25 Famous African Folktales

25 Famous African Folktales PDF Author: Mauritz Mostert
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781393407928
Category : Young Adult Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 268

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Book Description
Moral African Folktales for all ages. African Folktales are common to most of the tribes and peoples of Africa. Different cultures, whilst sharing a common point of reference, will colour each story with their own rich, unique heritage. These tales by tradition were handed down by word of mouth through the ages, to be enjoyed by young and old alike. Honouring tradition, I have tried to keep the "voice" of the original storytellers of old, in the same manner in which they spoke centuries ago. Contractions have been left out, since they were not the mode of speech in those bygone days. In Africa, myths and tall tales abound, around the next mountain, through yonder valley, you will find a story that almost sounds the same as one you have heard before. Thus, there are many versions of each tale. I believe this story captures the essence of originality, having been acquire from established oral traditions, thereby preserving uniqueness. The folktales of Africa have inspired countless expeditions in search of mysteries and treasures, from golden mountains, to lost tribes, to amazing animals. How did they get there? How were they made? Were they kind or fierce? Were they friendly or terrifying? Yes, some were gentle, some were vicious, but all had a story to tell. Who are they? What do they stand for, what nature do they have? All beings have traits of one kind or another, it is these which are discovered in folktales. This story has been built upon ancient traditions. As an African-born author, I owe a debt of gratitude to all our ancestors who passed down wonderful fables and tales, from which this story is derived. It is to them, I dedicate this book.

25 Famous African Folktales

25 Famous African Folktales PDF Author: Mauritz Mostert
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781393407928
Category : Young Adult Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 268

Get Book Here

Book Description
Moral African Folktales for all ages. African Folktales are common to most of the tribes and peoples of Africa. Different cultures, whilst sharing a common point of reference, will colour each story with their own rich, unique heritage. These tales by tradition were handed down by word of mouth through the ages, to be enjoyed by young and old alike. Honouring tradition, I have tried to keep the "voice" of the original storytellers of old, in the same manner in which they spoke centuries ago. Contractions have been left out, since they were not the mode of speech in those bygone days. In Africa, myths and tall tales abound, around the next mountain, through yonder valley, you will find a story that almost sounds the same as one you have heard before. Thus, there are many versions of each tale. I believe this story captures the essence of originality, having been acquire from established oral traditions, thereby preserving uniqueness. The folktales of Africa have inspired countless expeditions in search of mysteries and treasures, from golden mountains, to lost tribes, to amazing animals. How did they get there? How were they made? Were they kind or fierce? Were they friendly or terrifying? Yes, some were gentle, some were vicious, but all had a story to tell. Who are they? What do they stand for, what nature do they have? All beings have traits of one kind or another, it is these which are discovered in folktales. This story has been built upon ancient traditions. As an African-born author, I owe a debt of gratitude to all our ancestors who passed down wonderful fables and tales, from which this story is derived. It is to them, I dedicate this book.

South-African Folk-Tales

South-African Folk-Tales PDF Author: James A. Honey
Publisher: DigiCat
ISBN:
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 76

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Book Description
This collection of folktales from South Africa has been put together the author says, not for scholarship but for a love of the sunny country where he was born. Some stories originate from Dutch sources, and some have several versions. Most are tales told by the bushmen.

The Spider's Thin Legs

The Spider's Thin Legs PDF Author: Ada Ari
Publisher: ADA Ari Books
ISBN: 9781737715146
Category : Juvenile Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
Have you ever wondered why spiders have thin legs? Journey with us to a country called Ghana in AdaAri's retelling of this time-honored African Folktale. You will learn about Anansi and how his actions resulted in a long-lasting effect on Spiders all over the world. This hardback copy includes two "Fun Fact" cards about the Ashanti kingdom of Ghana, the birthplace of this Anansi story.

Famous South African Folk Tales

Famous South African Folk Tales PDF Author:
Publisher: Human & Rosseau
ISBN:
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 232

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Book Description
A collection of fifty-four folk tales from South Africa including Cape Malay, San, Khoikhoi, and Afrikaan tales.

