Trickster on African Folklore
Research Paper and Essay
There is a rich, fertile inheritance of folklore from Africa. On this huge
continent, folk tales and myths serve as a means of handing down ethnicity and
mores from one generation to the next. The storytelling custom has thrived for
generations because of the nonexistence of printed material. Folk tales set up
young people for life, as there are lots of lessons to be learned from the
tales. Because of the history of this large continent, which comprises the
vigorous relocating of the people into slavery on other continents, several of
the same folk tales exist in North America, South America, and the West Indies.
These are told with little difference, for the tales were extend by word of
mouth and were kept amongst the African population.
In the African folk tales, the stories imitate the culture where animals abound;
thus, the monkey, elephant, giraffe, lion, zebra, crocodile, and rhinoceros come
into view often along with a wide diversity of birds such as the ostrich, the
secretary bird, and the eagle. The animals along with birds take on human
characteristics of ravenousness, jealousy, sincerity, loneliness, etc. Through
their behavior, many precious lessons are learned. Also, the environs in which
the tales take place reveal the immensity of the land and educate the reader
about the type of weather, such as the dry season when it hasn't rained for
quite a few years, or the rainy season when the hills are slick with mud. The
acacia trees swaying in a mild breeze, mucky streams that are home to fish,
hippos and crocodiles, moss covered rocks, and huge ant hills that serve as a
back scratchier for huge elephants, give the reader a sense of the diversity of
life in this parched or verdant land in this part of the world.
“Storytelling in Africa is an essential part of the culture. It is used as a
means of teaching, preserving values and chronological events, part of
traditional rituals and entertainment”. [Julien, Eileen, 1995. 295- 312].
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Sometimes the stories seem cruel but one must memorize that where the tales came
from the village was often rutted against the shrub. These stories helped
prepare the people for undertaking into the shrub in order to hunt and survive.
In the folklore of Africa peoples trickster figure plays very significant role.
The folklore of many peoples comprises a traditional trickster figure, the topic
of many stories. These form a cycle, in which there is no meticulous series and
the different adventures are self-determining of each other. Trickster tales are
almost for all time placed in the "animal tales" type, with the trickster
himself, he seems always to be male, identified with a scrupulous animal.
Trickster tales feature a clever, deceitful animal or character whose pranks
frequently cause problem for another character. In most cases, the trickster
goes away gloating and unpunished, although in some tales there is a turnabout,
and the trickster falls victim to the trouble he started.
The most important shared characteristic of trickster figures is their small
size, relative to the large, strong animals that come into view in the same
folktales. Even the tortoise is portrayed as weak when faced with such other
animals as the lion or the python. Tricksters live on by their wits, but they do
more than just stay alive. As the term entails, they are forever playing tricks
on the large, ferocious animals around them that not only get them out of
complexities but may vigorously dupe the others in the absence of any danger. In
addition, tricksters delight in outwitting and abusing their commanding
neighbors even when these have done nothing to deserve it. It should be noted,
on the other hand, that the trickster does not always come out on top.
Infrequently he overreaches himself and finds that he has been too smart for his
own good. “The trickster figure is set up all over the world. Sometimes this
figure is either inventive or subversive. They are impish, sly and amusing and
usually have the capability to switch between animal and human form”. [Spalding,
H. (1972). pg 34]
Almost all-traditional cultures tell stories featuring precise tricksters. For
instance, Coyote, Hare, and Raven are the attributed tricksters across North
America. West African trickster stories star Tortoise, Anansi the Spider, Zomo
the Hare or Eshu, the roguish messenger of the gods in Yoruba (Nigeria) legends.
