The first one is an aetiological story about the mosquito as told by the Yoruba people, and as Gershator explains in her introduction, this is a story people might know from its appearance in Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart. Here's Gershator's version: Zzzng! Zzzng! Zzzng!
The illustrations are by Theresa Smith.
The next book is inspired by another Yoruba folktale: The Iroko Man.
The illustrations in this book are by Holly Kim. Here you can see the women praying to the spirit of the Iroko tree to help them give birth to children:
And the third folktale is from Dahomey (Benin): Only One Cowry.
This is one of my favorite folktale types: a chain tale which involves "trading up" so that with only one cowry, the hero is able to find himself a fine wife. The illustrations are by David Soman.
So, this was a brief trip back into the world of African folktales... but I'll be back with a Diaspora story from Phillis Gershator's husband, David Gershator, tomorrow. Meanwhile, enjoy these retellings of African stories by a storyteller living on St. Thomas in the Virgin Islands. :-)
by Phillis Gershator
by Phillis Gershator
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