From the publisher:
This is a delightful collection of stories and fables from West Africa, collected by a missionary. Many stories feature the Spider-man Anansi, a clever but devious character who usually comes to a bad end. Most of the stories or fables have a clever moral, or tell how some aspect of the natural world came to be.
Table of Contents:
1. How We Got the Name "Spider Tales"
2. How Wisdom Became the Property of the Human Race
3. Anansi and Nothing
4. Thunder and Anansi
5. Why the Lizard Moves His Head Up and Down
6. Tit for Tat
7. Why White Ants Always Harm Man's Property
8. The Squirrel and the Spider
9. Why We See Ants Carrying Bundles
10. Why Spiders Are Always Found in Corners
11. Anansi and the Blind Fisherman
12. Adzanumee and Her Mother
13. The Grinding-stone That Ground Flour by Itself
14. "Morning Sunrise"
15. Why the Sea-turtle Beats Its Breast
16. How Beasts and Serpents First Came into the World
17. Honourable Minu
18. Why the Moon and Stars Receive Light from the Sun
19. Ohia and the Thieving Deer
20. How the Tortoise Got Its Shell
21. The Hunter and the Tortoise
22. Kwofi and the Gods
23. The Lion and the Wolf
24. Maku Mawu and Maku Fia
25. The Robber and the Old Man
26. The Leopard and the Ram
27. Why the Leopard Only Catches Prey on Its Left
28. Quarcoo Bah-Boni
29. King Chameleon and the Animals
30. To Lose an Elephant for the Sake of a Wren
31. The Ungrateful Man
32. Why Tigers Never Attack Men Unless Provoked
33. The Omanhene Who Liked Riddles
34. How Mushrooms First Grew
35. Farmer Mybrow and the Fairies
