Week 12 Story Lab: More Storybook Research

I did some research already into the Spider (Gizzo) stories in two books by Arthur Tremearne, and now I am going to read through his 50 Hausa folktales series to see if there are any other stories there that I didn't catch already. A key feature here is that he gives credit to his sources! 

1 The Spider, the Hippopotamus, and the Elephant. SD: in book.

2 The Spider, the Hyena, and the Corn SD: in book.

3 The Malam, the Spider, and the Hyena SD: in book.

4 How the Spider outwitted the Snake BG. Spider paralyzes Snake so that he cannot bite Spider when he comes to collect a debt.

5 The Snake and the Dove Outwit the Spider BG. Spider fools Snake into thinking he is dead, but Dove tricks Spider into revealing himself.

6 The Spider Has a Feast BG. Great story about mock funeral where the goal is to startle the mourners so that they trample each other, and then Spider eats them.

7 How the Spider Obtained a Feast M: in book.

8 The Spider Outwitted by the Tortoise BG. This shares a lot of motifs with the story about Hyena and Spider visiting the king, but with a more clear revenge plot and Tortoise triumphs in the end.

9 The Spider and the Rubber Baby BG: in book (this also has the Half-Man).

10 The Jackal's Revenge on the Spider BG. Another good revenge story, this time with jackal triumphing in the end. 

11 The Lion, the Spider, and the Hyena BG. Great story where Spider gets Hyena to take the blame for eating Lion's ram.

12 The Cunning Spider and his Bride UG: in book.

13 How Spiders Were Reproduced BG. Great story where Spider tricks and kills Lamb, but Kid outwits him. In the end Spider is smashed so there are many Spiders.

14 How the Woman Taught the Spider Cunning SD. VERY COOL story about the quest for wisdom but with a lot of twists and surprises, and in the end the woman does not grant spider more cunning.

32 The Boy who Refused to Walk M: in book.

50 The Lucky Youngest Son SD: in book.

One of the characters in the Jackal's Revenge story is the francolin bird, which is a new character for me. It's a bird found in Africa and also Asia; Wikipedia.

francolin

Week 11: Project Research

Well, here I am again doing more research to gear up for writing the Mantis stories for Week 12. I did some research in Week 10 by reading Jenny Seed's The Bushman's Dream, along with an index to the contents of Bleek's book of Mantis stories. Those are both books by women... it feels really good to be working in a content area where some of the most important work has been done by women, and the book I am going to write about today is also be a woman: Sigrid Schmidt. This is the book I mentioned having ordered in that last post; the book arrived this week, and it is even more excellent than I had expected. So, I'm going to paste in the table of contents here, and then take some notes specifically for the stories I think I might want to try to tell as 100-word stories for the Storybook.

From South African |Xam Bushman Traditions and Their Relationships to Further Khoisan Folklore by Sigrid Schmidt. This is the only picture I could find of her online; her work is absolutely remarkable. She was born in 1930, and as near as I can tell, she is still alive. I feel very lucky that she publishes extensively in English.

Of the sections in Schmidt's book, the most interesting for me is the part she labels as "IKaggen the Fool," and I think I will draw all my stories from that part, which will also be a fun way to illustrate the idea of theme and variation, since all the stories share a similar framework; Schmidt's discussion of that framework is so helpful for looking at tricksters in general, and I am really glad to have acquired this book.

The basic cycle is that Mantis goes out, does something audacious, and gets trounced. He then gets advice some someone (his son or another younger character), goes back and tries again and, victorious, brags that he actually knew how to do that all along. 

Schmidt also has some fascinating observations about mythical tricksters (of whom Mantis is certainly one) and more modern-day tricksters like the Jackal; for example, the mythical trickster stories are based on the trickster's actions, while the modern trickster stories often feature more dialogue because the modern trickster's power often resides in his use of language. When it comes to the mythical trickster-as-fool, Schmidt notes a kind of split between the story-trickster and the mythical trickster as a manifest power in the world: "They tell the tales of the old one without restraint, say his name aloud, howl and roll on the ground with laughter at his humiliations, whereas, when they speak of the great one, they whisper and avoid his name. yet they think that somehow in the rightness of things these two beings must be one, so one they are said to be." Schmidt notes that the Devil as medieval fool and the Devil as cosmic enemy can be seen as a similar development (I agree! very throught-provoking stuff). 

Schmidt lists all the variations on IKaggen the fool as "3b" in her index which is then subdivided as follows, with asterisks for the ones I think I will use:

1 IKaggen and the Cat. Since we don't know (?) what trick IKaggen used to defeat the cat, this story won't work, although I will check out the bibliographical references here later (Lewis-Williams sounds promising!) in order to see if we do perhaps know more about this story.

