African folktales: traditional stories of the Black world

Part I. Tales of wonder from the great ocean of story

Demane and Demazana

The password

The three tests

Monkey steals a drum

A man who could transform himself

Tale of an old woman

The king's daughter who lost her hair

Profitable amends

The man and the muskrat

The hare's hoe

Why the hare runs away

The tortoise and the falcon

Rubiya

The flying lion

A-man-among-men

A competition of lies

Part II. Stories to discuss and even argue about

The contest of riddles

Leopard, goat, and yam

An eye for an eye?

Wonderous powers: mirror, sandals, and a medicine bag

The Devil comes between them

The quality of friendship

The four champions

Who should he kill?

Killing virtue

A spirited contending

Love caused it all

Killed for a horse

Three wives

The five helpers

Many miracles

Their eyes came out

He starved his own

The smart man and the fool

Fembar's curiosity

A father's advice

Is it right that he should bite me?

Take me carefully, carefully

Tiger slights the tortoise

The nature of the beast

The disobedient sisters

Rich man, poor man

Finders keepers

The leopard woman

Part III. Tales of Trickster and other ridiculous creatures: tales to entertain

Why monkeys live in trees

All the little animals

Why the dog always chases other animals

The story of Hlankanyana

Cursing the birds

Saving the rain

Stuffin the hyena

Cutting the elephant's hips

The clever wakasnake

The Tricksters' encounter

How Squirrel robbed Rabbit of his tail

Victims of vanity

Death by burning

The ant's burden

Their soft crowns discovered

The pig's nose and the baboon's rear

One trick deserves another

The pleasure of his company

The dog eats all the ants

No longer fear the cock's comb

How Honey Guide came to have power over honey

The trapper trapped

Medicine to catch him

Friends for a time

The great overland trek

The Shundi and the cock

Spider outwits the rich woman

Softly, over the head of the great

Treachery repaid

The great Dikithi

The work done by itself

Two friends from their childhood

Talking drums discovered

Part IV. Tales in praise of great doings

Gassire's lute

The Mwindo epic

Part V. Making a way through life

Salt, sauce, and spice, onion leaves, pepper, and drippings

The old woman with sores

How it pays sometimes to be small

The cloth of Pembe Mirui

The wooing battle

The orphan with the cloak of skin

Tungululi and the masters

Chameleon into needle

Mother come back

The three sisters

The messenger bird

The child in the reeds

A woman's quest

Never ask me about my family

A man marries a lioness.