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African Objects [19th cent.--Wikimedia] (Public Domain Image)

Folk Stories From Southern Nigeria

by Elphinstone Dayrell

With an Introduction by Andrew Lang

[1910]


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This is one of the important collections of African folklore published under the Andrew Lang imprint. The tales, replete with African wisdom stories and animal fables is one of the best.--J.B. Hare


Title Page
Contents
Introduction
I. The Tortise with a Pretty Daughter
II. How a Hunter obtained Money from his Friends the Leopard, Goat, Bush Cat, and Cock, and how he got out of repaying them
III. The Woman with Two Skins
IV. The King's Magic Drum
V. Ituen and the King's Wife
VI. Of the Pretty Stranger who Killed the King
VII. Why the Bat flies by Night
VIII. The Disobedient Daughter who Married a Skull
IX. The King who Married the Cock's Daughter
X. The Woman, the Ape, and the Child
XI. The Fish and the Leopard's Wife; or, Why the Fish lives in the Water
XII. Why the Bat is Ashamed to be seen in the Daytime
XIII. Why the Worms Live Underneath the Ground
XIV. The Elephant and the Tortoise; or, Why the Worms are Blind and why the Elephant has Small Eyes
XV. Why a Hawk kills Chickens
XVI. Why the Sun and the Moon live in the Sky
XVII. Why the Flies Bother the Cows
XVIII. Why the Cat kills Rats
XIX. The Story of the Lightning and the Thunder
XX. Why the Bush Cow and the Elephant are bad Friends
XXI. The Cock who caused a Fight between two Towns
XXII. The Affair of the Hippopotamus and the Tortoise; or, Why the Hippopotamus lives in the Water
XXIII. Why Dead People are Buried
XXIV. Of the Fat Woman who Melted Away
XXV. Concerning the Leopard, the Squirrel, and the Tortoise
XXVI. Why the Moon Waxes and Wanes
XXVII. The Story of the Leopard, the Tortoise, and the Bush Rat
XXVIII. The King and the Ju Ju Tree
XXIX. How the Tortoise overcame the Elephant and the Hippopotamus
XXX. Of the Pretty Girl and the Seven Jealous Women
XXXI. How the Cannibals drove the People from Insofan Mountain to the Cross River (Ikom)
XXXII. The Lucky Fisherman
XXXIII. The Orphan Boy and the Magic Stone
XXXIV. The Slave Girl who tried to Kill her Mistress
XXXV. The King and the 'Nsiat Bird
XXXVI. Concerning the Fate of Essido and his Evil Companions
XXXVII. Concerning the Hawk and the Owl
XXXVIII. The Story of the Drummer and the Alligators
XXXIX. The 'Nsasak Bird and the Odudu Bird
XL. The Election of the King Bird (the black and-white Fishing Eagle)