**2 IKaggen and Eyes-on-his-Feet. This is such a cool, weird story. It's in Seed's book, and I know I want to use this one. The man appears to be able to see but he has no eyes in his head. Mantis tries to deceive him (stealing the best meat in one version), but the man sees him and beats him. Then son-in-law Kwammanga-a (whom I guess I'll call Rainbow-Man) tells him the man has eyes between his big toe and the next toe, so Mantis should throw dust at the man's feet, and then he can win. "I let you beat me up just to see what you were capable of," he claims. There is also the motif of his possessions flying home separately, but I'll try to include that in another story; there aren't any tools or other possessions that are relevant here. Perhaps a connection here between sinister ogre who lures people at night with a big fire, and he then fries and eats them: Eyes-on-his-Feet becomes name for this ogre.

3 IKaggen and the Meerkats (Suricates). This story goes better with the story of Mantis the creator, so I'm not going to try to use the trickster part here.

*4 IKaggen and the Ticks. I really like this one! The version in Seed's book has the more mystical and epic ending, but there is also a more basic trickster version. Mantis went to steal sheep from the Tick people, but the Ticks saw him coming and hid in the wool. When he stole a sheep, the jumped out and beat him. He grabbed some feathers and flew away. Rainbow (or Ichnuemon) told him to avoid the Ticks, but if he really insisted on stealing from them, there is a trick for taking the sheep. This version does not say what the trick is! In the mystical version, Mantis then has a dream: he dreams that all the sheep come. In the morning, all the things were there, as he had dreamed. I could use this story as the final one, moving in the direction of Mantis not just as fool but as supernatural being.

5 iKwammang-a Visited "the Other One". This is a weird one, and the woman antagonist is a human character apparently, not an animl, so I'll skip this one.

*6 IKaggen and Cagn. These are Maluti Bushman tales (Cagn is Mantis's name). 

a Cagn and the Eagle. In this one Mantis transforms into a bull eland.

b Cagn, the Cagn-cagn and the Ants. This one is pretty cool because Cagn actually gets killed and eaten and son Cogaz must restore him from bones; then he gives advice about how to defeat the dwarves (are they ants?). 

c Cagn and the "Thing" in the River. This is the best one, and there is a IXam tale where it is a tortoise in the river, so I could tel lthis one using the tortoise.

**7 IKaggen and Mother Proteles. This is a great one where Rainbow goes to visit Aardwolf, but Mantis is not supposed to come. Mantis sneaks along, and sees Mother Aardwolf gives Rainbow a young aardwolf to eat. Mantis is greedy, comes back, asks for another; she holds one out, but then grabs him and throws him into the fire. He flew away into the water to save himself. Rainbow then explains to Mantis that this is what she does to those who are greedy. She is a Guardian of Nature. Mantis himself can act as Guardian of Nature with regard to the eland, but here it is a female Guardian. 

proteles / aardwolf

**8 iKaggen and the Magic Bird. This is another one about greed. This magic bird is like an ostrich. Mantis shot her, but arrow bounced off. She agreed to let him have one egg, but he took all. Then the egg stuck to his mouth and the net stuck to his back, and his drinking brush (they use animal-hair brushes to drink instead of cups). Ichneumon gradnson explained that he can take one egg only. Mantis went back without everything stuck to his body. Everything dropped off his body, and he took the one egg allowed.

**9 IKaggen and the Korotwiten Bird. This bird (perhaps the formicovora, ant-wren?) taught Mantis to dive into holes and get out ant larvae without digging. He annointed Mantis with sweat which gave him this power. Then Mantis threw away all his tools because he thought he would not need them. But Mantis refused to share with the bird as they had greed. Then the bird made the ground hard so Mantis broke his head when he tried to get the ant larvae. This one is in Seed's book also.

10 IKaggen and Ku-te-gaua. Another imitation story, this time about jumping through a fire to seize wildcat skins. Very similar to the preceding story, but instead of breaking his head, Mantis gets burned.

11 A Visit to the Lions' House. Rainbow and Ichneumon go to visit the lions; they don't want to take Mantis, but he hides in a bag. He flew home and said son-in-law and grandson eaten by lions, but they came home with meat and were very angry at Mantis for his bad behavior. 

a Child Notices Eye of Person Hidden in Bag/Bundle.  

b iKaggen's Magic Flight.  

Schmidt explores these components of the story in great detail with lots of parallels from other African folktales. 

12 IKaggen and iKwammang-a Visited the Bees. Complex story with lots of characters; this is the one that culminates with stones rolling down so that Mantis was badly hurt (very nice version of this one in Seed's book). Too many characters involved for my purposes.

Week 10 Project research notes: Mantis/Ikaggen

Well, I just have to say WOW about this. I had always known there was a mantis trickster among the San people (Bushman people)... but this project is my first time to work with these materials, and I am totally blown away. This mantis is definitely a trickster, but his stories take place in a world that is NOT our world (yet), and that gives it all such a different feeling.

I'm thinking I want to do Mantis and the Elephants, and then maybe Mantis and Korotwiten. Those are more self-contained as stories... but the other cycles are so powerful! Anyway, here are my notes and resources for when I get ready to add the Mantis page in Week 11.

