African Folktales at Internet Archive: The Lion's Whiskers

Continuing with the eastern Africa theme this week, here is a collection of stories from Ethiopia: The Lion's Whiskers and Other Ethiopian Tales by Russell Davis and Brent Ashabranner.

The authors collected the stories when they were employed by the Ethiopian Ministry of Education working with the major different ethnic groups: Amhara, Oromo (Galla), Tigray, Somali, Beta Israel (Falasha), and others. 

The wonderful illustrations are by Helen Siegl; here is the illustration for the story of the Hyena-Man:

You can find out more about Helen Siegl at her website (the website is still there, although she died in 2009), and you might remember her from an earlier post here: The Dancing Palm Tree and Other Nigerian Folktales.

The book has an odd publication history; it was published in 1959 with 31 stories, and then was reissued again in 1997, but with only 16 stories, the ones that the surviving author, Brent Ashabranner, thought had the widest appeal. I am pleased to say that BOTH editions are available at Internet Archive; here's a link to the older, more complete 1959 edition, which has a slightly different title: The Lion's Whiskers; Tales of High Africa. 

This edition has illustrations by James Teason in a quite different, more straightforward style; here is his illustration of the Hyena-Man story:

So, I'll recommend the 1997 edition for the beautiful illustrations, but I'll recommend the 1959 edition for more stories, and they are both just a click away at the Internet Archive:

The Lion's Whiskers and Other Ethiopian Tales

by Russell Davis and Brent Ashabranner

The Lion's Whiskers: Tales of High Africa 

by Russell Davis and Brent Ashabranner

African Folktales at Internet Archive: Nigerian Folk Tales

For this week of stories from Nigeria, I started with some books of Hausa legends (by Skinner, Rattray, and Tremearne), and today I want to focus on the two Nigerian collections of Yoruba folktales published by Barbara Walker: Nigerian Folk Tales (published in 1961) and The Dancing Palm Tree and Other Nigerian Folktales (published in 1968). Both books are just a click away at Internet Archive!

The stories in Nigerian Folk Tales are Yorbua stories told by Olawale Idewu and Omotayo Adu; you can find out more about the storytellers in the introduction to the book. The stories are divided into the following chapters: Tales of Demon Lovers, Pourquoi Stories, Moral Fables, Trickster Tales, and Fertility Tales, and there are useful notes at the back of the book, along with a bibliography.

The book contains illustrations and decorations by Margaret Barbour who did the drawings based on Nigerian artwork; there's a note about the art sources at the beginning of the book.

The second book, The Dancing Palm Tree and Other Nigerian Folktales, contains more stories from Olawale Idewu. This book is intended more for young readers, and it features numerous full-page illustrations by Helen Siegl. Here is her illustration to accompany the story of The Boy and the Leopard, for example:

You will find 37 Yoruba stories in the first book, and 11 additional Yoruba stories in the second book, and both books await you at the Internet Archive. Meanwhile, you can find out more about the Yoruba people and Yoruba language at Wikipedia.

Nigerian Folk Tales

by Barbara K. and Warren S. Walker

The Dancing Palm Tree and Other Nigerian Folktales

by Barbara K. Walker