Around the World: African American Folktales: Stories from Black Traditions in the New World (Pantheon Fairy Tale and Folklore Library) by Roger D. Abrahams

Today's adventure around the world in folklore is African American Folktales: Stories from Black Traditions in the New World (Pantheon Fairy Tale and Folklore Library) by Roger D. Abrahams.

Product Description:

Nearly 100 stories from over 40 tribe-related myths of creation, tales of epic deeds, ghost stories and tales set in both the animal and human realms.

From Library Journal:

This volume sports a hefty 95 stories gleaned from the notes of the earliest missionaries on up to recent anthropological studies. Abrahams admits that reading the stories lacks the full impact of hearing them told aloud but contends that they can nonetheless still be enjoyed. The stories feature numerous illustrations.

Of course, with such a large continent, any book like this can only be considered a most basic overview. It is rare to find collections of folklore from specific African countries available in English so overviews are often the only resources available to casual and even somewhat enthusiastic readers. Still, this is one of the best of those available, especially for the price.

Table of Contents:

Preface
Introduction 3
1 Never Seen His Equal 41
2 The Man Makes and the Woman Takes 42
3 Bringing Men and Women Together 45
4 The Fight over Life 46
5 The Wind and the Water Fighting 47
6 The Word the Devil Made Up 48
7 The Knee-High Man Tries to Get Sizable 49
8 Pig's Long Nose and Greedy Mouth 50
9 Getting Common Sense 52
10 Hankering for a Long Tail 53
11 The Devil's Doing 62
12 The John Crows Lose Their Hair 63
13 Tadpole Loses His Tail 65
14 The Owl Never Sleeps at Night 66
15 Why Hens Are Afraid of Owls 68
16 The Gifts of Dipper and Cowhide 69
17 Buh Nansi Scares Buh Lion 72
18 Testing the Good Lord 74
19 Mr. Possum Loves Peace 75
20 Get Back, Get Back 77
21 No Justice on Earth 78
22 Meeting the King of the World 85
23 Mr. Bamancoo Gets Dropped 87
24 The Tug-of-War between Elephant and Whale 89
25 Tiger Becomes a Riding Horse 91
26 The Telltale Pepper Bush 94
27 Making the Stone Smoke 97
28 The Latest Song 99
29 The Signifying Monkey 101
30 The Singing Bones 105
31 A Boarhog for a Husband 108
32 The Woman Who Was a Bird 111
33 My Mother Killed Me, My Father Ate Me 113
34 What Makes Brer Wasp Have a Short Patience 119
35 Between the Fiddler and the Dancer 121
36 Being Greedy Chokes Anansi 122
37 The Doings and Undoings of the Dogoshes 123
38 Spreading Fingers for Friendship 124
39 Don't Shoot Me, Dyer, Don't Shoot Me 125
40 Little Eight John 128
41 The Poor Man and the Snake 130
42 The Little Bird Grows 132
43 Tricking All the Kings 136
44 The Feast on the Mountain and the Feast under the Water 140
45 Hide Anger until Tomorrow 141
46 Buying Two Empty Hands 142
47 Cutta Cord-La 144
48 Brer Bear's Grapevine 147
49 A Foolish Mother 149
50 Old Granny Grinny Granny 151
51 You Never Know What Trouble Is until It Finds You 153
52 He Pays for the Provisions 159
53 The Cunning Cockroach 163
54 Little Boy-Bear Nurses the Alligator Children 164
55 The Girl Made of Butter 167
56 Poppa Stole the Deacon's Bull 169
57 The Trouble with Helping Out 173
58 The Rooster Goes Away in a Huff 175
59 Why They Name the Stories for Anansi 182
60 Brother Rabbit Takes a Walk 183
61 The Lion in the Well 185
62 A License to Steal 192
63 The Race between Toad and Donkey 194
64 Crawling into the Elephant's Belly 197
65 A Strange Way to Sleep 199
66 Goobers Gone, Rabbit Gone 200
67 Assaulting All the Senses 202
68 Brer Rabbit's Riddle 203
69 The Horned Animals' Party 206
70 Anansi Plays Dead 207
71 Anansi Climbs the Wall 210
72 Dancing to the River 211
73 "Trouble" Coming Down the Road 214
74 No Chicken Tonight 216
75 Golden Breasts, Diamond Navel, Chain of Gold 223
76 The Flying Contest 230
77 Loggerhead 232
78 Trying to Get the Goldstone 234
79 Stackolee 238
80 Escaping, Slowly 240
81 Turning into Nouna - Nothing 241
82 The Old Bull and the Young One 244
83 Fasting for the Hand of the Queen's Daughter 251
84 Weak in the Day and Strong at Night 253
85 Jack Beats the Devil 255
86 Three Killed Florrie, Florrie Killed Ten 260
87 They Both Had Dead Horses 270
88 You Talk Too Much, Anyhow 274
89 Making the Eyes Run 275
90 Making a Wagon from a Wheelbarrow 276
91 The One-Legged Turkey 277
92 John Outruns the Lord 278
93 A Flying Fool 280
94 Horses Stay Outside 281
95 The Sinking of the Titanic 282
96 Competition for Laziness 283
97 John Outwits Mr. Berkeley 284
98 Black Jack and White Jack 288
99 Philanewyork 291
100 The Barn Is Burning 293
101 Big-Gut, Big-Head, Stringy-Leg 300
102 A Chain of Won'ts 300
103 Animal Talk 301
104 A Comic Conversation 302
105 A Smoking Story 303
106 The Things That Talked 304
107 Endings 305
Appendix: Sources, Annotations, and Index of Tales 307
Bibliography 321
Permissions Acknowledgments 325