Nigerian Fairy Tales, Folk Tales and Fables
“I cannot climb a tree.” Illustration by Oliver Whitwell Wilson, published in African Stories by Albert D. Helser (1930), Fleming H. Revell Company.
Read Nigerian folk tales and “just so” stories from Elphinstone Dayrrell and more. Go to full list of Nigerian folk tales.
About: Nigerian folk tales are epic stories that can explain the world around us. These stories and myths have been told within generations. One of the most influential collections of Nigerian folklore is the 1910 collection Folk Stories from Southern Nigeria, published in 1910. Elphinstone Dayrrell was a British colonial official in Ikom and the District Commissioner of Southern Nigeria. He collected the stories while living in the area, and folklorist Andrew Lang provided the book’s foreword.
Nigerian folk tales include proverbs, myths, “just so” stories, and riddles. “Just so” stories are designed to explain features of an animal, such as their appearance or their habits. Morals are either explicitly stated at the end of Nigerian folk tales, or hidden within the text. Animals, especially the tortoise, hold prominence in the tales from Nigeria, and unlike other folk tales from Africa, there aren’t many “trickster” figures like Anasi. Reading some of the stories from Nigeria, you may note that the stories bear similarity to some European folk tales, filled with poor peasant girls, royalty, and magical properties; however, many of the folk tales bear a magic that is all their own, with grand narratives readers have loved for years.
- 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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