Very glad I discovered this book by Jenny Seed: The Bushman's Dream: African Tales of the Creation, published in 1974. It takes the main line of Mantis stories and connects them in a continuous narrative. Each chapter focuses on a specific Mantis story, but there's also an arc from start to finish as the Mantis more and more clearly perceives what is happening: the First People, like Mantis and his family, and the other people like the Tick People, Frog, and so on, are becoming animals. Then we come, the Next People, and we share our world with these animals who were once people. She doesn't give the chapters titles, so I've provided titles here for future reference:

Chapter 1 (p. 4): Introduction: we meet Mantis and he goes off into the wilderness with his springbok.

Chapter 2 (p. 12): Elephant People steal the springbok; his one is amazing: I love how Mantis escapes through the trunk.

Chapter 3 (p. 20): Korotwiten Bird teaches Mantis how to hunt ants but Mantis gets greedy. (This is also a great story about trickster greed and recklessness.)

Chapter 4 (p. 30): Blue Crane protects the Tortoise from Foulmouth the Ogre. (She is Mantis's sister, and this story is not really about Mantis but about her heroism.)

Chapter 5 (p. 38): Manti smakes an eland from Kwammanga's shoe (Rainbow Man, who is his son-in-law). The people kill the eland for meat. Angry, Mantis tells the sun not to shine. Then Mantis regrets the darkness, and makes the moon.

Chapter 6 (p. 50): Mantis confronts Old Smooth Head, who has eyes in his toes.

Chapter 7 (p. 58): Mantis offends the Bee People and Rock Rabbit People with his bad behavior; Kwammanga is well behaved. There is a rockfall, and the hosts protect Kwammanga, but Mantis gets hurt. 

Chapter 8 (p. 68): The Baboon People kill Mantis's son. Mantis fights the Baboons and brings his son back to life. 

Chapter 9 (p. 80): Frog Man and Frog Woman quarrel. Frog Man goes away and becomes a frog. Looking for Frog Man, Blue Crane becomes a crane.

Chapter 10 (p. 88): Mantis tries to steal food from the Tick People. They beat Mantis, but he uses his magic to take their sheep and their houses; they become ticks. 

Chapter 11 (p. 100): Mantis gets sick from eating too much sheep and decides to invite the All-Devourer, the father of his foster-daughter Porcupine to come eat with them. Everyone warns him not to do this, and it is a disaster: All-Devourer eats everything. He even eats Mantis and Kwammanga.

Chapter 12 (p. 112): Young Mantis and Young Kwammanga (his other son, not the Mongoose) battle the All-Devourer; everything comes back out that All-Devourer had eaten. Then Mantis says it is time to go away, and he becomes a mantis. 

These stories are all so good; I don't know how I will choose what to include in the Storybook! Here are links to the materials in Mantis and his Friends, which is one of the books online:

Mantis Makes an Eland
Mantis Gives the Bucks their Colors
Hartebeest and Eland
Mantis and Will-o-the-Wisp
The Lion's House
Mantis and Cat
Mantis and Proteles
Foulmouth, Blue Crane, and the Girls
Blue Crane's Story
Mantis and the Magic Bird
Mantis Takes Away the Ticks' Sheep
Mantis and the All-Devourer
Mantis and the Elephants
The Kwai-Kwai, Mantis, and the Children
Dasse and Crow
Mantis and Korotwiten
Ku-te-gaua and Mantis
Why Wildebeest Has a Light Tail
Lizard, Mice, and Mantis
Striped Mouse and Beetle
Colors in the Rainbow

These stories are a more reader-friendly presentation of materials in Specimens of Bushman Folklore (see also this table of contents).

I also found this amazing archive of their work: Bleek and Lloyd Archive, including scans of the artwork, like this: These are sorcery’s things. I think that one man, to the right of the spectator, having killed a hartebeest, becomes like it with his companions. The Mantis is going with them. The others had helped him. They become Mantises. The Mantis is not there.’ The Mantis was the protector of the bucks, particularly of the eland and the hartebeest; the latter was said to resemble him, as its horns turn back like his antennae. Bushmen say, ‘The Mantis is used to go with the hartebeest when he walks about.’

Plus, I splurged (really splurged) and ordered a very expensive new book from a German publisher which covers both the material in the books and in the archive; I've pasted in the table of contents below (it covers all the story cycles; these are just screenshots of the Mantis materials):

Week 8 Project: Storybook Research / Hausa Spider

I've got some spider stories in the West African (Ghana) folktales unit of the UnTextbook, and I think I will supplement those with some Hausa folktales in one of the collections by Tremearne (Wikipedia; obituary) where Gizzo is the great hero spider.

Stories from Fables and fairy tales for little folk; or, Uncle Remus in Hausaland by Mary and Arthur Tremearne.

The Spider Deceives the Hippopotamus and the Elephant. This is a tug of war story! AND it has a great sequel also: the Spider dresses in a dried-up rabbit skin and used that to scare Elephant and Hippo (like the rabbit-in-dried-up-deerskin story!).

How the Hyena was Blamed for the Spider's Wickedness. There is a subplot of Spider and Mrs. Spider (she dies), and Spider is able to pin the corn-theft on Hyena, but I don't think this is one I will use.

