The African Tortoise re-introduces himself- call me Ijapa, Nnabe and Fudugazi.

The tortoise is a trickster figure of African mythology. Tortoise stories can teach children to differentiate between the good and bad. Tortoise is punished for his crimes.  Ijapa is the human acting tortoise is Yoruba he is shrewd, sometimes wise, conniving greedy unreliable and sometimes stupid. He is married to Yarinbo and she usually helps him in his mischief. Ijapa survived in the Unites States Black folklore as brother terrapin.

Some famous Ijapa stories include Ijapa and Yarinbo swears an oath, Ijapa and the Oba repair a roof, Ijapa cries for his horse, Ijapa and the hot water test, how Ijapa, who was short became long and Ijapa goes to the Osanyin shrine.

Nnabe is the tortoise in Igbo culture, he is a trickster figure that tried to trick the birds and ended up having a cracked shell, ‘‘in the tortoise and the birds.’’  Nnabe and Chineke is a different variation of the tortoise and the birds.

It is interesting to note that the translated performance of ‘‘ Nnabe and Chineke ‘’ was recorded on Wadmalow island, one of the sea islands of the coast of Georgia and the Carolines in the U.S. where Igbo people were transported to during the Atlantic slave trade of the 18^th and 19^th Century.

Fudugazi is the tortoise in Mennizimu Africa or South Africa. Fudugazi is a storyteller and singer and he belongs to the Amazulu people.  An example of Fudugazi story is the Gift of the tortoise.

The tortoise stories are a good addition to your children’s library. It will teach the children to think on their toes and that bad deeds are punished.

Bibliography

Achebe, Chinua. Things Fall apart. Chapter 11. Tortoise and the Birds recounted folk-tale.

Badejo, Deidre ‘‘The Yoruba and Afro-American Trickster: A contextual Comparison presence Africane 147(1988): 3-17

Jackson-Jones, Patricia. When roots die: Endangered Traditions on the Sea Islands Athens: Univ. of Georgia press, 1987. 

Three African Myths/ tales- Primary Style by Linda Frederick Malanson.

The Gift of the Tortoise- by Lady Smith Black Manbazo.