the Hyena
  353. The Ungrateful Man
  354. The Unnatural Mother
  355. The White Dove
  356. The White Man And Snake (2 versions)
  357. The Wolf and His Two Dinners
  358. The Wolf's Butter
  359. The Woman and the Parrot
  360. The Woman with Two Skins
  361. The Woman, the Ape, and the Child
  362. The Woodcutter and His Donkey
  363. The World's Reward
  364. The Young Thief
  365. The Zebra Stallion.
  366. Thunder and Anansi
  367. Tink-Tinkje
  368. Tit For Tat
  369. To Lose an Elephant for the Sake of a Wren
  370. Tortoise and the Bojabi Tree
  371. Tortoise Covers His Ignorance
  372. Tortoise in a Race
  373. Tortoise, Dog, Leopard, and the Njabi Fruit
  374. Tortoises Hunting Ostriches.
  375. Udea and Her Seven Brothers
  376. Unkind Criticism
  377. Walukaga the Blacksmith
  378. What Caused their Deaths?
  379. What Happened at Okuni When Anyone Was Killed by Accident
  380. When Lion Could Fly.
  381. Which is the Better Hunter, an Eagle or a Leopard?
  382. Which is the Fattest: Manatus, Hog, or Oyster?
  383. Who Are Crocodile's Relatives?
  384. Who Is King of Birds?
  385. Who Was King?
  386. Who Was the Thief?
  387. Why a Hawk kills Chickens
  388. Why a Python Never Swallows a Tortoise
  389. Why Chameleons and Snakes Are Hated by Men
  390. Why Dead People Are Buried
  391. Why Edidor Killed Her Husband and Her Lover
  392. Why Goats Became Domestic
  393. Why Has Jackal A Long, Black Stripe On His Back?
  394. Why Leopard Can Only Catch Prey On Its Left Side
  395. Why Moon and Stars Receive Light from Sun
  396. Why Mosquitoes Buzz
  397. Why Spiders Are Always Found in Corners of Ceilings
  398. Why the Bat Flies by Night
  399. Why the Bat is Ashamed to Be Seen in the Daytime
  400. Why the Bat Sleeps All Through the Day
  401. Why the Bush Cow and the Elephant are Bad Friends
  402. Why the Cat Came to Man's House
  403. Why the Cat kills Rats
  404. Why the Flies Bother the Cows
  405. Why the Goat Left the Jungle
  406. Why the Hare’s Nose is Slit
  407. Why the Head of the Male Goat Smells So Strong
  408. Why the Heron has a Crooked Neck
  409. Why the Hyena is Lame
  410. Why the Lizard Moves His Head Up and Down
  411. Why the Mist Rises from the Water
  412. Why the Moon Waxes and Wanes
  413. Why the Plantain-Stalk Bears But One Bunch
  414. Why the Sun and the Moon Live in the Sky
  415. Why the Weaver-Bird and the Woodpecker Are Enemies
  416. Why the Worms Live Underneath the Ground
  417. Why Tigers Never Attack Men Unless Provoked
  418. Why White Ants Always Harm Man's Property

Friday, September 8, 2023

About the Story Finder

This "Story Finder" project is inspired by the Story Finder books by Sharon Elswit; you can find out about all four of her books — Caribbean Story Finder, Latin American Story Finder, Jewish Story Finder, East Asian Story Finder — at her webisite: SharonElswit.com. They are incredibly useful resources! Each volume in the series features hundreds of stories, and for each story she provides a detailed summary along with variant versions across multiple sources. Here's a screenshot of a two-page spread from the Latin American Story Finder, so you can get a sense of the approach she has taken (click on the image for a larger view):


In those books, Elswit relies on a variety of published and online sources, some of which are readily accessible (i.e. available in local libraries or at used booksellers, etc.), but some of which are not. Since discovering her books, I started wondering what it would be like to create some Story Finder books that are based on public domain and open access resources that everyone can read.

