African Folk Tales
Explore our collection of 67 African folk tales — stories from the world’s most diverse continent. African folklore encompasses thousands of distinct storytelling traditions, from the Anansi spider tales of West Africa to the trickster stories of Southern Africa.
Our collection features tales of Anansi the Spider, clever hares, wise elephants, brave warriors, and ancestral spirits. African folk tales are characterized by their rhythmic storytelling, audience participation traditions, and deep connection to the natural world. These stories served as the primary vehicle for preserving history, teaching values, and building community across Africa’s diverse cultures.
Each tale is retold with cultural respect and vivid illustration, making this collection ideal for exploring African culture, world folklore, and multicultural storytelling traditions. Perfect for children, educators, and anyone interested in the rich narrative heritage of Africa.
African Folk Tales
Ages 6-8
The Hunt Of Lion And Jackal
A Khoikhoi trickster tale from the Cape of Good Hope: the jackal cheats his hunting partner the lion out of an eland's fat with a false blood-trail, talks his way out of being caught, and escapes scot-free with his family.
African Folk Tales
Ages 9-12
Story Of Lion And Little Jackal
A string of clever escapes from southern African oral tradition: the small black-backed jackal outwits the mighty lion again and again, proving that wit, not muscle, rules the veld.
African Folk Tales
Ages 9-12
The Dance For Water Or Rabbit’s Triumph
A Khoikhoi trickster tale from the Cape of Good Hope: during a drought the animals dance water out of a dry riverbed, and the rabbit who scorned the work is trapped on a pitch-covered tortoise, then escapes by reverse psychology - an African root of the Tar-Baby tale.
African Folk Tales
Ages 9-12
Lion’s Share
Lion's Share is a Khoikhoi (Khoekhoe/Nama) folk tale of the South African Cape, from the jackal trickster cycle first printed in W.H.I. Bleek's Reynard the Fox in South Africa (1864). Lion and Jackal hunt as partners, and the cunning jackal outwits the powerful lion meal by meal.
African Folk Tales
Ages 6-8
Lion Who Thought Himself Wiser Than His Mother
A Khoikhoi animal fable from the Cape of southern Africa, recorded in James A. Honey's South-African Folk-Tales (1910): a proud young lion ignores his mother's threefold warning about Man, his white dogs and his pinching weapons — and dies in the very ambush he set at Aroxaams.
African Folk Tales
All Ages
Lion Who Took A Woman’s Shape
A chilling Khoikhoi folk tale from Great Namaqualand: a lion devours a woman, pulls on her skin, and walks into her family's kraal disguised as their daughter — until the cattle, a frightened child, and a single coarse hair betray him.
African Folk Tales
Ages 9-12
Lion And Jackal
Lion and Jackal is a southern African folk tale from James A. Honey's South-African Folk-Tales (1910): a lion and a jackal agree to hunt on shares, the jackal hoards the meat, and the cheated, prideful lion is destroyed by his own greed.
African Folk Tales
Ages 6-8
Elephant and Tortoise
A southern African Bushman tale: proud Elephant quarrels with Rain, claims the last water of a drought-stricken plain, and is undone by the patient wit of Tortoise.
African Folk Tales
Ages 6-8
Jackal And Monkey
A captive jackal escapes a Cape farmer's wip snare by tricking a gloating monkey into taking his place - a dark South African trickster tale from the Khoikhoi jackal cycle, retold from James A. Honey's South-African Folk-Tales (1910).
African Folk Tales
All Ages
Crocodile’s Treason
A scholarly retelling of “Crocodile’s Treason,” a South African veldt folk tale from James A. Honeÿ’s South-African Folk-Tales (1910) — the story of the weeping crocodile and the origin of the phrase “crocodile tears.”
African Folk Tales
Ages 9-12
Why White Ants Always Harm Man’S Property
A West African (Akan) pourquoi tale from the Anansesem spider-story tradition: how Spider's greed, a broken promise, and one hasty mistake turned the white ant into the eternal enemy of every home.
African Folk Tales
Ages 6-8
Why Tigers Never Attack Men Unless They Are Provoked
An Akan pourquoi tale from West African Folk-Tales (Barker & Sinclair, 1917): a hunter and a leopard become friends, and a feigned death tests whether the friendship is true — explaining why the great cats leave men in peace unless provoked.