Man in Africa and his literature -- The ancient Soninke and Fulbe epics -- Gassire's lute (Soninke) -- The rediscovery of Wagadu (Soninke) -- The fight with the bida dragon (Soninke) -- Samba gana (Soninke) -- The blue blood (Fulbe) -- The valiant goroo-ba-dicko (Fulbe) -- Sayings of the Fulbe -- The messenger to Maftam (Soninke) -- Kanem-Bornu -- The two traders (Kanuri) -- The sau hunter (Kanuri) -- A chronology of kings and migrations in Kanem-Bornu -- How the Kanuri mark the time of the day -- The Hausa, an account of their origin -- Hausa religious poetry -- Seidu the brave (Hausa) -- Life and death (Hausa) -- The son of the hunter (Hausa) -- The friend and the lion (Hausa) -- Two Gizo tales -- The spider and the crows (Hausa) -- Spider deals with the famine (Hausa) -- Some Hausa proverbs and sayings -- Four tales of the impossible -- Contest at the baobab tree (Hausa) -- Three friends cross the water (Hausa) -- 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 peoples of Ghana -- Akan poetry -- Drum poetry of the Akan peoples -- Drum poems to Onyame, the supreme deity (Akan) -- Akan sayings about Nyame (Onyame) -- The drum-history of the state of Mampon (Ashanti) -- Chiefdom among the Ashanti -- A song for the new chief (Ashanti) -- Some Ashanti proverbs -- Sayings as guides to good social behavior (Ashanti) -- Riddle (Ashanti) -- Four Ashanti tales -- The coming of the yams (Ashanti) -- Journey to Asamando, land of the dead (Ashanti) -- O the world! (Ashanti) -- Talk (Ashanti) -- Gold and gold weights (Ashanti) -- Ashanti proverbs and sayings cast in brass -- The search for gold (Ashanti) -- Anansi, trickster hero of the Akan -- Anansi proves he is the oldest (Ashanti) -- Anansi owns all tales that are told (Ashanti) -- Anansi's rescue from the river (Ashanti) -- Aberewa's sword (Ashanti) -- Anansi borrows money (Ashanti) -- Anansi gives Nyame a child (Ashanti) -- How debt came to Ashanti -- The competition for Nyame's daughter (Ashanti) -- The hat-shaking dance (Ashanti) -- Anansi plays dead (Ashanti) -- The king's drum (Ashanti) --
The wall of millet (Togo) -- Dahomey, the kingdom built in Da's belly -- The gods of Dahomey, their exploits -- To each is given his dominion (Fon) -- The rule of sky and earth delimited (Fon) -- Sogbo becomes master of the universe (Fon) -- Sagbata's control of Earth stabilized (Fon) -- Sun god brings iron to man (Fon) -- Serpent as headrest for an overburdened Earth (Fon) -- The people who descended from the sky (Fon) -- Origin of the people of the Agblo quarter (Fon) -- How Legba became chief of the gods (Fon) -- Exploits of the Aladahonu dynasty (Fon) -- Origin of the royal sib (Fon) -- How the Aladahonu kings came to rule Abomey (Fon) -- The king and the nago (Fon) -- How Behanzin fought against the whites (Fon) -- Seeking poverty (Fon) -- 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 (Yoruba) -- Iron is received from Ogun (Yoruba) -- Oranmiyan, the warrior hero of Ife (Yoruba) -- Orunmila's visit to Owo (Yoruba) -- Shango and the medicine of Eshu (Yoruba) -- Obatala's visit to Shango (Yoruba) -- How Shango departed from Oyo (Yoruba) -- Yoruba warriors, kings and heroes -- Ogbe Baba Akinyelure, warrior of Ibode (Yoruba) -- The burning of the elekute grove (Yoruba) -- Ogedengbe's drummers (Yoruba) -- Olomu's bush rat (Yoruba) -- The Yoruba trickster, Ijapa -- How