The Crafty Spider Replenishes his Larder. Spider inviting animals to rebuild his burnt down house (he burnt it down!): Chicken, Wildcat, Dog, Hyena, Leopard, Lion. I could do this as a two-parter: the set-up and then the defeat of the animals one by one.

Hausatu and the Enchanted Spider. Spider uses tricks to win a wife, and then sings a song to their baby confessing his tricks. (This could work as a series of tales, but probably not for my Storybook.)

How The Thieving Spider was Caught by the Half-Man. Spider pretends to work, fooling Mrs. Spider. Then he steals corn from Half-Man's field, who makes a doll (tar baby).

The Boy Who Refused to Walk. Long story in which Spider play sonly a minor role.

Stories from Hausa superstitions and customs by Arthur Tremearene:

The Spider, the Old Woman, and the Wonderful Bull. Spider is not the main character here but it is a cool and weird story.

The Deceitful Spider, the Half-Man, and the Rubber-Girl. See above.

The Rich Malam, the Thieving Spider, and the Hyena. Spider sneakily steals from rich man. Rich man catches Spider, but Hyena takes Spider's place. Doing a take-my-place story would be good.

The Biter Bit. Cute little story about fooling Spider by putting mud in sacks where there was meat.

How the Spider ate the Hyena Cubs' Food. Spider says his name is For-You-All to get the food mother hyena brings cubs, "for you all." Then he runs off and throws blame on Dog by saying he was panting. This is a good one!

The Spider, the Guinea-fowl, and the Francolin. Spider sends Guinea-Fowl back for spoon and for grass, so he eats all the food. Then he tricks Guinea-Fowl into throwing herself in the fire. But then Francolin reverses all the Spider's tricks, and finally tricks Spider into killing his family (like Butterfly in Jamaica story)... this is a good one too!

The camel and the rude monkey. The spider is just one of the judges in this story, while it is the jackal who saves the monkey from the camel.

Bortorimi and the Spider. Bortorimi is a giant, which is really cool, and this has an "early dawn" motif I've never seen before: greedy Spider burns down his own house! But the ending is not very good. Greedy Spider wants to go hunting for elephants with Bortorimi again, but Bortorimi says he has enough.

The Hyena and the Spider Visit the King of a Far City. Spider replaces Hyena's honey with dirt, so the king is angry. He gives Hyena mats to sleep on, while Spider gets skins. Spider won't share skins with Hyena because greedy Hyena will eat them, but Spider finally relents, and Hyena eats skins. King gives Spider a Bull and Hyena only a goat, which Hyena eats bit by bit along the way. Spider tricked Hyena into going away, and he ate the Bull, then hid in a tree. Hyena brings Ostrich to get Spider out of the tree, and Hyena eats her eggs. An odd story, but with some good elements.

The Greedy Spider and the Birds. Birds make wings for Spider so he can fly to island where there are mangos. He greedily ate all the mangos so they took back their feathers and he was trapped on the island. Trying to escape, he drowned.

The Spider which Bought a Dog as a Slave. Dog doesn't help farm but he catches a rabbit, so Spider gets Monkey to make arrowheads to equip Dog. Dog attacks Monkey and finally even Spider and his wife must flee and Dog takes their house.

The Fighting Ram. Story of a brave Ram who defies King's attempts to capture it. Spider is the King's helper. In the end, they finally kill the poor Ram who is very admirable.

The Lazy Boy. Spider is incidental; see Boy Who Refused to Walk above.

Woman, Mouse, Cake. Spider comes in at the end and eats both mouse and cake.

The Spider Passes on a Debt. Chain tale of debt! Spider to Goat to Crab to Daughter to Slipperiness (!) to Ant to Bird to Boy to Mother to Blacksmith.

The Spider Pays his Debts. See the larder story above. I love this story! This is a shorter version without the house-fire.

The Lucky Youngest Son. Spider is just a minor character in this story. It opens with a marvelous chain tale! 

Sleepless Town. Same way here; Spider is minor character.

Tremearne has also published some really valuable Hausa stories in a series in Folklore. I will write about those in a separate post but what I did for today was to combine them into a handy single PDF so that I will be ready to go! Fifty Hausa Folktales.

Hausa flag

Week 6 Story Lab: Tortoise Research

It's still just Week 5 for me here, but I wanted to take advantage of some time today to do some trickster tortoise research! I have a stack of books I can use, but I'd rather work with public domain materials I can link to in the author's notes, so here is a quick run-down of some stories I might look at when I get to the trickster tortoise stories (so far I have done one page: Trickster Hare!).

(African pancake tortoise)

Here are some tortoise story possibilities based on my Diigo bookmarks; I'll add notes here for the ones that are likely candidates:

1 THE TORTOISE WITH A PRETTY DAUGHTER. Nigeria. These stories from Nigeria are ones I can use for storytelling coming up in Week 7! There are eight here, which will be plenty for a nice story post next week.