According to Deidre Badejo's “the African tricksters like the Yoruba Ijapa
distinguish, remember, and study others’ weaknesses in order to make use of this
knowledge for the trickster’s own selfishness or enjoyment, or to escape social
responsibilities. Tricksters survive on the margins of the social order their
unusual; rebel behavior creates havoc and dissonance in society, and can
threaten the continued existence of the community. Secular tricksters like
Tortoise often plan the kinds of wicked forces and bad behaviors against which
the human society must compete to survive and which must be kept in check. This
objective is rehearsed and achieved in common performances of African axioms and
folktales, in which the trickster’s bad anti-social behaviors are generally
punished, and the wicked forces unleashed are controlled or defeated. Therefore,
for example, recounting Tortoise stories in African societies can work to repeat
the priority and wisdom of the community assures its members that balance and
agreement can and should be restored, and that the community will live and
triumph”. [Badejo, Deidre. (1988): 3-17].
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The general type of African folktale tells us regarding a very human-acting
animal that uses his drollness and cunning to take benefit of bigger and
stronger animals. Sometimes this animal will help others, but it will all the
time take care of itself first.
These animal creatures are comparatively unimportant and powerless, but often
use their slyness to outwit more powerful beasts for example the lion, the hyena
or the elephant. For instance, the Zande people of Central Africa tell about
Ture the Spider who meets a man-eating monster with a double-sided gong that he
uses to catch people. In this story to expand the monster’s self-confidence Ture
offers to climb into the gong, but leaves his arm sticking out so that the
monster gets incapable to close it. Ture the Spider asks the monster to explain
him how to do it correctly. The creature obliges and Ture bangs the gong shut
and kills him. Another legend known over most of Africa is when the trickster
Hare makes a decision to get married. On the other hand, he is too lazy to do
the work to hold up a wife. He thinks of a better way of receiving the work done
and goes into the shrub with a long rope to look for Hippopotamus.
Hare tells Hippopotamus that he wants to bind this rope to him to see if he can
drag him. Hare tells Hippopotamus that when he sees the rope move about he is to
drag hard. Hippo apparently knows he can out pull Hare, but still agrees. Then
Hare goes to meet up Elephant and tells a comparable story. Hare then goes to
the middle of the rope and jerks it on both sides. Hippo and Elephant begin
dragging and their tug-of-war lasts until sunset. Their great effort has then
cleared the land, which is the job hare didn’t want to do. At this moment Hare
can hold up a wife.
In African versions of Tortoise and the Hare tale, the tortoise wins for the
reason that he uses his wits. In the European versions, conversely, the tortoise
wins through pure endurance and grit. The victory of brain over physical
strength is an ordinary thread that runs through the trickster tales from
Africa. The trickster figure is smart, witty, and unprincipled, as are trickster
figures all over the world, but the African trickster almost all the time wins
out because of his brightness.
Chinua Achebe explains that the trickster Tortoise is a preferred in Igbo
children's stories. "It is a character that children can narrate to. He is a
scoundrel, but he is a nice kind of scoundrel. I think that children don't to
believe him, but they like to hear that he is around, for the reason that they
know that he is going to do something unexpected and usually he will be punished
too. This is the right side of it. He's not allowed to leave with murder. He
does something and he is penalized, but he still lives to come into view
again....Tortoise is evil, but he is not hopelessly so. Tortoise is not evil.
He's just mischievous" [Achebe, Chinua, 1996, pg 65 – 66]
There are many, many African tricksters in mythology and folktales. Gizo and the
spider trickster of the Hausa tribe of West Africa. He is every now and then a
villain to the Hausa. His exploits comprise many adventures that are part of the
repertoires of other African tricksters. Anansi the spider, who acts like a man,
of the Ashanti and linked Akan peoples of West Africa. Anansi is the supreme
trickster hero of the Ashanti and related Akan peoples. This spider can be
shrewd, stupid, amusing, or even sluggish but always there is a message to be
learned from Anansi. The spider tales have toured from Africa to the Caribbean
Islands. At times the spelling is altered from Anansi to Ananse. In Haiti the
spider is called Ti Malice. Anansi stories came into the United Stated
throughout South Carolina. The Anansi spider tales are told as "Aunt Nancy"
stories by the Gullah of the southeastern branch of the U.S. He is as well a
culture hero and, often, a buffoon. He is lost in thought with outfitting the
creatures of the field and forest, men and even the divinities. Sometimes he is
seen understandingly, even as wise. He is more often typified as cunning,
greedy, greedy, and voracious and without scruples. Although he may be
well-liked for his common victories over those who are larger and stronger than
himself, he does not frequently gain moral endorsement. He can be shrewd, so far
he is often dull or an unwitting clown. “Anansi moves with no trouble between
the animal and human world. He is heroic in his ability to conquer what seems as
insuperable obstacles on occasion. His greed and idleness often create humor.