Ijapa, who was short, became long (Yoruba) -- Ijapa cries for his horse (Yoruba) -- Ijapa and the oba repair a roof (Yoruba) -- Ijapa and Yanrinbo swear an oath (Yoruba) -- Ijapa and the hot-water test (Yoruba) -- Ijapa goes to the Osanyin shrine (Yoruba) -- Ijapa in Yoruba proverbs -- The worship of twins among the Yoruba -- How twins came among the Yoruba -- Two tales from Benin -- Igioromi (Bini) -- 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 -- Obassi Nsi and Obassi Osaw (Ekoi) -- How the first rain came (Ekoi) -- How the moon first came into the sky (Ekoi) -- How all the stars came (Ekoi) -- How the rivers first came on earth (Ekoi) -- The Egbo secret society (Ekoi and Efik) -- How the first Egbo 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 (Mbundu) -- The young man and the river (Mbundu) -- Kingungu a njila and Ngundu a ndala (Mbundu) -- Two men, one woman (Mbundu) -- A father-in-law and his son-in-law (Mbundu) -- The young man and the skull (Mbundu) -- The white man and the negro (Mbundu) -- The past and the future (Mbundu) -- Squirrel and the kingship (Mbundu) -- Dog and the kingship (Mbundu) -- Dog and Lizard (Mbundu) -- Dog and Jackal (Mbundu) -- The house-hog and the wild boar (Mbundu) -- Partridge and Turtle (Mbundu) -- Lion and Wolf (Mbundu) -- Frog and his two wives (Mbundu) -- Dinianga dia ngombe and deer (Mbundu) --
Nzambi and Nzambi Mpungu (Kongo-Fiote) -- The bird messengers (Kongo-Fiote) -- Nzambi Mpungu's ambassador (Kongo-Fiote) -- Who beats Nzambi's drum? (Kongo-Fiote) -- Nchonzo Nkila's dance drum (Kongo-Fiote) -- Nzambi's daughter and her slave (Kongo-Fiote) -- Creation of Lake Bosa (Kongo-Fiote) -- How the spider won and lost Nzambi's daughter (Kongo-Fiote) -- Litigation among the Fiote people -- Litigation among the Bambala -- Mnemonics for a Yombe song -- The Mwindo epic (Nyanga) -- Some songs of the Luba people -- The supreme deity of the Luba -- How I shall be admired (Bene-Mukuni) -- The story of Mukana-Lwewo (Lamba) -- Teachings of the Chagga elders -- Nothing on Earth is cleverer than the female sex (Chagga) -- We are little snails who seek refuge behind the fronds of the banana tree (Chagga) -- Chiefs are like the rain (Chagga) -- Eating alone brings ruin (Chagga) -- The head of a man is a hiding place, a receptacle (Chagga) --
Some traditions and stories of the Ganda -- The first king of Uganda (Ganda) -- The legend of Kintu (Ganda) -- Mpobe and death (Ganda) -- Ndyakubi and Ndalakubi (Ganda) -- Some proverbs and sayings of the Ganda -- How the mountains and rivers were made (Akamba) -- Wanjiru, sacrificed by her people (Kikuyu) -- The lost sister (Kikuyu) -- Mukunga M'bura (Kikuyu) -- The making of iron among the Kikuyu people -- Music among the Bongo -- Schweinfurth gets to see the Akka Pygmies -- A song of the Twa Pygmies of Rwanda -- Some literary traditions of the southern Bantu -- Origin of the Tsonga or Shangaan people -- Some customs and traditions of the Tsonga or Shangaan people -- Shangaan children's activities -- Storytelling among the Shangaan -- The adventures of Papaju (Shangaan) -- The story of Xikhibana (Shangaan) -- Tendejuva the handsome (Shangaan) -- Shinangana's chronology -- The origin of the Venda people -- How Phuti became a totem of the Tswana people -- Much searching disturbs things that were lying still (Tswana) -- Some Tswana proverbs -- A Xhosa reproves a missionary -- How God distributed property (Xhosa) --
