African Mythology - Paul Beeson

In ancient africa, myths helped people try to make sense of the world around them. There are different types of african myths; some try to explain the origin of things; others speak of heroes who had supernatural abilities, and other stories are told to caution the people and show them how to behave well. The people told and retold these stories through different generations until they came to be held as the truth.

This book focuses on some of the most popular african myths and reveals how they have shaped the culture and values of the respective communities.

You will meet in this book:

• A princess who gets eaten by a monster and then goes on to marry a mysterious prince who is not all he seems to be
• A young woman who is sacrificed to end a drought but rescued by the young man who loves her dearly
• The children who put the sun into the sky
• The fanged deer whose eyes turned into the stars
• The clever lad who saves his uncle from death and outsmarts every enemy he comes across

A great number of african folktales have been transmitted orally from person to person down through the ages, but since the nineteenth century, many stories have been written down and transmitted to audiences beyond the boundaries of the cultures that created them. One important-and tragic-conduit for the transmission of these stories beyond african shores was the european slave trade. Captured africans who were brought to the americas and the caribbean fought to keep alive what they could of their home cultures, and this included their folktale traditions.