Elphinstone Dayrell
Folk Stories from Southern Nigeria is a collection of 40 folk tales gathered for publication by Elphinstone Dayrell, District Commissioner of South Nigeria, and features an introduction by noted folklorist Andrew Lang. One of the most well-known stories in the collection, Why the Sun and Moon Live in the Sky, has been turned into an award-winning children’s book in 1995. Dayrell’s collection of tales came about after he heard many from the Efik-Ibibiopeoples of Southeastern Nigeria, a group of individuals that still exists today. He also authored a second collection of folklore, this one entitled Ikom Folk Stories from Southern Nigeria. It was published by the Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland in 1913. In Ikom Folk Stories from Southern Nigeria, Dayrell notes that it was necessary to have at least one, if not two, translators on hand to collect the stories efficiently.
Fairy tales by Elphinstone Dayrell
- The Cock Who Caused a Fight Between Two Towns
- Concerning the Leopard, the Squirrel, and the Tortoise
- Concerning the Fate of Essido and his Evil Companions
- Concerning the Hawk and the Owl
- The Elephant and the Tortoise; or, Why the Worms are Blind and Why the Elephant has Small Eyes
- The Election of the King Bird
- How the Tortoise Overcame the Elephant and the Hippopotamus
- How the Cannibals drove the People from Insofan Mountain to the Cross River (Ikom)
- How a Hunter obtained Money from his Friends the Leopard, Goat, Bush Cat, and Cock, and How He Got Out of Repaying Them
- The King who Married the Cock's Daughter
- The King and the Ju Ju Tree
- The King and the 'Nsiat Bird
- The King's Magic Drum
- Of the Pretty Stranger who Killed the King
- Of the Fat Woman who Melted Away
- Of the Pretty Girl and the Seven Jealous Women
- The Orphan Boy and the Magic Stone
- The Story of the Lightning and the Thunder
- The Story of the Leopard, the Tortoise, and the Bush Rat
- The Slave Girl Who Tried to Kill Her Mistress
- The Story of the Drummer and the Alligators
- Why the Bat Flies at Night
- The Woman, the Ape, and the Child
- Why the Bat is Ashamed to be seen in the Daytime
- Why the Worms Live Underneath the Ground
- Why a Hawk Kills Chickens
- Why the Sun and the Moon Live in the Sky
- Why the Flies Bother the Cows
- Why the Cat kills Rats
- Why the Bush Cow and the Elephant are bad Friends
- Why Dead People Are Buried
- Why the Moon Waxes and Wanes
- The Woman with Two Skins
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