The Annotated African American Folktales (The Annotated Books)

The Annotated African American Folktales (The Annotated Books) PDF Author: Henry Louis Gates Jr.
Publisher: Liveright Publishing
ISBN: 0871407566
Category : Literary Collections
Languages : en
Pages : 1437

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Book Description
Winner • NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Literary Work (Fiction) Winner • Anne Izard Storytellers’ Choice Award Holiday Gift Guide Selection • Indiewire, San Francisco Chronicle, and Minneapolis Star-Tribune These nearly 150 African American folktales animate our past and reclaim a lost cultural legacy to redefine American literature. Drawing from the great folklorists of the past while expanding African American lore with dozens of tales rarely seen before, The Annotated African American Folktales revolutionizes the canon like no other volume. Following in the tradition of such classics as Arthur Huff Fauset’s “Negro Folk Tales from the South” (1927), Zora Neale Hurston’s Mules and Men (1935), and Virginia Hamilton’s The People Could Fly (1985), acclaimed scholars Henry Louis Gates Jr. and Maria Tatar assemble a groundbreaking collection of folktales, myths, and legends that revitalizes a vibrant African American past to produce the most comprehensive and ambitious collection of African American folktales ever published in American literary history. Arguing for the value of these deceptively simple stories as part of a sophisticated, complex, and heterogeneous cultural heritage, Gates and Tatar show how these remarkable stories deserve a place alongside the classic works of African American literature, and American literature more broadly. Opening with two introductory essays and twenty seminal African tales as historical background, Gates and Tatar present nearly 150 African American stories, among them familiar Brer Rabbit classics, but also stories like “The Talking Skull” and “Witches Who Ride,” as well as out-of-print tales from the 1890s’ Southern Workman. Beginning with the figure of Anansi, the African trickster, master of improvisation—a spider who plots and weaves in scandalous ways—The Annotated African American Folktales then goes on to draw Caribbean and Creole tales into the orbit of the folkloric canon. It retrieves stories not seen since the Harlem Renaissance and brings back archival tales of “Negro folklore” that Booker T. Washington proclaimed had emanated from a “grapevine” that existed even before the American Revolution, stories brought over by slaves who had survived the Middle Passage. Furthermore, Gates and Tatar’s volume not only defines a new canon but reveals how these folktales were hijacked and misappropriated in previous incarnations, egregiously by Joel Chandler Harris, a Southern newspaperman, as well as by Walt Disney, who cannibalized and capitalized on Harris’s volumes by creating cartoon characters drawn from this African American lore. Presenting these tales with illuminating annotations and hundreds of revelatory illustrations, The Annotated African American Folktales reminds us that stories not only move, entertain, and instruct but, more fundamentally, inspire and keep hope alive. The Annotated African American Folktales includes: Introductory essays, nearly 150 African American stories, and 20 seminal African tales as historical background The familiar Brer Rabbit classics, as well as news-making vernacular tales from the 1890s’ Southern Workman An entire section of Caribbean and Latin American folktales that finally become incorporated into the canon Approximately 200 full-color, museum-quality images

The Extraordinary Chameleon

The Extraordinary Chameleon PDF Author: Victoria Blain
Publisher: CreateSpace
ISBN: 9781502959997
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 24

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Book Description
The Extraordinary Chameleon is a children's book by Victoria Blain. The story follows a chameleon as she searches the forest for an extraordinary outer coat, only to discover she already possesses within her the magical coat of her dreams.

A Story, a Story

A Story, a Story PDF Author: Gail E. Haley
Publisher: Atheneum Books for Young Readers
ISBN: 9780689205118
Category : Juvenile Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 36

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Book Description
Many African stories, whether or not they are about Kwaku Ananse the "spider man," are called, "Spider Stories." This book is about how that came to be. The African storyteller begins: "We do not really mean, we do not really mean that what we are about to say is true. A Story, a story; let it come, let it go." And it tells that long, long ago there were no stories on earth for children to hear. All stories belonged to Nyame, the Sky God. Ananse, the Spider man, wanted to buy some of these stories, so he spun a web up to the sky and went up to bargain with the Sky God. The price the Sky God asked was Osebo, the leopard of-the-terrible-teeth, Mmboro the hornet who-stings-like-fire, and Mmoatia the fairy whom-men-never-see. How Ananse paid the price is told in a graceful and clever text, with forceful, lovely woodcut illustrations.