4 The King's Magic Drum: Nigeria. Interaction with royal family again here.

12. Why the Bat is Ashamed to be seen in the Daytime: Nigeria. This story is really more about the bat.

14 THE ELEPHANT AND THE TORTOISE: This is one of the stories I wrote up last summer: why elephant has small eyes.

22 The Affair of the Hippopotamus and the Tortoise; or, Why the Hippopotamus lives in the Water: Nigeria. This is a fun one where the tortoise learns the hippo's secret name. 

25 Concerning the Leopard, the Squirrel, and the Tortoise: Nigeria. A story about saving mothers/grandmothers.

27 The Story of the Leopard, the Tortoise, and the Bush Rat: Nigeria. This is a follow-up to the previous story; the leopard is angry at the tortoise.

29. How the Tortoise overcame the Elephant and the Hippopotamus: Nigeria. A tug-of-war story! YES!

I'm going to stop here because I can tell that there are plenty of great Nigerian stories to get me started, and I can come back later and add notes for the stories below, starting with the South African stories which come next here in the list. When I get around to doing Tortoise research for the project assignment maybe in Week 8, I'll fill in more notes and start choosing which stories will actually go into the Storybook. :-)

28: Elephant And Tortoise: ___.

29: Tortoises Hunting Ostriches: ___

3: The Story Of The Leopard Tortoise.: ___

32 TORTOISE AND THE KING: ___

33 TORTOISE AND MR. FLY: ___

35 THE THREE DEATHS OF TORTOISE: ___

36 TORTOISE AND THE COCK: ___

37 TORTOISE AND CRAB: ___

38 TORTOISE AND PIGEON: ___

39 TORTOISE AND THE WHIP-TREE: ___

40 TORTOISE AND THE RAIN: ___

40. The Great Tortoise: ___

2. The Cunning Hare; or, Why the Tortoise Has a Patched Shell: ___

13. Of Chief Amaza, His Wife Achi, and the Tortoise: ___

29. Why a Python Never Swallows a Tortoise: ___

12. Why the Tortoise has no Hair on.: ___

14. The Elephant and the Tortoise: ___

15. The Giraffe and the Tortoise: ___

16. The Tortoises Hunting the Ostriches: ___

(I) The Hare and the Tortoise: ___

4. The Hare and the Tortoise: ___

27. The Princess and the Tortoise: ___

4 A Tortoise and a Fowl: ___

6 A Tortoise and a Buffalo: ___

2. The tortoise and the elephant: ___

11. The tortoise and the monkey: ___

12. The tortoise and the leopard: ___

13. The tortoise and the leopard (another version): ___

14. The tortoise and the leopard quarrel about their villages: ___

17. The tortoise and the leopard and the python: ___

24. The tortoise who waited for toadstools: ___

8. The Hare and the Tortoise: ___

5. Sigo and the Tortoise: ___

6. Tortoise and the King's Mute Daughter: ___

7. The Tortoise and the Elephant: ___

8. The Woman Named Adun and Tortoise: ___

9. Tortoise and the Slender Maiden: ___

10. Tortoise and Lizard: ___

4. The Hare and the Tortoise Farming: ___

17. Leopard and tortoise: ___

16. The Tortoise And The Antelope: ___

22. The Tortoise And The Baboon: ___

23. The Tortoise And The Lemur: ___

17 Stealing fire from the Creator: Why Chameleon and Tortoise are respected: ___

28 Tortoise as diviner for animals: ___

29 How Tortoise got his shell: Tortoise becomes diviner: ___

1. The Swallow and the Tortoise: ___

18. The rabbit and the leopard: ___

8 The Spider Outwitted by the Tortoise: ___

3. Ingomo (The Animals): ___

5. The Tortoise and the Baboon: ___

11. The Blind Man and the Tortoise: ___

1. Mr. Tortoise and Mr. Hare: ___

E21 Tortoise, Because of the Way She and Fish-Eagle Deceived Each Other, Does not Eat Meat: ___

