African Folk Tales Read Online Free

went back to take presents, the cave had disappeared from the side of the mountain. Ever afterwards it was called “Adamu’s Mountain.”

The Man with Seven Dogs
    T HERE ONCE lived a man called Manma who was a hunter and also a magician.
    Manma had seven dogs. Their names were Tabantagi, Guye, Tako, Tifi, Etsuegu, Tazata, and Eyeshisoko. The dogs were well trained and were useful for Manma’s hunting. Manma also had seven large black earthenware pots which he kept in his room. The pots helped him in his magic; they helped protect him from his enemies.
    As well as the seven dogs and the seven pots, Manma had a wife. Manma and his wife very much wanted to have a child, but to their sorrow they had no children. The only help which Manma could obtain from his magic pots was their advice to ask someone else what he should do, so Manma went to a friend of his who was also a magician, and asked for his advice.
    â€œUnless you have a lion’s skin spread in front of your wife,” the friend said, “not only will your wife have no child but she will also die.”
    Manma wasted no time. Taking his gun, he went into the forest, where he soon found a small lion, a cub, which had been left unprotected. Manma blessed his good fortune in finding a lion so quickly. He shot the lion and took the skin to his wife’s room. Manma spread the skin in front of his wife and it was not long before she bore a child.
    â€œWe have been lucky,” Manma said to his wife. “The magic pots directed me to the right man for advice.”
    Manma went to his seven black pots and told them that they had been successful.
    Meanwhile, the lioness in the forest had discovered that her cub was missing. She heard from some monkeys in a tree that Manma had shot it and taken its skin, and she became very angry. The lioness changed herself into a beautiful princess and dressed herself in rich clothes fit for a princess. She then followed the footsteps of Manma which led her to Manma’s village.
    Manma went to a friend of his who was also a magician, and asked for his advice.
    When the lioness came near the village she met an old woman selling baskets.
    â€œI wish to buy a basket,” the lioness said.
    â€œSixpence,” said the old woman.
    â€œI will give you fourpence,” the lioness replied. The old woman agreed and the lioness bought the basket.
    When she reached the village she went to the market-place where there were many people, and amongst them she saw Manma. Many people greeted the lioness, she having changed herself into the form of a beautiful princess. Many asked her to come and be a guest in their compounds.
    â€œI shall stay,” she replied, “in the compound of the man who can throw a stone into my basket.”
    Many people threw stones, but all missed. Manma was watching, and his companions urged him to try to throw a stone into the basket. Manma threw a stone, and in that first try it fell right into the middle of the basket.
    â€œI shall be your guest,” said the lioness who looked like a princess, and she followed him to his compound. The first thing which she saw in his house was the skin of her lion cub.
    Manma’s wife fed the lioness, and when night came and it was dark the lioness was given a room in which to sleep. In the middle of the night she got up in order to go and kill Manma, but Tabantagi, one of Manma’s seven dogs, stopped her.
    â€œWe have been warned,” Tabantagi said to the lioness, for the seven black pots had spoken to the seven dogs. “If you kill our master, we will eat you.”
    The lioness went back into her room. After she had waited for a long time, she got up again, in order to go and kill Manma. Guye, however, another of Manma’s seven dogs, stopped her.
    Many people greeted the lioness, who had changed herself into the form of a beautiful princess.
    â€œIf you kill our master we will eat you,” Guye said to the