Kaffir Folk-Lore: A Selection From The Traditional Tales Current Among The People Living On The Eastern Border of The Cape Colony With Copious Explanatory Notes

Kaffir Folk-Lore: A Selection From The Traditional Tales Current Among The People Living On The Eastern Border of The Cape Colony With Copious Explanatory Notes PDF Author: Geo. Mc Call Theal
Publisher: Library of Alexandria
ISBN: 1465517359
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 205

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Book Description
Of late years a great deal of interest has been taken in the folklore of uncivilized tribes by those who have made it their business to study mankind. It has been found that a knowledge of the traditionary tales of a people is a key to their ideas and a standard of their powers of thought. These stories display their imaginative faculties; they are guides to the nature of the religious belief, of the form of government, of the marriage customs, in short, of much that relates to both the inner and the outer life of those by whom they are told. These tales also show the relationship between tribes and peoples of different countries and even of different languages. They are evidences that the same ideas are common to every branch of the human family at the same stage of progress. On this account, it is now generally recognised that in order to obtain correct information concerning an uncivilized race, a knowledge of their folklore is necessary. Without this a survey is no more complete than, for instance, a description of the English people would be if no notice of English literature were taken. It is with a view of letting the people we have chosen to call Kaffirs describe themselves in their own words, that these stories have been collected and printed. They form only a small portion of the folklore that is extant among them, but it is believed that they have been so selected as to leave no distinguishing feature unrepresented. Though these traditionary tales are very generally known, there are of course some persons who can relate them much better than others. The best narrators are almost invariably ancient dames, and the time chosen for story telling is always the evening. This is perhaps not so much on account of the evening being the most convenient time, as because such tales as these have most effect when told to an assemblage gathered round a fire circle, when night has spread her mantle over the earth, and when the belief in the supernatural is stronger than it is by day. Hence it may easily happen that persons may mix much with Kaffirs without even suspecting that they have in their possession a rich fund of legendary lore.

Moral Lessons in African Folktales

Moral Lessons in African Folktales PDF Author: Kwame A. Insaidoo
Publisher: AuthorHouse
ISBN: 145672228X
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 278

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Book Description
This book challenges us to take a cursory glance at our contemporary world, where modern mans scientific and technological ingenuity has led him to soar thorough the galaxy and made the heavens part of his domain; and contrast that with his level of morality today. Open any newspaper or listen to the radio and television news and you cant help but lament on the appalling moral depravity and obscene behavior of our contemporary man. With this intractable moral depravity on the ascendancy, the author nostalgically reminiscences the upright morality of yesteryears, and admonishes us to heed Platos philosophical advice: now since men are by nature acquisitive, jealous, combative, and erotic, how shall we persuade them to behave themselves? By the policemans omnipresent club? {now, AK 47}. It is a brutal method, costly and irritating. There is a better way, and this is by lending to the moral requirements of the community. Throughout this book the author emphasizes the significance of proper moral education in shaping the character of children, youngsters and even adults, and reminds us: morals are the rules by which society exhorts its members and associations to behavior consistent with its 'order, security and growth {Will & Ariel Durant}. The author noted that in traditional African societies, the wise elders, like the ancient Greek philosophers, strongly emphasized the teachability of moral values and deliberately inculcated them into their youngsters. The stories in this book are folktales filled with moral lessons that have been handed down from many generations to the present in many African countries from Ghana, Nigeria, Cameroons, Liberia, the Gambia, Kenya, Ethiopia, Tanzania to Zimbabwe. The traditional African elders successfully utilized these folktales to socialize their youngsters to the moral requirements of their society to insure stability, harmonious relations, order, security and growth.

Famous American Folktales

Famous American Folktales PDF Author: J. E. Bright
Publisher: Auzou
ISBN: 9782733835593
Category : Folklore
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
A perfect bedtime book to discover American folktales.