Nassau. West African Folk Lore Tales

Today's free book is Where Animals Talk: West African Folk Lore Tales by Robert Hamill Nassau. These stories come from the Mpongwe, Benga, and Fang (Beti-Pahuin) tribes of Gabon; you can read more about Gabon, located on the west coast of central Africa, at Wikipedia.

For the table of contents, check at the bottom of this post below the image.

The book is available at Internet Archive, Hathi Trust, and Google Books.



Mpongwe Tribe
1 Do not Trust your Friend
2 Leopard's Hunting-Camp
3 Tests of Death
4 Tasks done for a Wife; and, The Giant Goat
5 A Tug-of-War
6 Agenda: Rat's Play on a Name
7 "Nuts are Eaten Because of Angangwe": A Proverb
8 Who are Crocodile's Relatives?
9 Who is King of Birds? and, Why Chickens live with Mankind
10 "Njiwo Died of Sleep:" A Proverb
11 Which is the Fattest:—Manatus, Hog, or Oyster?
12 Why Mosquitoes Buzz
13 Unkind Criticism
14 The Suitors of Princess Gorilla
15 Leopard of the Fine Skin
16 Why the Plantain-Stalk Bears but One Bunch

Benga Tribe
1 Swine Talking
2 Crocodile
3 Origin of the Elephant
4 Leopard's Marriage Journey
5 Tortoise in a Race
6 Goat's Tournament
7 Why Goats Became Domestic
8 Igwana's Forked Tongue
9 What Caused their Deaths?
10 A Quarrel about Seniority
11 The Magic Drum
12 The Lies of Tortoise
13 "Death Begins by Some One Person": A Proverb
14 Tortoise and the Bojabi Tree
15 The Suitors of Njambo's Daughter
16 Tortoise, Dog, Leopard, and the Njabi Fruit
17 A Journey for Salt
18 A Plea for Mercy
19 The Deceptions of Tortoise
20 Leopard's Hunting Companions
21 Is the Bat a Bird or a Beast?
22 Dog, and his Human Speech
23 The Savior of the Animals
24 Origin of the Ivory Trade
25 Dog and his False Friend Leopard
26 A Trick for Vengeance
27 Not My Fault!
28 Do not Impose on the Weak
29 Borrowed Clothes
30 The Story of a Panic
31 A Family Quarrel
32 The Giant Goat
33 The Fights of Mbuma-Tyetye; and, An Origin of Leopard
34 A Snake's Skin Looks like a Snake

Fang Tribe
1 Candor 233
2 Which is the Better Hunter, an Eagle or a Leopard?
3 A Lesson in Evolution
4 Parrot Standing on One Leg
5 A Question of Right of Inheritance
6 Tortoise Covers His Ignorance
7 A Question as to Age
8 Abundance: A Play on the Meaning of a Word
9 An Oath: With a Mental Reservation
10 The Treachery of Tortoise
11 A Chain of Circumstances