Reading Notes: West African Folktales, Part A

His Wisdom Became the Property of the Human Race

• I could write about how something else became a part of the Human race
• Ex. How Driving Became the Property of the Human Race
• This is something practiced by humans, but not other animals or insects

Anansi and Nothing

• This story exemplifies the theme of "don't judge a book by its cover"
• I could do a re-tell of this story in modern times
• A college boy with old, raggedy clothes who seems to be poor vs. a boy with a lot of money; later on we find out that the boy who seems to be poor only wears low maintenance clothes because they are more comfortable and he doesn't want to get them dirty. The boy who seems to be rich could go bankrupt, as he spends all his money on alcohol.

Why White Ants Always Harm Man's Property

• This story's theme of not trusting anyone is very relatable today
• Sometimes when you expect help, you get the opposite and that can be very disturbing and change your outlook on life, just as it did for the white ant in the story 

Source: A picture from the West African Folktales.

Many of these stories seem to involve the spider outsmarting the rest of the animals, so I could write a story in which the spider is the victim all the time. The story could contain many scenarios in which the spider was the one being outsmarted and conned repeatedly.

Bibliography: Barker's and Sinclair's West African Folktales, Part A.