The story of Umkxakaza-Wakogingqwayo (Zulu) -- The king's child and Ubongopa-Kamagadhlela (Zulu) -- Uncama-Ngamanzi-Egudu's journey to the other world (Zulu) -- The man who threw away his bread (Zulu) -- How the Zulu experience sympathy through the navel -- Some Zulu riddles -- News from Zululand -- Fragments of the Zulu past in song -- The hemp smoker and the hemp grower (Shona) -- Shona walking song -- The Bushmen and Hottentots -- The coming of the sun in the sky (Bushman) -- The son of the wind (Bushman) -- The wind in the form of a bird (Bushman) -- The lion's dwelling place (Bushman) -- The cloud-eaters (Hottentot) -- The fish-stealers (Hottentot) -- A Nama woman married to an elephant (Hottentot) -- The horse cursed by the sun (Hottentot) -- The origin of death (Hottentot) -- Some eastern cattle peoples -- The Tutsi of Rwanda and Burundi -- The hunting ritual of Tutsi kings -- Royal drums of the Tutsi -- Ibabazabahizi (Tutsi) -- Abagombozi poetry of the Tutsi -- Gihilihili : the snake-person (Tutsi) --
Some Masai myths and traditions -- How the Masai got their cattle -- Why man dies and does not live again (Masai) -- How the Masai split off from other people -- The sun and the moon (Masai) -- The stars (Masai) -- Sunrise and sunset (Masai) -- The rainbow (Masai) -- Comets (Masai) -- Sheet lightning (Masai) -- The story of the flocks and the rain and the sun (Masai) -- The story of the night and day (Masai) -- Earthquakes (Masai) -- Volcanoes and the steam jets (Masai) -- Origin of the Lumbwa people (Masai) -- The giraffe hunters (Masai) -- The Nuer and God -- Dialogues with Europeans (Shilluk) -- Ethiopian beginnings : the Axumite Empire -- The Queen of Sheba legend : the founding of the Solomonic dynasty (Ethiopian) -- How Makeda visited Jerusalem, and how Menelik became king (Ethiopian) -- Another account of the Queen of Sheba (Ethiopian) -- Menelik's return to Axum, and how he became king (Ethiopian) -- The ten churches of Lalibela (Ethiopian) -- A proclamation of Menelik II (Ethiopian) -- The sense of what is just : five Ethiopian tales -- The donkey who sinned -- The goats who killed the leopard -- The judgment of the wind -- Fire and water, truth and falsehood -- Justice -- Four poems from the Amharic --
Myths and legends of the Mensa Bet-Abrehe
Creation and death (Mensa)
The Rom, a race of giants (Mensa)
How the giants disappeared (Mensa)
Certain years as they are remembered in Mensa Bet-Abrehe tradition
Philosophical and proverbial sayings of the Mensa, and the tales from which they derived
The two donkey owners (Mensa)
The prophet and the hyena (Mensa)
The proverb of Adeg Wad Fedel (Mensa)
God's gift to children (Mensa)
A proverb made by the Ad Takles people
The leopard in his old age (Mensa)
The descent of Mount Gadam (Mensa)
Dannas and his slave (Mensa)
The poison of the chameleon (Mensa)
The tail of the wolf (Mensa)
Historical recollections of the Mensa
The fight at Balqat (Mensa)
The battle of Sangera (Mensa)
Kantebay Sallim and Ali Wad Mao (Mensa)
How the game of fersit is played
Three laments of the Mensa Bet-Abrehe
The battle of Eghal Shillet (Somali)
The lion's share (Somali)
Adventures of Abunuwas, Somali hero
The story of Liongo (Swahili)
A Swahili poet of Mombasa
Appendix. Excerpt from a United Nations report on bride price.