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 by oral retelling

Often 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 English-speaking 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."

Title:

Magical element?

Human characteristics?

Moral?

Trickster traits?

Repeated words or phrases?