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 18th and
19th 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.
