Reading Notes: West Africa Part B

Anansi and his son were in a land that was scarce in food. The son found and killed a deer and brought it back to the rendezvous. Anansi went off to find a basket to carry the kill back home. While Anansi was away the son cried out for him and a dragon appeared in attempts to eat him. Anansi appears and they are both captured by the dragon and taken back to his palace. In order to escape, the son spread forty bags of rice to distract the chicken. he then fashioned a ladder that he tossed tot he heavens. As everyone climbed to the heavens, the dragon noticed and also began to climb. The son threw down bones to distract the dragon, and cut the ladder at his feat securing his place in heaven. The son became the sun, and Anansi became the moon, and his fellow escapes became stars.

The chief was having a feast, and invited all the other chiefs and their people. He sent out messengers to buy supplies. The tortoise was sent to buy palm wine from the palm field of the chicken. But the chicken would not let the tortoise buy it with wine. The chicken said if you can beat me in a fight you can have all the wine you want. Klo, the tortoise, defeated the chicken. Klo gathered the palm trees on his back and drank all the wine that could not be brought with him. Weighed down by his heavy load and now drunk, the journey was long and perilous. A great storm came and made travel even more difficult. Klo arrived at the palace but the gates were shut and no one came to greet him. When the storm finished and the people began to leave, they found Klo dead with a great mound on him. He was dug out and brought back to life, but he can never walk upright again and walks slowly.

A Tortoise, from the stories How the Tortoise Got Its Shell & The hunter and the Tortoise
Source

A hunter came upon a mysterious forest and found a tortoise singing an amazing song. The tortoise and hunter came to an agreement that the tortoise would accompany him in his travels and sing to him alone. He eventually told everyone, but no one believed him. He exclaimed that the tortoise does sing, and if it doesn't tomorrow that they may kill him. The day comes and hours go by, but the tortoise does not sing. He was beheaded for this, and the tortoise spoke. She said that the man had brought this upon himself, sharing a secret that was of no business of his.

A ram and a leopard made their minds up to make a house, unfortunately they both chose the same site. They began the task of clearing and building the house, alternating and never seeing one another. After settling in they met each other and realized what had happened. They both agreed to live with one another. They both had sons, and each wondered how the other brought home meat and such after each hunt. The sons were dispatched to find out how each caught their kills. The leopard son warned his father to be warry if he ever saw the ram go backwards. One day after a rain, the ram slipped and fell backwards. This frightening the leopard caused him to flee into the forest. The Ram called for him to come back but he didn't. 

West African Folktales by William H. Barker and Cecilia Sinclair.