Everyone knows Anansi”. Fiofori, Ferdinand O. 1975, Rural Africana 27: 43-52.
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Hare of the Bantu peoples of the Republic of South Africa, Zimbabwe, Botswana,
Lesotho and Zambia. The Hare is found in stories in nearly all parts of Africa.
One southern African story tells how Hare lost humans the possibility of
immortality. The moon sent Hare to the first people with the meaning, “Just as
the Moon dies and rises again so shall you.” But Hare got the message wrong and
told them, “Just as the Moon dies and dies so shall you”. When the Moon found
out what Hare had said, she smacked him on the nose with a stick, and ever since
that day Hare’s nose has been ripped. Abunuwas from East Africa and other
offshore islands of Zanzibar, Madagascar and Mauritius. Abunuwas is at times
also called Kibunwasi. He was originally a celebrated eighth century Arab poet.
He is amiable, bright, cynical and a flouter of morals. Abunuwas is the human
equal to the spider, the tortoise and the hare of Africa folklore. "Trickster"
tales can be easily traced to their West African genesis, where they are
occasionally referred to as Anansesem, or spider stories, after the spider
trickster Anansi.
“Generally, trickster stories serve to concern people about what might take
place if they are too gluttonous, or too inquisitive, or too proud or conceited,
but the tales also remind us of how we might be taken benefit of if we are not
cautious”. [Gyekye, Kwame.1997. pg 54].
Stories about the character Brer Rabbit and his friends were composed by Joel
Chandler Harris and other people, and are almost certainly the best known of the
trickster stories. For instance, there is "The Wonderful Tar-Baby Story," about
how Brer Fox managed to catch Brer Rabbit by creating a Tar-Baby that Brer
Rabbit mistook for an actual creature. In the procedure of trying to reprimand
the tar baby for being wedged up, Brer Rabbit got stuck to it, instead. These
and other stories give us ways to think about human nature, by comparing the way
these animals act with what we know about human behavior; and they continue to
appeal to us because they can be interpreted in so many dissimilar ways there is
no "correct" meaning to the stories. Although, Trickster is a well-known as well
as beloved figure in lots of myths over much of the world, but he is best known
from Africa. African divinities frequently have trickster character, whether
they are human or animal-like. They are noted for their liveliness in words
which may distress the cosmic order.
Works Cited
Badejo, Deidre. "The Yoruba and Afro-American Trickster: A Contextual
Comparison." Presence Africaine 147 (1988): 3-17.
Julien, Eileen. "African Literature." In Africa. 3rd ed. Eds. Phyllis M. Martin
and Patrick O’Meara. Bloomington: Indiana UP, 1995. 295-312.
Achebe, Chinua. Things Fall Apart. Expanded edition with notes. London:
Heinemann, 1996, pg 65 – 66
Spalding, H. (1972). Encyclopedia of Black Folklore and Humor. Middle Village,
NY: Jonathan David Publishers, pg 34
Fiofori, Ferdinand O. 1975. Traditional Media, Modern Messages: A Nigerian
Study. Rural Africana 27: 43-52.
Gyekye, Kwame.1997. Tradition and Modernity: Philosophical Reflections and the
African Experience. Oxford: Oxford University Press, pg 54.
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