| Description |
xix, 617 pages : illustrations ; 23 cm |
| Contents |
The ancient soninke and fulbe epics: Cassire's lute -- The rediscovery of wagadu -- The fight with the bida dragon -- Samba gana -- The blue blood -- The valiant goroo-ba-dicko -- Kanem-bornu: The two traders -- The sau hunter -- The hausa, an account of their origin: Seidu the brave -- Life and death -- The son of the hunter -- The friend and the lion -- Two gizo tales -- The spider and the crows -- Spider deals with the famine -- Contest at the baobab tree -- Three friends across the water -- The strong one (Mende) -- Three fast men (Mende) -- Lion of Manding (Wolof) -- The king of sedo (Wolof) -- The song of Gimmile (Gindo) -- The gluttonous ansige (Karamba) -- The cow-tail switch (Jabo) -- Preachments of the animals (grebo) -- Kru war song -- Hammer and chisel rhythm (Mano) -- The akan [and Ashanti] peoples of ghana: akan poetry -- Drum poetry of the akan peoples -- Drum poems to onyame, the supreme deity -- Akan sayings about nyama (Onyame) -- The drum-history of the state of Mampon -- Chiefdom among the ashanti -- a song for the new chief -- Some ashanti proverbs -- Sayings as guides to good social behavior -- Riddle -- Four ashanti tales -- The coming of the yams -- Journey to asamando, land of the dead -- O the world -- Talk -- Gold and gold weights -- Ashanti proverbs and sayings cast in brass -- The search for gold -- Anansi proves he is the oldest -- Anansi owns all tales that are told -- Anansi's rescue from the river -- Aberewa's sword -- Anansi borrows money -- Anansi gives nyame a child -- How debt came to Ashanti -- The competition for nyame's daughter -- The hat-shaking dance -- Anansi plays dead -- The king's drum -- Dahomey, the kingdom built in da's belly -- The gods of dahomey, their exploits -- To each is given his dominion -- The rule of the sky and earth delimited -- Sogbo becomes master of the universe -- Sagbata's control of the earth stabilized -- Sun god brings iron to man -- Serpent as headrest for an overburdened earth -- The people who descended from the sky -- Origin of the people of the agblo quarter -- How legba became chief of the gods -- Exploits of the aladahonu dynasty -- Origin of the royal sib -- How the aladhonu kings came to rule abomey -- The king and the nago -- How behanzin fought against the whites -- Seeking poverty -- Two dahomean songs for the dead -- Some dahomean riddles -- Some dahomean proverbs -- The yoruba: Deeds and adventures of the yoruba gods -- The descent from the sky -- Iron is received from Ogun -- Oranmiyan, the warrior hero of ife -- Orunmila's visit toowo -- Shango and the medicine of Eshu -- Obatala's visit to shango -- How Shango departed from Oyo -- Yoruba warriors, kings and heroes -- Ogbe baba akinyelure, warrior of ibode -- The burning of the elekute grove -- Ogedengbe's drummers -- Olomu's bushrat -- The yoruba trickster, ijapa -- How ijapa, who was short, became long -- Ijapa cries for his horse -- Ijapa and the oba repair a roof -- Ijapa and the yanrinbo swear an oath -- Ijapa and the hot-water test -- Ijapa goes to the osanyin shrine -- Ijapa in yoruba proverbs -- The worship of twins among the yoruba -- How twins came among the yoruba -- Two tales from benin -- Igioromi -- Ozolua and Izevbokun (Bini) -- How bronze castings were made at Benin -- Onugbo and oko (Idoma) -- Three isoko songs from ilue ologbo -- The ekoi people of the calabar coast: Obassinsi and obassi osaw -- How the first rain came -- How the moon first came into the sky -- How all the stars came -- How the rivers first came on earth -- The egbo secret society -- How the first ebgo image came -- How the efik learned to cook their meat -- An efik lamentation -- The feast (Bamum) -- Brass-casting among the Bamum -- Some Cameroon sayings in Pidgin-English -- The journey of the Afo-a-kom (kom) -- The origin of the Kom kingdom -- The a-mbundu of Angola: Mbundu-human tales Kings, hunters, and heroes -- King Kitamba Kia Xiba -- The young man and the river -- Kinungu a njila and ngundu andala -- Two men. |
| Note |
Includes index. |
| Bibliography |
Bibliography: pages [603]-608. |
| Summary |
Afro-American folklore, as seen in this collection, includes a wide array of orally transmitted traditions of the numerous, sometimes disparate, Negro cultures of the New World. Among these traditions are tales of scoundrels, heroes, rollicking adventures, friendship, and much more: folktales, songs, myths, myth-legends, epic-like narrations, and recollections of historical happenings. There are descriptions of cult life, around which many traditions and beliefs flow; of music and dance, which have an integral connection with traditional ways; and of the social scene in places where African and European, or white and black ideas intermingled and became Afro-American. A Treasury of Afro-American Folklore perceives the interconnections of cultural inheritances throughout the Afro-American region and the local divergences as well. Early sections of the book survey the traditions and oral literature of Spanish, French, and English-speaking islands of the Caribbean, and of areas of Central and South America inhabited by people of African descent. There follows an extensive section devoted to the tales, beliefs, recollections, songs, religious epics, and a wide variety of oral creations of blacks in the United States. The Appendixes include a number of African stories and descriptions that point up the impact of African traditions on the cultures of Afro-America. |
| Subject |
Folklore -- Africa, Sub-Saharan.
|
|
Africa, Sub-Saharan -- Social life and customs.
|
| Added Title |
African folklore.
|
| ISBN |
1569248168 paperback $14.95 |
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