Where Animals Talk: West African Folk Lore Tales

About this book

Robert Nassau spent four decades as a medical missionary in Africa, arriving at Corisco Island, now part of Equatorial Guinea, in 1861; he also worked in the regions now known as Gabon and Cameroon. This book contains 61 folktales (some in multiple versions) that Nassau collected during his career in Africa: 16 stories from Mpongwe storytellers in Gabon, 34 stories from Benga storytellers in Equatorial Guinea, and 11 stories from Fang storytellers in Cameroon, all of which Nassau translated into English. For each story there is a list of the cast of animal characters, which provides the Mpongwe, Benga, and Fang names for each animal character. (Summary by Laura Gibbs)