H1 Why Hare Had His Destiny Foretold by Tortoise: ___

H15 Hare is Outwitted by Mrs. Tortoise: ___

The Hare And The Tortoise: ___

A5. Tortoise and Omemamoni: ___

A9. The Tortoise and the Eggs: ___

A11. Snail and Tortoise: ___

Edo7. The Tortoise: ___

Edo26. Dog and Tortoise: ___

S4. Tortoise and Snail: ___

A3. King and Tortoise: ___

B5 Tortoise in a Race: ___

F6 Tortoise Covers His Ignorance: ___

F10 The Treachery of Tortoise: ___

B12 The Lies of Tortoise: ___

B14 Tortoise and the Bojabi Tree: ___

B16 Tortoise, Dog, Leopard, and the Njabi Fruit: ___

B19 The Deceptions of Tortoise: ___

6. The Eagle Leaves the Tortoise in the Lurch: ___

7. The Kite Breaks His Promise to the Tortoise: ___

The Clever Tortoise: ___

3 The Tortoise and the Hyena: ___

5. The Tortoise and the Fish Eagle: ___

4. The Son of the Tortoise: ___

17 Tortoise and Hornbill: ___

18 Tortoise and His Father-in-law: ___

19 Tortoise and Bush Cat: ___

22 Tortoise and Blind Man: ___

28 Tortoise and Daughter: ___

29 Tortoise and Elephant: ___

30 Spider and Tortoise: ___

2 Tortoise and His Children: ___

6 Tortoise becomes King: ___

15 Tortoise and the Blind Man: ___

38 Story of the Tortoise and the King: ___

Elephant, Hippopotamus, and Tortoise: ___

The Tortoise and the Pig: ___

8. How The Tortoise Helped the Animals: ___

9. The Tortoise and a Man Named Tela: ___

10. A Dog and a Tortoise: ___

11. The Pig and the Tortoise: ___

118 Strained friendship: Friend as hostage: Why Frog is in the water and Tortoise gives fire: ___

119 Why Tortoise lives in the bush: ___

16. How the Tortoise Got the Cracks and Bumps on His Back: ___

26. How Obassi Osaw Proved the Wisdom of Tortoise: ___

13 How the civet and the tortoise lost their friendship: ___

17 How the tortoise was punished for his deceit: ___

XIV. The Little Red Tortoise: ___

The Tortoise and the Bat: ___

4. The Hare and the Tortoise: ___

THE HUNTER AND THE TORTOISE: ___

TESTS OF DEATH, v. 2: ___

HOW THE TORTOISE GOT ITS SHELL: ___

TASKS DONE FOR A WIFE: ___

Week 4 Story Lab: African Trickster Hare Research

I'm using the Story Lab option for this week to do research into Kalulu the Hare for my project. So, of course, I got so excited reading about all these stories that I'm tempted to make my project all about the rabbit, but of course I'll feel the same way when I do the research for the other animals too... so that will be in Week 6, then in Week 10. I'm also really really really tempted to include Mantis also, so maybe instead of an Introduction, I will just have a few notes on the front page, and that will give me time for Mantis. I can decide that when I think about doing Mantis research in Week 12.

I have several books (actual printed books and Kindle books) which focus specifically on the hare, and then there are of course hare stories scattered throughout the different story collections. For this blog post, I'm going to focus on doing a book inventory, and I'll do the same later also for Tortoise, Spider, and Mantis.

Maybe someday I can do a whole book of Tiny Tales just with African trickster hares/rabbits! That would be incredibly cool. For this project, though, I can just pick out a few favorite stories to put on the webpage. Having this index will be useful for future reference:

Clay. African Short Stories - Adventures of Kalulu the Hare.

These stories come from Zambia.

How Kalulu the Hare outwitted the Farmer and his Son 

How Kalulu the Hare outwitted all the other Animals 

How Kalulu the Hare outwitted the Fierce Lion 

Kalulu Hides his old Mother who later saves the Chief`s Life 

Kalulu, Lion and the Earless Lamb

Worthington. The Little Wise One.

Worthington. Kalulu the Hare.

These stories are from Zimbabwe.

THE LITTLE WISE ONE:

The hare and the tortoise.

The hare, the lion and the fleas.

The hare and the baboons.

The hare, the buffalo, the lion, and the bees.

The hare, the lion, the man, and his dogs.

The hare, the old man, the bullfrog, the otter, the crocodile, and the hippopotamus.

The hare, the otter, the old man, and his daughter

The hare, the lion, the hyena, and the tortoise.

The hare and the warthog

The hare and the python

The hare, the chickens, the dog, and the snake

The hare, the secretary-bird, the owl, the hyena, and the crocodile

The hare, his mother, and his master

The hare, his father-in-law, and the tortoise

The hare, the lion, the antelopes, and the old woman

The hare, the honey-bird, and the elephant

The hare and the frog, their mother-in-law, and her daughters

The hare, the chickens, the goats, and the rats

The hare at the waterhole

The hare and the buffalo

KALULU THE HARE:

The hare, the polecat, and the peaceful village.

The hare and his son, the lion, the snake, and the mouse.

The hare, the lion, and the ass

The hare, the hippopotamus, and fire

The hare, the hyena, and the calabash of fat.

The hare and the lion and the game of swallowing great stones

The hare, the hyena, the goat, the leopard, and the basket of meal

The hare and the wildcat

The hare and his son

The hare, the lions, the monkey and hare's spotted blanket

The hare, the elephant, the lions

Pitcher. The Mischief Maker: African Tales of Nogwaja the Hare.

The stories are from southern Africa.

Nogwaja and elephant.

Nogwaja-in-the-moon

Serpent the Great

E'Seittunga the Brave

Owl teaches spider a lesson

Foolish fish

Kori Bustard and scorpion

Puuuuull, Giraffe!

Nogwaj's plan for wild dog

Bat escapes

Lion roars

Leopard's spotted coat

Bees sting!

First woman can make plans too

Don't touch the cub

The party

Nogwaja's warm coat

Chameleon and the precious parcel

Heady. Jambo, Sungura: Tales from East Africa.

