Africa at the Internet Archive: Legends of Liberia

After sharing Haskett's book of Vai stories from Liberia, I want to share a really remarkable book of stories from Liberia by Peter Pinney: Legends of Liberia. This book is available at the Internet Archive thanks to the University of Toronto, who supplied their digital copy.

In this book, Pinney has collected stories from across Liberia. You will find Bandi stories here, Gola, Kissi, Loma, Mende, Kepelle, Dey, Belle, Mah, Gio, Kru, Bassa, Grebo, Putu, Sapa, Sikon, Tchien, and also Vai stories. At the bottom of this post, I've pasted in the titles all 133 stories linked to their Internet Archive pages.

Peter Pinney, born in 1922, was an Australian travel writer; he died in 1992. He traveled through Liberia in the 1950s, and then compiled this book of traditional stories at the request of President Tubman, who was President of Liberia from 1944 to 1971. The book appears to be the bound photocopy of a typewritten manuscript. The title page reads: "LEGENDS OF LIBERIA. A collection of Folktales told by the people of Liberia and written down by Peter Pinney." No publication date is given, but internal evidence from a dated letter included in the book suggests it was published in 1973 or later, and the library acquired its copy in 1975, so presumably this copy of the book was distributed in 1973 or 1974, perhaps 1975. 

The book was recently reissued by the European Union's European Development Fund in 2017. You can read about that project here: Legends of Liberia on a Journey Back to the People of Liberia. 

Apparently it has beautiful illustrations; I found some pictures here: Luca Bai Varaschini (an Italian artist born in Liberia). I would love to get a hold of this new edition of the book! Thanks to Mark Sampson at the African Clockwise blog for sharing these photographs (he's at Twitter also: @AfricaClockwise).

I also found some audio recordings from stories in the book as part of an EU-sponsored children's art competition: EU External Action Service.

So, if anybody has any leads on where to acquire this illustrated new edition of the book, let me know! Meanwhile, the original edition awaits you at the Internet Archive with all the stories there for you to read, just a click away (and for the stories each accessible by a single click, see below).

Legends of Liberia

by Peter Pinney

Here are the story links:

Toad, Snail, and Hornbill / Why Friday Is a Holy Day to Certain Heathens / How Pride Destroyed a Beggar / The Power of Thieves and Liars / The Man Who Scorned Spirits / How Time Began / The Origin of the Wubomai / How Two Rich Maidens Sought a Naked Man / How Spider Robbed a Goblin and Cheated Death / The Baby Star Who Visited a Fish / The Man Who Sought Riches and Respect / A Tale of Two Feasts / How Kpahna Defeated a Goblin / How Hare Outwitted Woman With a Pot of Boiled Crabs / Why Elephants Flee From Goats / How Three Brothers Sought Their Fortunes / Story of Two Monsters / The Kissi / How Fire Came to Earth / How Hawk Learned of the Shallow Hearts of Men / How Rain Came to the Earth / The Fisherman Who Married a Water Spirit / How a Woman Overcame the Spirit of a Snake / The Otter Who Ate Crabs / The Sun, the Moon, and the Stars / The Three Sisters Who Saw God / Two Maidens and Their Lover / The Three Brothers Who Worked for God / How a Wuni Ate Nine Evil Spirits / The Lizard and the Catfish / The Man Who Loved a Lioness / How a Wise Man and a Corpse Reformed a Village / How Spirits Guarded Kpademai / How Orphan Won a Kingdom and Exchanged It for an Egg / The Kepelle / Origin of the Sande Society / How Spirit Societies Began / The Lady and the Lausing / A Riddle of Two Women / Leopard and Black Deer / How Quilla Humbugged a Crocodile / How Three Men Saved a Maiden From a Lausing / How Spider's Waist Became So Thin / How Hare Asked God for Wisdom / The Deadly Oracle / How a Fisher-boy Became a Chief / The Forest Can Talk / The Antbag and the Hunter / The Terrible End of Catfish / The Maiden Who Wedded a Sea-lemon / The Two Cripples Who Decided on Suicide / The Way of a Woman's Tongue / Why Spiders Are Found on the Ceiling / Spider, Leopard, and Lightning Bug / Why Bridges Are Built in Secret / How the King of the Monkeys Became Their Slave / The Desmode and the Deer / The Reason Why Chickens Scratch / How Piso Lake Began / How Hare Made a Fool of Leopard / The Rise and Fall and Zolu Dumah / The Land Where No Vultures Fly / How Dog Came to Live With Man / The Death of Yarn-mah / The Wrath of Sande-nyana / The Tale of the Leopard's Tail / The Riddle of Four Wives / How Eagle, Dog, and Otter Wooed a Maiden / The Cry of the Sea-gull / How One-leg Became Thosuand-legs / Three Animals Who Made Ku / Why Woman Has No Devil / Big Bird in the Kola Tree / The Tien of Chimpanzee / The Boy Who Danced / How a Man Became Unwitched / The Witch Called Jealous / Why Men No Longer Hunt With Fire / How Spider's Son Was Eaten by a Goblin / The Herald of the Dawn / The Oracle of Ku-jopleh / How Snail and Iguana Fought and Caused the Moon to Shine / How Spider Was Beaten, Eaten, Skinned, and Burned / How Yon's Honor Saved His Life / The Origin of The Gbeta People / How Ji Chose a Mate / The Mother Who Knew Her Child / How Turtle Drowned Leopard in the Sea / The Stupidity of Bug-a-bug / How Vain Anteloped Was Humbled / How the Gift of Wisdom Came to Men / Why the Sea Is Salty / Why Wasp Will Not Live on the Ground / Why Grand Bassa Was Called Gbezohn / Why Children Cry for Nothing / The Girl Who Rose From Her Grave / The Ruler of the World / Why Leopard Is an Enemy of Deer / A Maiden Who Wedded a Dhevlin / Why Yams and Cassavas Hide in the Ground / Origin of the Grebo and Wiebo / How Women Found Men / The Tale of Toad / When God Made Crabs / How a Slave-clan Won Its Freedom / How Spider Cooked His Children and Found Bitter / How Hare Lost His Tail / How Jackal Saved His Wife / How a Farmer Lost His Bowels Through Ingratitude / The Origin of the Putu / The Putu Devil-god / The Power of Mysoa's Name / Why Hawk Kills Chickens / The Discontented Spider / The Surprising Strength of Hare / The Eternal Battle / How a Wicked Woman Burned / How Antelope Revenged His Wife / The Kitchen in the Sky / The Prodigal Hunter / Why Bats Are Never Buried / The Thing Called Gratitude / How Deer Made a Farmer Rich / Why Snakes Lie on Their Backs to Die / How an Unnatural Son Destroyed His Father's Tribe / Why Hunters Fear Djinn / Early History of the Tchien / The Importance of Women / How a Bushdevil Was Danced to Death / Eagle, Doo-doo, and the Rice Bird / Who Fisher-bird Gained His Colors / How Leopard Lost His Kingdom / The Tale of Dove and Thunderdevil.