Africa
Explore animal stories, trickster encounters and origin tales associated with African traditions. The continent contains many distinct storytelling communities; consult the source note for the specific place, collection or teller identified for a version. Similar plots elsewhere do not settle where this telling originated.
56 stories are in this region right now.
African Folk Tales
Why White Ants Always Harm Man’s Property
Spider wins back a stolen antelope by tricking Wolf and Leopard, then steals the feast meant for the white ants who freed them, with bitter results.
African Folk Tales
Ages 9-12
Why Tigers Never Attack Men Unless They Are Provoked
A hunter and a tiger become friends and visit each other’s homes, until a hidden shot makes the tiger wonder whether his friend betrayed him.
African Folk Tales
Why We See Ants Carrying Bundles as Big as Themselves
Greedy Anansi kills the king’s rain-making dwarf and is cursed to carry the body in a box forever, until he tricks honest Mr Ant into holding it.
African Folk Tales
Ages 9-12
Why the Moon and the Stars Receive Their Light from the Sun
Captured by a fire-breathing dragon, Kweku Tsin plans a rope-ladder escape to the sky using rice, bones and a magic fiddle, and becomes the sun.
African Folk Tales
Ages 9-12
Why Spiders Are Always Found in the Corners of Ceilings
Egya Anansi sends his family away so he can secretly eat the whole harvest, until a sticky rubber-man set in the fields catches the thief at last.
African Folk Tales
Why the Lizard Continually Moves His Head Up and Down
Anansi learns three princesses’ secret names with honeyed fruit, but when Lizard wins the brides, the spider plots a cruel revenge with the king’s cock.
African Folk Tales
Ages 9-12
Tit for Tat
Anansi tracks his son to a secret hunting ground and steals it, so Kweku Tsin hangs a nodding, jingling little image in the path to win the meat back.
African Folk Tales
Ages 9-12
Thunder and Anansi
Starving Anansi dives into the sea and wins a magic food-pot from Thunder, but his secret greed earns him a very different gift the second time.
African Folk Tales
The Ungrateful Man
A poor hunter frees a leopard, a serpent, a rat and a man from a pit; the animals reward him, but the rescued man betrays him for the king’s gold.
African Folk Tales
Ages 6-8
The Squirrel and the Spider
Spider steals Squirrel’s farm by claiming a farm needs a road, then loses the whole harvest to a crow who uses the very same kind of argument.
African Folk Tales
The Tail of the Princess Elephant
To honour his dead mother, Kwesi steals the princess elephant’s tail, escapes with his juju’s help, then must survive the beautiful bride she becomes.
African Folk Tales
Ages 6-8
The Robber and the Old Man
A wise old man teaches a thief to escape the judge by pretending to be mad and answering only “Moo,” and is paid back with the very same trick.