West African folktales

* The Scarecrow: This story is about a family of spiders who lived on a farm. Their names were Anaanu (the father), Kornorley (the mother) and Kwakute (the son). Anaanu brought his family together and let them know he was going to die soon. He wished to be put into a coffin that was not nailed down and placed in the middle of the yam farm with a bowl and spoon. Anaanu died within a few days, and his family did just what he had asked. When his family would come visit every day, they noticed their yams were disappearing. Anaanu would get out of his coffin and eat the yams, then lay back down. Anaanu's son, Kwakute, got tired of a "thief" stealing yams, so he set up a scarecrow that was made of sticky glue and left. Anaanu didn't know his son put it up, so he shouted at the scarecrow and began hitting it. Anaanu became stuck and was thereby caught by his family the next morning. Anaanu was ashamed and ran to hide in the roof tops, and that is why a spider can always be found around the roof.
* The Wise Fool: This story is based on a man born into a family of many but who was treated differently. He was made fun of by the people of his village daily. One day, his mother found a baby with long hair. She had waited a few days to see if anyone would claim the baby but nobody did, so she cut off the baby's hair. A group of fairies came to claim the baby, but wanted its hair put back. Everyone knew that wasn't possible and tried to offer them gifts, but they declared that the woman shall die for her punishment. The man, known as the fool, stepped up and said the fairies can take his mother after they have cleared all the footprints they made crossing his land. Agreeing, they tried to do so but for every footprint they cleared, they made more behind them. Soon, the fairies gave up and left. This has made it so that nobody is ever cast out, and that everyone is treated equally as everyone else.
* How Tortoise Won by Losing: This story is about a tortoise and his wife going without food. They went to his wife's father and asked him for some food. The father said yes, and Tortoise took the food home. Tortoise and his wife ate the food within a few days. Tortoise didn't want to ask for more food, so he decided to wait until nightfall and go take it. The basket he tried to use became too heavy to carry, but he continued to try to pick it up. He was caught in the morning by his wife's father, and was tied to a tree where everyone could see him. People stopped and asked why he was still there days later. The father was seen to be more evil than the tortoise being a thief. The blame became the father's, and this is how people can make themselves not liked by taking their justice too far.
* The Elephant, the Tortoise and the Hare: A story based on a race and who was faster. The elephant, tortoise and hare began a race and both the elephant and the hare were faster than the tortoise. Tortoise had a plan, where he would line up his family and friends at different intervals of the race and they would be the one accounted for. In the end, the tortoise won but it was another family member who crossed the finish line. Nobody knew that it wasn't tortoise from the beginning of the race that crossed the finish line.
* The Snakebite Medicine: This is a story about a hunter, who was very poor. He went hunting one day and stumbled upon a hole with animals and a man inside who had gotten stuck. They all begged the hunter to release them and he did. They were all so grateful, they brought him gifts, which turned out to be stolen from the village chief. One gift was not and that was from a snake, who said it was medicine against all snake bites. The chief was told by the hunter's friend that the hunter had all of his stolen items. The chief told people to go get the hunter and that he must die. On the way to kill the hunter, the chief's daughter was bitten by a snake. The only person who could save her was the hunter. The hunter gave the chief's daughter the medicine and was released. The friend of the hunter was sentenced to take the hunter's place and was killed.
* A Mother's Love: A story about two wives married to one man. One wife could have children, and the other could not. The one who could have children had one daughter. The wife who could not have children became mean. The mother had to go to a market, which was a few days walk away and she left her daughter with the other wife. She also left food for her to feed to her daughter. The mother left and the other wife began being mean to the daughter. She made the daughter do many chores and run errands, with little to no food and water. The daughter began to cry and sing a song into the ground that would eventually get back to her mother. By the time her mother returned, her daughter had sunk into the ground with only her head showing. The mother cried out to the gods and they felt sorry for her, so they broke open the ground and her daughter was released.

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