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West African Folk Tales by William H. Barker

West African Folk Tales by William H. Barker

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West African Folk Tales by William H. Barker is a arts podcast hosted by Loyal Books. It has 35 episodes, with the latest published January 2026.

Compiled by an American missionary, West African Folk Tales by William H Barker is a delightful collection of folk tales from Nigeria, Ghana, Mali, Mauritania and other countries along the west coast of Africa. These stories spread in various forms to other countries like the West Indies, Suriname, the Netherland Antilles, etc and can be still heard today among the people of these countries.West African Folk Tales is a wonderful read for both young people and older readers alike. The stories are charmingly retold. Most of them are about Anansi, the trickster god of the West African people. He is worshiped as the god of all stories and often takes the form of a spider, which is considered to be very cunning. Anansi the Spider sometimes has a human face, wears clothes or assumes human form but keeps his eight legs. The first story in this book tells of how the Anansi tales originated. In the olden days, goes the tale, all stories were only about Nyankupon the chief of gods. But Anansi

arts ·en-us ·35 episodes

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Title
1

01 – How We Got The Name Spider Tales

2

02 – How Wisdom Became The Property Of The Human Race

3

03 – Anansi and Nothing

4

04 – Thunder and Anansi

5

05 – Why the Lizard Continually Moves his Head up and Down

6

06 – Tit For Tat

7

07 – Why White Ants Always Harm Man’s Property

8

08 – The Squirrel and the Spider

9

09 – Why We See Ants Carrying Bundles As Big As Themselves

10

10 – Why Spiders are Always Found in Corners

11

11 – Anansi and the Blind Fisherman

12

12 – Adzanumee and her Mother

13

13 – The Grinding-stone that Ground Flour by Itself

14

14 – Morning Sunrise

15

15 – Why the Sea-turtle When Caught Beats Its Breast with Its Forelegs

16

16 – How Beasts And Serpents First Came Into The World

17

17 – Honourable Minu

18

18 – Why the Moon and Stars Get Light from the Sun

19

19 – Ohia and the Thieving Deer

20

20 – How the Tortoise got its Shell

21

21 – The Hunter and the Tortoise

22

22 – Kwofi and the Gods

23

23 – The Lion and the Wolf

24

24 – Maku Mawu and Maku Fia

25

25 – The Robber and the Old Man

26

26 – The Leopard and the Ram

27

27 – Why the Leopard Can Only Catch Prey on Its Left Side

28

28 – Quarcoo Bah-Boni

29

29 – King Chameleon and the Animals

30

30 – To Lose an Elephant for the Sake of a Wren is a Very Foolish Thing to Do

31

31 – The Ungrateful Man

32

32 – Why Tigers never Attack Men Unless they are Provoked

33

33 – The Omanhene Who Liked Riddles

34

34 – How Mushrooms First Grew

35

35 – Farmer Mybrow and the Fairies

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