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Stories for children, folktales, fairy tales and fables from around the world

Nigeria flag Nigerian folktales

Nigeria
Nigeria
Nigeria is a country in West Africa. With a population of 167 million people, Nigerians form the seventh largest nation in the world.
The collection of folktales from Nigeria consists of one book with 40 folktales collected from Southern Nigeria.

Folk Stories from Southern Nigeria


Notes: Contains 40 Nigerian folktales. The introduction is written by Andrew Lang.

Author: Elphinstone Dayrell
Published: 1910
Publisher:Longmans, Green and Co., London, New York, Bombay & Calcutta

0.Preface

1.The Tortoise with a Pretty Daughter

2.How a Hunter obtained Money from his Friends the Leopard, Goat, Bush Cat, and Cock, and how he got out of repaying them

3.The Woman with Two Skins

4.The King's Magic Drum

5.Ituen and the King's Wife

6.Of the Pretty Stranger who Killed the King

7.Why the Bat flies by Night

8.The Disobedient Daughter who Married a Skull

9.The King who Married the Cock's Daughter

10.The Woman, the Ape, and the Child

11.The Fish and the Leopard's Wife; or, Why the Fish lives in the Water

12.Why the Bat is Ashamed to be seen in the Daytime

13.Why the Worms live Underneath the Ground

14.The Elephant and the Tortoise; or, Why the Worms are Blind and Why the Elephant has Small Eyes

15.Why a Hawk kills Chickens

16.Why the Sun and the Moon live in the Sky

17.Why the Flies Bother the Cows

18.Why the Cat kills Rats

19.The Story of the Lightning and the Thunder

20.Why the Bush Cow and the Elephant are bad Friends

21.The Cock who caused a Fight between two Towns

22.The Affair of the Hippopotamus and the Tortoise; or, Why the Hippopotamus lives in the Water

23.Why Dead People are Buried

24.Of the Fat Woman who Melted Away

25.Concerning the Leopard, the Squirrel, and the Tortoise

26.Why the Moon Waxes and Wanes

27.The Story of the Leopard, the Tortoise, and the Bush Rat

28.The King and the Ju Ju Tree

29.How the Tortoise overcame the Elephant and the Hippopotamus

30.Of the Pretty Girl and the Seven Jealous Women

31.How the Cannibals drove the People from Insofan Mountain to the Cross River (Ikom)

32.The Lucky Fisherman

33.The Orphan Boy and the Magic Stone

34.The Slave Girl who tried to Kill her Mistress

35.The King and the 'Nsiat Bird

36.Concerning the Fate of Essido and his Evil Companions

37.Concerning the Hawk and the Owl

38.The Story of the Drummer and the Alligators

39.The 'Nsasak Bird and the Odudu Bird

40.The Election of the King Bird (the black-and-white Fishing Eagle)

What's interesting in Nigeria



Zuma Rock
is a giant rock monolith in Western Nigeria. It is considered one of the country's symbols.

Osun-Osogbo Sacred Grove
is
a sacred forest in Southern Nigeria. One of the last of its kind, Osun-Osogbo is listed as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO.

Gurara Falls
is a waterfall on the Gurara River in Nigeria.


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