The authors are under many obligations to Mr. Alfred Sumner, a native African now in this country at college, whose intimate acquaintance with the life and customs of his people proved most helpful; also to Rev. D. F. Wilberforce, a native missionary, who has long been interested in the oral literature of his country, and in consequence has been able to give us suggestions of unusual value. To Miss Minnie Eaton of Moyamba Mission, and to other friends, who spared no pains to place desired information within our reach, and especially to the Mission boys and girls in Africa whose sympathetic interest made this collection a possibility, the gratitude of the authors is due.

Florence M. Cronise.

Henry W. Ward.


CONTENTS

CHAPTERPAGE
[INTRODUCTION]1
[I.]WHEN THE NIGHT HAS COME37
[MR. SPIDER WINS A WIFE.]
[II.]WITH THE SPIRITS OF THE WOOD50
[GORO, THE WONDERFUL WRESTLER.]
[MR. SPIDER A CLEVER TRADER.]
[MR. TURTLE MAKES A RIDING-HORSE OF MR. LEOPARD.]
[III.]A BACK-YARD KITCHEN77
[CUNNING RABBIT AND HIS WELL.]
[GOATS OF THE WOOD AND OF THE TOWN.]
[IV.]EVENING ON THE WATER96
[SPIDER DISCOVERS THE WAX GIRL.]
[MR. CHAMELEON IS TRANSFORMED INTO A BOAT.]
[SPIDER, ELEPHAN' EN PAWPAWTÁMUS.]
[V.]A PURRO INITIATION124
[CUNNING RABBIT BECOMES A KING.]
[MR. SPIDER INITIATES THE FOWLS.]
[VI.]THE BURNING OF THE FARM147
[SPIDER TRIES TO BRUSH THE DEVIL'S FARM.]
[THE DEVIL TURNS PIGEON.]
[VII.]MAMMY MAMENAH AND HER FRIENDS165
[A STONE THAT WORE A BEARD.]
[THE GIRL WHO PLAITED THE DEVIL'S BEARD.]
["MARRY THE DEVIL, THERE'S THE DEVIL TO PAY."]
[VIII.]CHILDREN OF NATURE188
[THE THREE TWINS.]
[WHICH TWIN RESTORED HIS FATHER TO LIFE.]
[WHICH ONE WAS MOST GREEDY.]
[MR. SPIDER CREATES A FRIGHTFUL TORNADO.]
[MR. LEOPARD SHOWS HIS HAND.]
[MR. LEOPARD FOOLS THE OTHER ANIMALS.]
[A CASE OF TIT FOR TAT.]
[DR. SPIDER'S FATAL PRESCRIPTIONS.]
[MR. SPIDER "PULLS" A SUPPLY OF MEAT.]
[IX.]AN AFTERNOON IN THE BARREH240
[THE DANCING BIRD.]
[THE WICKED IS TAKEN IN HIS OWN SNARE.]
[AN OLD MAN TURNS ELEPHANT.]
[THE MAN WHO COULD NOT KEEP SECRETS.]
[X.]KONAH TURNS STORY-TELLER264
[THE DEVIL'S MAGIC EGGS.]
[TOOTHACHE ENTAILED.]
[WHY MR. SPIDER'S WAIST IS SMALL.]
[XI.]WHILE THE BIRDS DID NOT COME281
[MR. SPIDER SECURES A POWERFUL WITCH MEDICINE.]
[MR. SPIDER GETS INTO TROUBLE AGAIN.]
[A GHOST STORY.]
[XII.]A HARVEST HOME IN TEMNE-LAND298
[WATCH-POT AND GREEDY.]
[THE ORIGIN OF THE AXE.]
[XIII.] KONAH HAS A WONDERFUL DAY317
[THE NEW VERSION OF EVE AND THE APPLE.]

CUNNIE RABBIT