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 Lion and the Wolf
A wolf has eaten all but one of an old woman’s fat sheep, so a passing lion takes the last sheep’s place in the fold and waits in the dark.
African Folk Tales
The Omanhene Who Liked Riddles
Two brothers die failing a riddle-loving chief’s contest; the third survives poison and robbers on the road and turns his journey into an unanswerable riddle.
African Folk Tales
Ages 6-8
The Leopard and the Ram
A ram and a leopard unknowingly build the same house and share it, until the leopard learns how rams hunt and panics when the ram slips backward.
African Folk Tales
The Hunter and the Tortoise
A hunter finds a tortoise singing to a tiny harp, takes her home on a promise of secrecy, then boasts about her to the whole assembly.
African Folk Tales
The Grinding-Stone That Ground Flour by Itself
Anansi tricks his cousin into revealing a magic stone that grinds flour beside a stream of honey, then greedily carries the stone off on his head.
African Folk Tales
Ohia and the Thieving Deer
Poor Ohia chases the deer stealing his palm wine to a council of animals, wins the gift of animal speech, and must never reveal it on pain of death.
African Folk Tales
Ages 9-12
Quarcoo Bah-Boni
A week-old baby who names himself Quarcoo Bah-boni is too wild for his mother, so he goes to serve five animals who soon regret taking him in.
African Folk Tales
Ages 9-12
Maku Mawu and Maku Fia
Two friends nicknamed “I will die God’s death” and “I will die the King’s death” draw a jealous king’s attention, and a hidden ring becomes a deadly test.
African Folk Tales
Kwofi and the Gods
Orphaned Kwofi hunts meat every day but his jealous stepmother never gives him a share, until a god arrives with a bag of death for the village.
African Folk Tales
Ages 6-8
King Chameleon and the Animals
The animals hold a race to choose a king, and the speedy hare is beaten to the royal stool by a chameleon who rode the whole way on his tail.
African Folk Tales
How We Got the Name ‘Spider Tales’
To win the right to have every story named after him, Anansi the spider must deliver live bees, a boa-constrictor and a tiger to the sky-god.
African Folk Tales
Ages 6-8
How Wisdom Became the Property of the Human Race
Father Anansi seals all the world’s wisdom in a pot to punish people, but his young son’s simple advice at the foot of a tree spoils the plan.