The scarecrow

The tug of war

The lion's threats

The bee tree

The bean pot

How the hare learned to swim

The wonderful tree

The baboon and the hare

Son of the long one

Trust your friends

The talking house

Wanja's choice

The ostrich chicks

The greedy hyena

Savory. Lion Outwitted by Hare and Other African Tales.

These are Bantu tales from the Matabele people, from Malawi and Kenya, Zulu tales, and Xhosa tales.

How the lion was outwitted by the hare

Why the hippopotamus left the forest

The hare's rope trick

The tortoise who dared the hare

How the bat made his choice

The bushbuck's visitor

The lion and the little brown bird

How a poor man was rewarded

The lazy son

The bird with the golden legs

The tortoise and his boast

The song of the doves

The moon girl

The magic bowl and spoon

When the husband stayed home

The wonderful water pot

What the fish promised

Savory. The Little Wise One: African Tales of the Hare.

The stories come from Zambia, Zimbabwe, Kenya, Botswana, Transkei, Swaziland, and Malawi.

The lion, the hare, and the fleas.

Musengi the hare

The hyena, the goat, the leopard, and the hare

The hare and the baboons

The hare and the elephant

The hare, the hippopotamus, and the fire

The hare and the warthog

The hare's revenge

The voice that is heard by all and answered by none

The fishing camp

The hare and his mother

The lion and the village woman

The punishment of greed

The hare's beast of burden

The hare and old man baboon

The hare, the otter, the old man, and his daughter

The tortoise outwits the hare

A bride for the hare

How the hare lost his tail

The hare, the hyena, and the cooking fat

The hare, the lion, and the eland

The peaceful village

How the leopard got his spots

The jealousy of Kalulu the hare

The antelopes' convention

The hare's rope trick

A race between the tortoise and the hare

The hare outwits the lion

The great famine

The lion, the hare, and the hyena

The waxen horns

Mmutla and Phiri

The rogue hare

The hare and the tree spirit

The lion, the hare, and the honey

Mvundlazana the hare

The cloud princess

Nkalimeva

The clever one outwitted

The king's chief messenger

Kalulu and his wife

The weasel and the baboon

The double-faced friend

The perfidy of Kalulu the hare

The boasting party

The hare who sat aloof

I'll also list here below some individual stories from public domain texts online that I've bookmarked:

Rabbit and Fox. Yoruba tale in which fox ultimately tricks rabbit. (This same collection also has a rabbit-and-tarbaby story.)

King Chameleon. Tale from Ghana. Chameleon outwits rabbit in a race.

Hare and the lion cubs. A Banyanja story (this whole collection of stories from Malawi is really nicely done!)

The cunning hare. Also a Banyanja story, take-my-place with jackal.

Tiger and the trap. Hare is the judge. Also Banyanja.

The animals and the mealies. Both hare and tortoise in this one. Also Banyanja.

The hare, the man, and their mothers. A "let's kill out mothers" story. Also Banyanja.

The man and the hare. Also Banyanja.

The hare and the dzimo (wildcat). Also Banyanja.

The hare and the elephant. Also Banyanja.

The hare and the elephant. Same title; different story. Also Banyanja.

The hare rides the lion. Also Banyanja.

The boy and the hare. Also Banyanja.

The rabbit and the lion. This has the original text and English translation. Kalulu! The story is from Zimbabwe.

The bushbuck and the leopard. Kalulu is in this story also; from Zimbabwe.

The chief and the rabbit. Infumu Na Kalulu! Also from Zimbabwe.

Lord rabbit. Kalonga Kalulu! Also from Zimbabwe.

Central African stories in Madan's Kiungani book:

III. The Rabbit and the Elephant (1). From Lake Victoria Nyanza. 

IV. The Beasts and the Rabbit. Also from Lake Victoria Nyanza. 

VIII. The Leopard and the Rabbit. Also from Lake Victoria Nyanza. 

XII. The Lioness, the Rabbit, and the Dog. Also from Lake Victoria Nyanza. 

XIII. The Rabbit and the Elephant (2). Also from Lake Victoria Nyanza. 

XVII. The Hyaena and the Rabbit. From the Region of Lake Nyassa. 

XIX. The Elephant and the Rabbit (3). Also from the Region of Lake Nyassa. 

The rabbit and the leopard. Bantu story from Uganda.

Tbe rabbit, big snake, and the ground squirrel. West African (Vai) story.

The story of the coney. Central Africa / Nyassaland.

The rabbit and the python. Umbundu tale from Angola.

The rainmaker. Tortoise bests rabbit in this story. Umbundu tale from Angola.

The rabbit and the leopard. Also an Umbundu tale from Angola.

(keep working through Diigo starting here)

Storybook Plan: Hare, Tortoise, Anansi

I set up my website and comment wall, and I'm excited about the hare statue that I found for the website homepage.

I'm going to stick with my plan of doing stories about Hare, Tortoise, and Spider, and I created an Introduction page for taking notes, even though I'm not going to try to write the Introduction until I'm done and can discuss the specific stories that I'm working with.

