African Folktales at Internet Archive: Congo Boy

For today's post, I wanted to share a fun children's book that features one of my favorite kinds of chain tales; it's a story about "trading up" as you will see: Congo Boy: An African Folk Tale, retold by Mollie Clarke. It's just a click away at Internet Archive!

As you might be able to see there, the copy that Internet Archive was marked up by a very young reader. Since those markings appear just at the front of the book, I am not sure the anonymous young reader actually finished the story. 

The illustrations are wonderful, as you can see in this two-page spread:

Meanwhile, the story itself is one that is found throughout Africa; a similar story, for example, is told about the trickster hero Hlakanyana; here's a version collected as far back as the 1860s: Hlakanyana Trades Up.

For a bigger book of stories from the Congo, I can also recommend this book by Phyllis Savory, which is not avalable at Internet Archive, but is available from Hathi Trust: Congo Fireside Tales.

You can see other books by Phyllis Savory that I've shared at this blog also: Bantu Folk Tales and Lion Outwitted by Hare.

So, whether you are looking for just one story to read, or more than one, all these books are available online, just waiting for readers.

Congo Boy: An African Folk Tale

retold by Mollie Clarke