Where Animals Talk: West African Folk Lore Tales
Robert Hamill Nassau
Play
Length 9 h 23 min
Chapters 64
First published 1912
Robert Nassau spent four decades as a medical missionary in Africa, arriving at Corisco Island, now part of Equatorial Guinea, in 1861; he also worked in the regions now known as Gabon and Cameroon. This book contains 61 folktales (some in multiple versions) that Nassau collected during his career in Africa: 16 stories from Mpongwe storytellers in Gabon, 34 stories from Benga storytellers in Equatorial Guinea, and 11 stories from Fang storytellers in Cameroon, all of which Nassau translated into English. For each story there is a list of the cast of animal characters, which provides the Mpongwe, Benga, and Fang names for each animal character. (Summary by Laura Gibbs)
Chapters
1
Preface Read by laurakgibbs 7:00
2
Mpongwe Tale 2. Leopard's Hunting-Camp Read by laurakgibbs 18:56
3
Mpongwe Tale 3. Tests of Death (version 1) Read by laurakgibbs 3:20
4
Mpongwe Tale 3. Tests of Death (version 2) Read by laurakgibbs 8:30
5
Mpongwe Tale 4. Tasks Done for a Wife Read by laurakgibbs 17:56
6
Mpongwe Tale 5. A Tug-of-War Read by laurakgibbs 10:41
7
Mpongwe Tale 6. Agenda: Rat's Play on a Name Read by laurakgibbs 17:21
8
Mpongwe Tale 7. Nuts are Eaten Because of Angangwe Read by laurakgibbs 10:18
9
Mpongwe Tale 8. Who Are Crocodile's Relatives? Read by laurakgibbs 3:11
10
Mpongwe Tale 9. Who Is King of Birds? Read by laurakgibbs 9:05
11
Mpongwe Tale 10. Njiwo Died of Sleep Read by laurakgibbs 3:38
12
Mpongwe Tale 11. Which is the Fattest: Manatus, Hog, or Oyster? Read by laurakgibbs 5:53
13
Mpongwe Tale 12. Why Mosquitoes Buzz Read by laurakgibbs 2:12
14
Mpongwe Tale 13. Unkind Criticism Read by laurakgibbs 3:46
15
Mpongwe Tale 14. The Suitors of Princess Gorilla Read by laurakgibbs 8:06
16
Mpongwe Tale 15. Leopard of the Fine Skin Read by laurakgibbs 21:44
17
Mpongwe Tale 16. Why the Plantain-Stalk Bears But One Bunch Read by laurakgibbs 4:44
18
Benga Tale 1. Swine Talking Read by laurakgibbs 3:14
19
Benga Tale 2. Crocodile Read by laurakgibbs 1:55
20
Benga Tale 3. Origin of the Elephant Read by laurakgibbs 4:59
21
Benga Tale 4. Leopard's Marriage Journey Read by laurakgibbs 27:19
22
Benga Tale 5. Tortoise in a Race Read by laurakgibbs 7:49
23
Benga Tale 6. Goat's Tournament Read by laurakgibbs 3:13
24
Benga Tale 7. Why Goats Became Domestic Read by laurakgibbs 6:56
25
Benga Tale 8. Iguana's Forked Tongue Read by laurakgibbs 8:07
26
Benga Tale 9. What Caused their Deaths? Read by laurakgibbs 5:46
27
Benga Tale 10. A Quarrel about Seniority Read by laurakgibbs 9:38
28
Benga Tale 11. The Magic Drum Read by laurakgibbs 20:21
29
Benga Tale 12. The Lies of Tortoise Read by laurakgibbs 13:01
30
Benga Tale 13. Death Begins by Some One Person Read by laurakgibbs 5:50
31
Benga Tale 14. Tortoise and the Bojabi Tree Read by laurakgibbs 12:12
32
Benga Tale 15. The Suitors of Njambo's Daughter Read by laurakgibbs 13:36
33
Benga Tale 16. Tortoise, Dog, Leopard, and the Njabi Fruit Read by laurakgibbs 13:05
34
Benga Tale 17. A Journey for Salt Read by laurakgibbs 10:20
35
Benga Tale 18. A Plea for Mercy Read by laurakgibbs 9:04
36
Benga Tale 19. The Deceptions of Tortoise Read by laurakgibbs 14:15
37
Benga Tale 20. Leopard's Hunting Companions Read by laurakgibbs 9:39
38
Benga Tale 21. Is the Bat a Bird or a Beast? Read by laurakgibbs 5:47
39
Benga Tale 22. Dog and his Human Speech (version 1) Read by laurakgibbs 7:36
40
Benga Tale 22. Dog and his Human Speech (version 2) Read by laurakgibbs 12:01
41
Benga Tale 23. The Savior of the Animals Read by laurakgibbs 8:35
42
Benga Tale 24. Origin of the Ivory Trade (version 1) Read by laurakgibbs 17:36
43
Benga Tale 24. Origin of the Ivory Trade (version 2) Read by laurakgibbs 12:33
44
Benga Tale 25. Dog and His False Friend Leopard Read by laurakgibbs 7:24
45
Benga Tale 26. A Trick for Vengeance Read by laurakgibbs 7:21
46
Benga Tale 27. Not My Fault! Read by laurakgibbs 1:44
47
Benga Tale 28. Do Not Impose on the Weak Read by laurakgibbs 4:59
48
Benga Tale 29. Borrowed Clothes Read by laurakgibbs 2:18
49
Benga Tale 30. The Story of a Panic Read by laurakgibbs 3:45
50
Benga Tale 31. A Family Quarrel Read by laurakgibbs 2:08
51
Benga Tale 32. The Giant Goat Read by laurakgibbs 11:56
52
Benga Tale 33. The Fights of Mbuma-Tyetye Read by laurakgibbs 44:46
53
Benga Tale 34. A Snake's Skin Looks Like a Snake Read by laurakgibbs 9:41
54
Fang Tale 1. Candor Read by laurakgibbs 3:45
55
Fang Tale 2. Which is the Better Hunter, an Eagle or a Leopard? Read by laurakgibbs 1:21
56
Fang Tale 3. A Lesson in Evolution Read by laurakgibbs 1:57
57
Fang Tale 4. Parrot Standing on One Leg Read by laurakgibbs 3:30
58
Fang Tale 5. A Question of Right of Inheritance Read by laurakgibbs 2:02
59
Fang Tale 6. Tortoise Covers His Ignorance Read by laurakgibbs 1:46
60
Fang Tale 7. A Question as to Age Read by laurakgibbs 2:46
61
Fang Tale 8. Abundance Read by laurakgibbs 2:55
62
Fang Tale 9. An Oath: With a Mental Reservation Read by laurakgibbs 3:33
63
Fang Tale 10. The Treachery of Tortoise Read by laurakgibbs 3:30
64
Fang Tale 11. A Chain of Circumstances Read by laurakgibbs 4:44
From LibriVox, read by volunteers and in the public domain. LibriVox page (opens librivox.org) , the text (opens archive.org) , all files on the Internet Archive (opens archive.org) .
