African Folk Tales

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Terence Coard Professor Schwartz LITR 201 February 23, 2013 Terence Coard Professor Schwartz LITR201 February 23, 2013 African Folk Tales When you think about Folktales, it takes you back to (what we would call) the beginning of people lives. Folk tales tells of people’s hopes and dreams, as well as their fears and defeat. African folktales originated Before we discuss African folk tales, and why they chose to use animals as protagonist, let’s take the time to venture into the folk tales origin. Folktales are stories passed down from generation to generation. These stories are told mainly through storytelling, but can also be told through dance, proverbs, jokes, and music. There are so many types of folktales, from tall tales and trickster tales, to myths and legends. The common word, folk tale, originated from the word “folk lore.” The word “folk” derived from the old English traditions, meaning “common” people. Those so called “common” people were referred to as the people who shared a common culture. The word “lore” means - knowledge gained through tradition. The main purpose of a folk lore is to help us, as the readers, understand the nature of something or someone better. African folk tales are usually portrayed by a trickster figure. A trickster figures is an animal character endowed with human qualities; whose mischievous ways and extraordinary capabilities create problems for the other characters in the tales. Take the story of “The Elephant and the Tortoise,” written by Francesca Martin, for instance. In the Jungle there lived two bullies, the Elephant and the Hippo. All the smaller animals didn't like how they pushed them around just because they were bigger. So the Clever Tortoise came up with a trick. He had the Elephant and the Hippo compete in a tug-of-war. They both thought that the Tortoise was at the end of the rope and didn't

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