African American Folktales

About the Book

Full of life, wisdom, and humor, these tales range from the earthy comedy of tricksters to accounts of how the world was created and got to be the way it is to moral fables that tell of encounters between masters and slaves. They include stories set down in nineteenth-century travelers' reports and plantation journals, tales gathered by collectors such as Joel Chandler Harris and Zora Neale Hurston, and narratives tape-recorded by Roger Abrahams himself during extensive expeditions throughout the American South and the Caribbean.

With black-and-white illustrations throughout
Part of the Pantheon Fairy Tale and Folkore Library

Praise for African American Folktales

"Roger D. Abrahams is one of the preeminent scholars of African American vernacular culture."
—Henry Louis Gates, Jr.

"The text rolls along easily and amusingly. The rales are divided into types—trickster stories, moral example stories, old master stories—so that you can find the right sort of story for your taste or mood. Skipping about, in fact, is the way to enjoy the book and to appreciate the variety of background, tone, and narrative structure that it reveals."
—The Atlantic

"In spite of the scholarly fullness of this book, the earthiness and zestful wit of the tales themselves are uncompromised . . . Abrahams' thesis—that the black storytelling tradition is an incredibly rich and affirmative one—is well served by this extraordinary book, which is likely to become a standard text in the field."
—Choice

"Earthy and comedic . . . a rousing good read . . . I suspect Mr. Abraham's book will be read a generation hence."
—The New York Times Book Review

"Another masterful addition and accessible introduction to the captured myths of what the Mede calls 'God's Chiefdom' . . . Sweeping across the continent . . . the juxtaposition of tribes and pacing of story lengths make for lively reading."
—The Washington Post Book World

Excerpt

1. NEVER SEEN HIS EQUAL

“I have seen something that God has never seen. What is it?”

“Now that could never be, for God has seen everything. He made the world and everything that’s in it. Now if you call yourself smart, tell me something that God has never seen.”

“Well, I have seen my equal, and that’s something God has never seen!”

“You’re right there. There never has been a man who has seen his equal. But there was this one time when the Devil tried to be equal with God, too. The Devil was a chorister, you know, a leader of angels in Heaven, a pretty angel if there ever was one, and God when he created man made the Devil into his Overlord. But Lucifer tried to give the orders himself and had eaten of the Tree of Knowledge. Then Adam and Ever were so ashamed they were named that they went and pinned fig leaves on themselves. The Devil came to them in the form of a serpent and told Eve when she asked, ‘Oh no, you surely won’t die if you eat now. God knows that the day you eat of this you will know good from evil and be his equal in that way.’

“So she ate, and God gave her the curse that she should have childbirth and that man would be her boss ever after. And Adam had to eat by the sweat of his brow and till the earth—until he could die and return to the earth.”

—Michigan

The Pantheon Fairy Tale and Folklore Library Series

About the Author

Roger Abrahams

ROGER D. ABRAHAMS (1933-2017) was the Hum Rosen Professor of Folklore and Folklife at the University of Pennsylvania, president of the American Folklore Society, and the author of many books, monographs, and articles on African American, Creole, Caribbean, and American culture. More by Roger Abrahams

Stay in the know with our

email lists

African American Folktales

Stories from Black Traditions in the New World

Selected and Edited by Roger D. Abrahams

Ebook

About the Book

Praise for African American Folktales