African Folk Tales
Animal tricksters, origin stories, kings and talking creatures appear in these selections from African storytelling traditions. The source collections represent particular places and tellers; they do not stand for the whole continent.
Older published versions can also carry a collector’s assumptions. The story notes identify the available source and distinguish its wording or interpretation from the events of the tale.
56 stories are in this collection right now.
Browse by region: Africa.
African Folk Tales
Ages 9-12
The Clever Tortoise and the Elephant
Tortoise wins two strength bets by secretly anchoring the rope to a rock and a palm, then lets Elephant and Hippopotamus believe he pulled it himself.
African Folk Tales
Ages 9-12
The Girl Who Could Not Be Eaten
Proud Untombinde bathes in the forbidden Ilulange pool, refuses to beg the bearded monster that lives there, and is swallowed with a whole country.
African Folk Tales
Ages 6-8
Why the Sun and Moon Live in the Sky
The sun builds a huge compound so his friend the water can visit, but the water and all his creatures keep pouring in until there is no room left on earth.
African Folk Tales
Ages 6-8
Tink-Tinkje
The birds agree that whoever flies highest will be king, and tiny Tink-tinkje rides on the vulture’s wing to win, then escapes the angry birds.
African Folk Tales
Ages 9-12
The World’s Reward
An old dog no longer wanted by his master sets out for the land of the aged with six other old animals, and they find a house full of robbers.
African Folk Tales
Ages 6-8
The Tiger, the Ram, and the Jackal
Tiger flees the gruff stranger called Ram, so Jackal ties himself to Tiger and marches him back, until Ram’s wife thinks of a clever plan.
African Folk Tales
Ages 6-8
The White Man and Snake
A man lifts a fallen stone off Snake, and Snake wants to bite him for it, so they go looking for someone wise enough to judge between them.
African Folk Tales
The Story of Hare
Five keepers lose the animals’ fat to the inkalimeva and are killed for it; Hare finally outwits the beast, but cannot resist eating its tail.
African Folk Tales
Ages 9-12
The Story of a Dam
Jackal refuses to help dig the drought dam, then drinks from it, tricks the guard Baboon with a pot of “honey,” and is caught by a sticky Tortoise.
African Folk Tales
Ages 9-12
The Monkey’s Fiddle
Monkey brings home a bow that never misses and a fiddle that makes everyone dance, and when a crooked court sentences him to hang, he plays.
African Folk Tales
Ages 6-8
The Lost Message
The ants hold a council about their enemies but every kind of ant goes its own way, and the message of unity they need is sent by Beetle.
African Folk Tales
Ages 6-8
The Lioness and the Ostrich
An ostrich roars as loudly as a lioness and out-hunts her too, until her cubs spot that their mother’s new equal has no teeth at all.