Part One of the shelf: four tales from Where Animals Talk: West African Folk Lore Tales (Boston: Richard G. Badger, 1912) by Robert Hamill Nassau, who spent forty years in West Africa. The sixteen tales of the book's first part were narrated to him at Libreville, on the Gaboon River, by two members of the Mpongwe people, who chose legends that were current in their own tribe. Billed by people, collector and book, as Mpongwe tales of the Gaboon River; not a survey of all the peoples of Gabon, and no completeness is claimed. The book holds sixteen Mpongwe tales; the other twelve were set aside under this channel's standing rule and are named in the shelf register.
Disclosure: this performance is narrated by AI-generated voices.
A Tug-of-War — Tortoise, despised for boasting that he is the equal of Elephant and Hippopotamus, sets the two giants pulling against each other on a single vine, until each owns him their equal. Who Are Crocodile's Relatives? — old Crocodile dies, and the Birds and the Beasts plead before the council for his property; the quarrel is never settled. Who Is King of Birds? — Njambi judges the birds by their speeches, and settles the kingship on the Cock; and how the chicken first came to dwell among mankind. Why Mosquitoes Buzz — Ear breaks her promise of oil, and Mosquito comes to our ears to this day, asking for it.
Chapters:
0:00 Introduction
1:33 A Tug-of-War
13:12 Who Are Crocodile's Relatives?
16:34 Who Is King of Birds?
26:47 Why Mosquitoes Buzz
Robert Hamill Nassau, Where Animals Talk: West African Folk Lore Tales (Richard G. Badger, 1912) — public domain.
Narrated by Morgana. Music: opening and closing theme, "Rain of the Celestial Court" — heard at the introduction, between the stories, and at the close; the tales themselves are read dry.
KacheliTV — world classics, read aloud.
Gabon folk tales · Mpongwe folk tales · Robert Hamill Nassau · Where Animals Talk · West African folk tales · animal tales · world folk tales · free audiobook
