Reading notes: African Stories from Lang Books A

The Woman and the Ogre. Source: UnTextbook

I first really liked the story of "Motikatika." A theme of many fairy tales that I enjoy is outsmarting bad people with tricks and riddles — something that, in my experience, I see more frequently in African folk tales. Matikatika is a great example of a sly trickster who is able to outsmart his mother and the ogre to keep his life. I really like the concept of tricks and riddles and wonder if that's something I could incorporate into my storybook.

The next story of tricksters I enjoyed was "Jackal and Spring." The jackal tricked the rabbit and the hare really easily (disturbingly easily, honestly) to run and get water from the spring that he was banned from because he did not help dig it out. Both the rabbit and the hare are at fault for letting down their guard, of course, but the other animals were foolish in picking their guards, in my opinion. It wasn't until the tortoise came along that the jackal was thwarted in his pursuit of the spring.

The third story I enjoyed was the three sections of "Adventures of a Jackal." Again, a jackal is portrayed as a trickster. He wrongs a panther, who then tries to do everything in his power to pay his revenge, but the jackal always outwits them. Finally, though, the jackal's hubris is his downfall — he became angry when the hedgehog was more cunning that he, so he ignored his advice and was subsequently killed by the greyhound. Hubris, of course, is a common theme in Greek mythology, so that's definitely something I could use when writing my storybook.