African Folktales at Internet Archive: Animals Mourn for Da Leopard

Finishing up this week of story collections from western Africa, I chose this beautiful book: Animals Mourn for Da Leopard, and Other West African Tales by Peter Dorliae, just a click away at Internet Archive.

Peter Dorliae was a writer and folklorist from Liberia, and Chief of the Yarwin-Mehnsonoh district. The stories he tells here come specifically from the Mano people; you can read more at Wikipedia. They live primarily in Nimba county in the northeast of the country.

There are 10 stories in the book — Animals Mourn for Da Leopard; Mr. Spider Smokes Out the World's Hole; We Oppose President Stomach; The Monkey and the Snail; Farmer Zia, the Hard-luck Man; The City Mortician and Dr. Spider; Mr. Spider and the Death Eggs; Greedy Turtle and the Blue-wings; The Hated Dog Gban; Guinea Hen's Children — plus some proverbs too!

The illustrations are by Solomon Irein Wangboje, an artist from Nigeria. Here is his illustration for the title story about Leopard:

And here is Monkey challenging Snail to a race:

There are illustrations for all the stories which await you at the Internet Archive:

Animals Mourn for Da Leopard,

and Other West African Tales

by Peter Dorliae