Traditional African tales

Parchment-style African folktale scene of clever tortoise leading decorated elephant toward village coronation ceremony.

How Tortoise Captured the Elephant

African Folktales·Nigerian Folktales·West African Folktales

In the time when animals possessed the gift of speech and kingdoms were ruled by wisdom rather than warfare alone, there lived a powerful king whose greatest desire had consumed his thoughts for many seasons. This monarch, renowned throughout the land for his fairness and generosity, had set his heart on capturing the mighty elephant, the largest and most magnificent

African Folktales·Senegalese Folktales·West African Folktales·Wolof Folktales

The Clever Hare and the Clumsy Hyena

In the vast African wilderness, where ancient baobab trees stretched their gnarled branches toward the endless sky and the red earth bore witness to countless generations of animal wisdom, there lived two neighbors whose rivalry had become the talk of every creature in the region. The quick-witted hare, small in