Where do folktales come from?
African folktales often travel across the ocean to other countries, not without mutating slightly before making landfall. So how similar are traditional African folktales to those found in America? Some scholars believe that those “African” folktales really have European roots, while others know that there are many countries in Africa which have their own distinct storytelling culture.
The story that will be used as a case study is from the Uncle Remus collection. Hyena, who cannot find food asks for help. Hare takes Hyena to a cow and commands it to open its mouth and climbs in with his companion. He warns Hyena not to cut the maw or else the cow will die, but Hyena does so anyway. Hyena climbs to the bladder to try to escape once the cow drops dead, and Hare climbs to the mouth. Some people come across the dead cow and Hare climbs out, telling them that the one who killed the animal is still inside, so they beat him to death. So the elements that I will be looking to compare are the characters involved, being Hare, Hyena and the cow, the command to enter the cow, the warning against cutting a particular crucial part of the animal and lastly the death of the animal who disobeyed the other’s command.
The first story from Sierra Leone bears very little resemblance to the story in question. The animals present are spiders or frogs and there is no command to enter the cow, as they enter through the anus when she breaks wind. The second story, however, does have the open command but that is where the similarities end. The Mali and Mosi stories all have a board game as the focal point through which the animals enter the bigger animal, which in this case is an elephant, not a cow.
In fact, the African stories bear little to no resemblance to the story present in Uncle Remus. The closest relatives we can find to the story are all found in the Caribbean. Most of the stories from the Bahamas feature one animal warning the other against cutting a crucial part of the animal, which the second animal ignores, killing the cow and eventually the second animal. The Jamaican story also features the command tom enter through the mouth, but the story bears little resemblance after this point. The story originating from the Dominican Republic is almost identical to the one found in Uncle Remus. Although it is missing the command to enter the cow’s mouth, it has the two animals in the cow, one animal is warned not to cut a special organ but it does, and the death of this animal while the “clever” animal escapes.
The Antiguan iteration of this story is almost identical to the one found in Uncle Remus. Toukouma, the “dumb” animal in this instance is only beaten in this story as opposed to being killed. Guadeloupe’s story is close to the story from Uncle Remus as well, with the “dumb” animal getting whipped or killing using a branding iron. Dominica’s story is almost an exact replica, except instead of a Fox, the character is a Tiger.
Through tracking the genesis and consequent metamorphosis of these stories, perhaps we can begin to retrace roots and retroactively rebuild societies and reshape genealogies. As we can see today, myths and folktales can go a long way to shaping public perception, political allegiances and history itself.
-Mr D.