My own focus for the past couple of years has been folktales from Africa, and I've done a comprehensive survey of English-language public domain and open access materials available as online books or online articles at the Internet Archive. That includes public domain books published before 1928, books published after 1928 whose copyrights have lapsed, plus materials that are available with Creative Commons licenses or other forms of open access. I completed that survey in conjunction with the books that were available by controlled digital lending from the Internet Archive; you can see the bibliography guide I published here: A Reader's Guide to African Folktales at the Internet Archive (free ebook). Unfortunately, the big publishers' lawsuit against the Internet Archive has put the future of controlled digital lending in doubt, but there is still an abundance of public domain and open access material available.

What finally prompted me to start working on an actual Story Finder project was that I started recording for LibriVox in August 2023. I made an index of the African folktales already available at LibriVox (142 stories from 5 different sources), and then I started recording more African folktale sources. I completed one book which has been cataloged (Stafford's Animal Fables) and another book which is still waiting to be cataloged; meanwhile, I am working on my third book! By the time that third book is done, I will have added 130 more stories, nearly doubling the number of stories available. And I have LOTS more sources to record. There are over 1000 African folktales available in public domain books, and that many again (actually more) in public domain articles from journals like Folklore, The Journal of American Folklore, etc.

So, I am going to be recording (and recording and recording...), and I am also going to be writing posts at this blog featuring the story motifs and story types that reveal the inner workings and creative invention of African storytelling traditions. These posts will, in turn, provide the raw material for a book I would eventually like to write about African storytelling, something similar to Elswit's Story Finder books, although instead of summaries I will include public-domain texts of the stories. Of course, it won't be enough just to rely on public domain sources; I will need to supplement these colonial-era sources with more contemporary work, with an emphasis on work published by African storytellers and scholars, citing those resources in the bibliography and in the variant versions. Still, I am excited about building the book with a core of public domain materials that everyone can access online all over the world.

Here are the posts I've written so far:
Meanwhile, just for fun, I made a randomizing widget which displays LibriVox recordings of African folktales embedded right here in my blog. You can see the widget below, and also in the blog sidebar. I'll update the widget as more and more stories get added — and if you are curious about such widgets, I build them with a free program created by a former student: RotateContent.com.

Happy listening!


Thursday, September 7, 2023

Type: Trickster and Dupe on a Journey

Today's story — "How Isuro the Rabbit Tricked Gudu" — is from The Orange Fairy Book by Andrew Lang, published in 1906 (for more stories, see the index). You can listen to today's story via LibriVox and which you can read online at the Internet Archive. The story is item 5 in the audiobook playlist:


Of all Lang's Fairy Books, the Orange Fairy Book is the one with the most stories from Africa, and you can find all of the African stories from the Fairy Books here: African Folktales in the Fairy Books of Andrew Lang. This particular story comes from the Shona storytelling tradition, and the characters have their Shona names: Isuro (tsuro) the rabbit and Gudu (gudo) the Baboon.

The book is illustrated by Henry Justice Ford, and here is his illustration for the story, showing the first trick, when the baboon gets the rabbit to drop his food in the water, while he only pretends to drop his food, dropping a stone in stead.


This story type is Trickster and Dupe on a Journey. The role of the trickster usually shifts at some point in the story. For example, in this story, the baboon starts out tricking the rabbit, but finally the rabbit gets wise to what is going on, and in the final part of the story, the rabbit is the trickster and the baboon becomes his dupe.

To see another story of this type, take a look here:

"Baboon and Hare" in "Tales and Proverbs of the Vandau of Portuguese South Africa" by Franz Boas and C. Kamba Simango published in Journal of American Folklore. This version has a different role reversal: on the first journey, Baboon travels with Wild-Cat, and Baboon tricks Wild-Cat every time. When Wild-Cat comes home, he tells Hare what happened. Baboon then asks Hare to journey with him, Hare makes Baboon his dupe. Then Baboon wants revenge and he takes Hare on another journey, but again Hare outsmarts him. You will find both the Ndau version here and a literal English translation.