Fables and Fairy Tales for Little Folk or Uncle Remus in Hausaland (First Series)
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Authors
Treamearne, Arthur John Newman
Tremearne, Mary
Issue Date
1910
Type
Book, Whole
Language
Keywords
Alternative Title
Abstract
I tried the first two of the twelve stories here. The twelve take 135 pages in this 6¾ x 8¼ book. These are good folktales, but I think they are not fables. They lack the simplicity that I think fables need. The second story, The Spider Deceives the Hippopotamus and the Elephant (6), is close to fables I have read, but it cannot resist putting in a second and third phase to the story. Thus spider fools the two into a tug-of-war with each other, but then also shows, with the help of magic, that he is ultimately stronger than they are. He shows them--I do not understand how--that he, not they, draws them closer together. Then he puts on a hare-skin…. Need I go further? The upshot of this tale, as of many, I think, is aetiological. Here we learn why hippos and elephants do not go into gardens where there are spiders. The book is in good condition.
Description
Citation
Publisher
Cambridge: W. Heffer and Sons; London: Simpkin, Marshall & Co.
W. Heffer and Sons ltd.
W. Heffer and Sons ltd.