I had planned out a lot of this already (previous post), and I'll start drafting some stories for the Week 4 Story Lab Research option; I might even write some stories. I'll use the Week 4 Story Lab to plan my Hare stories, so I'll be ready to write my Hare page for the Week 5 project. 

Here are some source notes for the three tricksters:

Hare. I've got my Phyllis Savory book, and I may find Hare stories in other Savory books, and Worthington's Kalulu book, plus Clay's Kalulu book (Kindle). Also: The mischief maker: African tales of Nogwaja the hare.

Tortoise. I've got my Ajapa the Tortoise book and Todd's Tortoise, and I've ordered a copy of Courlander's Ijapa book. I think I remember tortoise in Owomoyela's book, and also in Alao's book.

Anansi. I've got the Rattray book (PDF), plus Cronise's Cunnie Rabbit, Mr. Spider, and the Other Beef: West African Folk Tales, and Donkor's Spiders of the Market: Ghanaian Trickster Performance, Lewis-Coker's Motherland and Sierra Leone Anansi Stories, and also Appiah, Badoe, and Gyesi-Appiah.

I'm really excited to be working on this while I'm working on Brer Rabbit at the same time as a separate project. Tricksters everywhere! I can rely on Bascom for good leads on the parallel stories.

Here's the Courlander book that I just ordered! 

Comment Wall: Trickster Tales from Africa

 You can find the website here:

Trickster Tales from Africa

(I changed the coverpage now that I have several pages done!)

Project Topic Research: African Trickster Tales

Originally I was thinking about Tricksters in the African diaspora (brainstorm), building on what I have learned about Brer Rabbit, Anansi, and Tortoise in the Americans and Caribbean... but now I think I want to use this project to start building up a collection of stories from African traditions themselves, directly, to go along with the stories I have been working on in the Americas and Caribbean. So, here are my three:

Anansi. Obviously a page of Anansi stories will be part of the project, and I can rely on the Anansi stories in the West African unit for starters... the pot of wisdom is in there, plus quest for endowments (told as a "why the stories are Anansi stories), plus the magic cooking pot, and more.

Kalulu the Hare. I don't have any Kalulu stories as such in the UnTextbook, but I have two fantastic Kalulu books I can use as sources: Savory's The Little Wise One and Worthington's Kalulu The Hare.

Tortoise. There are some trickster tortoise stories in the UnTextbook Nigeria unit, plus I have some book resources also: Todd's Tortoise the Trickster: And Other Folktales from Cameroon and Baumann's Ajapa the Tortoise: a Book of Nigerian Folk Tales.

Three pages plus an Introduction should make for a good project, although I will probably just write a placeholder Introduction for now and jump right into the stories, and then write up an Introduction where I can show specific American/Caribbean parallels for the African stories.

I am excited to get started! :-)

Topic Brainstorm: Tricksters

Things get so intense during the official first week of classes that I try to work ahead as a student in this class as much as I can during Week 0... and I'm already at the part of Week 2 where I am brainstorming a Storybook to do for this semester. I know I want to do something related to TRICKSTERS, but I am not sure what the best focus will be. Here are four ideas:

Tricksters in the African Diaspora: It would be really cool to pick four stories that are well represented in the African diaspora so that I could compare an African version with a Brer Rabbit version with an Anansi version... maybe even multiple versions of the story. This is definitely the project I am leaning towards since it would take good advantage of the fact that I could tell three stories on one page. I would develop them a little more beyond the 100-word versions, but still keep them short, around 300 words. Web sources:
Anansi.LauraGibbs.net
Rabbit.LauraGibbs.net
... plus African sources online.

African Brer Rabbit and the Southeastern Nations. I would really like to learn more about the back-and-forth between the Brer Rabbit stories of African American storytellers and the storytelling traditions of the Cherokee and other southeastern nations. A key source for this would be Swanton's book: Myths and Tales of the Southeastern Indians... plus Mooney's Cherokee stories, plus Harris's Brer Rabbit and other Brer Rabbit sources. I'm not quite sure how I would organize this; maybe stories side by side, with three or four stories on a page? 

World Tricksters. This would be a chance to profile some of the best tricksters, each with a page of their own. I could do Aesop's fox and the Reynard tradition, African tortoise stories, African American Brer Rabbit, and Caribbean Anansi. For this one, I would probably do the 100-word stories so that I could include seven or eight stories for each trickster.
Web sources: Rabbit.LauraGibbs.net, Anansi.LauraGibbs.net, illustrated Aesop, and African folktales online.

Aesop's Tricksters in English and Latin. This would be a fun project for figuring out the best way to present my Latin materials using a Google Site set-up. I'm pretty happy with how I am using a blog to do that, but it would be fun to see what Google Sites has to offer. Of the four topics, this is the one I am probably least likely to choose, but it would give me some direction in the fables I'm choosing to work on, focusing on tricksters! Here's the blog where I'm doing that:
Bestiaria Latina ... I haven't been focusing on tricksters there in particular, but I could do that going forward!

And as a trickster from Aesop, here's the fox tricking some other foxes!

The Fox with a Short Tail