Africa at the Internet Archive: Folktales from the Gambia

Following up on the West Africa theme that has emerged this week, I've got a book of stories today from the Gambia; this is an incredibly important book, and I can't believe I forgot to blog about it before now. We are so lucky that it is available, just a click away, at the Internet Archive: Folktales from the Gambia: Wolof Fictional Narratives by Emil Magel.

Here's the Gambia on a map of western Africa:

Emil Magel is a professor (now retired) of African languages and literature at Kentucky State University. This book features 45 Wolof stories in this book that he recorded during visits to the Gambia in the early 1970s and then translated into English. Many of the stories are animal stories, including tales of Leuk the rabbit and Bouki the hyena. Magel has arranged the stories by themes, and he provides a very helpful introduction putting the stories in cultural context.

Here's a list of all the stories linked to their pages at the Internet Archive: Tumani and His Mother's Promise / The Child in the Silk-cotton Tree / The Jealous Co-wife / The Guardian Sheep / The Handsome Suitor I / The Handsome Suitor Ii / The Passion of the Gewel / The Hyena Engages the Hare as a Gewel / The Hyena and the Hare Search for Wealth / The Hyena Engages a Strange-farmer / The Lion's Treasured Goat / The Elephant and Blackbird Court the Same Girl / The Monkey and the Dog Court the Same Girl / The Young Man and the Talking Skull / The Koranic Teacher / Kumba the Orphan Girl / The Brothers Samba / Sidi Ngali and His Traveling Companions / Samba the Satan and Omadi the Righteous / Two Lovers Punished / The Bag of Money / Ngumi the Lazy Husband I / Ngumi the Lazy Husband Ii / The Greedy Father / The Mauritanian and His Wealth / The Hyena Wrestles the Konderong, I / The Hyena Wrestles the Konderong, Ii / The Hyena Eats the Ostrich's Eggs / The Bearded Rock / The Dog Captures the Hyena / The Dog and Monkey Build a Town / The Courtship of Yasin / The Eternal Lovers / The Donkeys of Jolof / Samba's Wife / The Marriage of Two Masters of the Wolof Language, I / The Marriage of Two Masters of the Wolof Language, Ii / The Mendacious Child / The Search for a Friend / The Hare Seeks Endowments From Allah / The Hare Saves the Hippopotamus / The Hare and the Hyena in the Well / The Hare Makes the Hyena His Riding Horse / The Pilgrimage to Mecca / The Monkey Who Claimed to Be a Gewel.

There is also a very informative and thought-provoking preface by Edris Makward, a professor of African languages and literature at the University of Wisconsin who was born in the Gambia.

So, especially if you are a fan of the rabbit or the hyena, this is a book to look at for sure!

Folktales from the Gambia:

Wolof Fictional Narratives

by Emil Magel