Research Guides: Folktales Gathered From the World : Treasures Collected in the Juvenile Literature Collections: Folktales from Africa

Please note!

The continent of Africa has many wonderful countries, regions, and peoples, all with different cultures and unique folktales! This list is just a starting point...please use our catalog to find additional folktales related to specific areas and peoples of Africa.

You may also be interested in the following list:

Anansi

Folktales from Africa

Abiyoyo
Abiyoyo : based on a South African lullaby and folk story
Big Book
Abiyoyo : based on a South African lullaby and folk story
The adventures of Spider : West African folk tales
African myths and legends
African Samson
Agassu : legend of the leopard king
Ananse's feast : an Ashanti tale
Anansi and the moss-covered rock
Anansi finds a fool : an Ashanti tale
Anansi the spider : a tale from the Ashanti
Animal stories from Africa
The Arbuthnot anthology of children's literature
Beat the story-drum, pum-pum
Beautiful blackbird
Black folktales
Can you guess my name? : traditional tales around the world
Cinderella : 4 beloved tales
The cow-tail switch : and other West African stories
The Crest and the hide, and other African stories of heroes, chiefs, bards, hunters, sorcerers, and common people
Crocodile and hen
Crow & Fox and other animal legends
Crowned : magical folk and fairy tales from the diaspora
Cry of the benu bird : an Egyptian creation story
The dancing palm tree, and other Nigerian folktales
Dragons, ogres, and scary things; two African folktales
The Egyptian Cinderella
Fire on the mountain
Folktales for fearless girls : the stories we were never told
Gift of the Nile : an Ancient Egyptian legend
The hat-shaking dance, and other tales from the Gold Coast
Head, body, legs : a story from Liberia
How Giraffe got such a long neck-- and why Rhino is so grumpy
How many spots does a leopard have? and other tales
How the guinea fowl got her spots : a Swahili tale of friendship
How the people sang the mountains up : how and why stories
The hunterman and the crocodile : a West African folktale
"I am not afraid!" : based on a Masai tale
The king's drum : and other African stories
The Kingfisher treasury of stories from around the world
Koos, the Hottentot : tales of the Veld
The lion's whiskers : an Ethiopian folktale
Mabela the clever
The magic tree : a folktale from Nigeria
The magic tree : a tale from the Congo
The Maid of the North : feminist folk tales from around the world
Master man : a tall tale of Nigeria
Graphic Novel
Mermaid tales from around the world
Misoso : once upon a time tales from Africa
Monkey-Monkey's trick : based on an African folktale
The monster that grew small : an Egyptian folktale
More adventures of spider; West African folk tales
Mrs. Chicken and the hungry crocodile
Myths and legends
Nelson Mandela's favorite African folktales
Noodlehead stories : world tales kids can read & tell
Not one damsel in distress : heroic girls from world folklore
Not one damsel in distress : world folktales for strong girls
Oh, Kojo! How could you! : an Ashanti tale
Olode the hunter ; and other tales from Nigeria
The origin of life on earth : an African creation myth
The parade : a stampede of stories about Ananse, the trickster spider
Peace tales : world folktales to talk about
Play me a story : nine tales about musical instruments
A pride of African tales
Rabbit makes a monkey of lion : a Swahili tale
A ring of tricksters : animal tales from America, the West Indies, and Africa
The river that went to the sky : twelve tales by African storytellers
Shadow dance
The singing man : adapted from a West African folktale
Song bird
Stories from Africa
Stories from old Egypt
A story, a story; an African tale
The story of lightning & thunder
Subira subira
Sungura and Leopard : a Swahili trickster tale
Tales alive! : ten multicultural folktales with activities
Tatterhood and other tales : stories of magic and adventure
Third World voices for children
Three apples fell from heaven; unfamiliar legends of the trees
Traveling to Tondo : a tale of the Nkundo of Zaire
Trickster tales : forty folk stories from around the world
Tristan Strong destroys the world
Tristan Strong punches a hole in the sky
Two brothers : a traditional tale from Africa
Two ways to count to ten : a Liberian folktale
The village of round and square houses
A wave in her pocket : stories from Trinidad
What's so funny, Ketu? : a Nuer tale
When the stones were soft : East African fireside tales
Who's in Rabbit's house? : A Masai tale retold
Why mosquitoes buzz in people's ears : a West African tale
Why mosquitoes buzz in people's ears : a West African tale
Why the jackal won't speak to the hedgehog : a Tunisian folk tale
Why the sky is far away : a Nigerian folktale
Why the sun and the moon live in the sky; an African folktale
The woman in the moon and other tales of forgotten heroines
World tales for creative dramatics and storytelling
Young Mouse and Elephant : an East African folktale
Zomo the Rabbit : a trickster tale from West Africa