Audiobook · read by volunteers
West African Folk Tales
William H. Barker (1882–1929)
Read by Lizzie Driver, roolynninms, Eva-Marie Quinones, Ezwa, Lucy Burgoyne (1950-2014), Shurtagal, Esther, David Barnes, Tammi L. Coles, Julian Jamison · 35 chapters · 2 h 35
About the book
Anansi the spider is a trickster. Sometimes he is a spider, sometimes a man, and sometimes something in between, and his schemes to outwit the other animals, win a meal, or take the credit for someone else’s work are the stuff of countless stories told in West Africa.
This collection gathers many of them, along with other folk tales from the region, in clear, simple retellings. There are tales about how the world came to be, why animals behave as they do, and what happens to those who are too greedy or too clever for their own good.
Thirty-five short chapters, about two and a half hours. A treasure for children and families, and a welcome window onto a tradition of storytelling that has travelled far beyond its home.
Introduction
William H. Barker (1882-1929) collected folk tales from the Gold Coast, now Ghana. West African Folk Tales, published in 1917 and written with the collaboration of Cecilia Sinclair, belongs to the early twentieth-century interest in recording oral traditions from around the world. It presents the tales in an accessible form for English-speaking readers, many of them young.
The most prominent figure in the book is Anansi, the trickster, who is known throughout West Africa and, through the Atlantic slave trade, in the Caribbean and the Americas. Anansi is often portrayed as a spider, though he can also take human form, and his stories typically turn on cleverness, greed and the consequences of cheating. He is also sometimes described as a god in the traditions where he originated. Other animals appear, including the tortoise, the leopard and the chameleon, each with a distinctive character.
The tales have a long oral history, and any written version reflects the choices of the collector and the assumptions of the time. Modern readers may find the language and commentary of the period dated, but the stories themselves have lasting appeal. They have been retold by many authors since.
This recording has thirty-five short chapters and lasts about two and a half hours, read by LibriVox volunteers. It suits listening in small portions and makes an excellent introduction to the world of African folklore for listeners of all ages.
Public domain
William H. Barker died in 1929: the work is in the public domain in Switzerland, more than 70 years after the author’s death.
The LibriVox volunteers dedicated this recording to the public domain.
Sources : LibriVox page · Files at the Internet Archive · Original text