West Indian Folk-Tales

By Philip M. Sherlock

Book Overview

As a child, Philip Sherlock loved to listen to folk tales. Since then he has made a significant contribution to Caribbean folklore by recording many of them in print for the first time.
Here are fables of the birds and animals of the West Indies: jaguar, snake, crested curassow, wild pig, parrot, wise owl, and of Anansi--the spider who can assume human form.
These twenty-one stories are a wonderful mixture of early tales from the Arawak and the Carib people, the original inhabitants of the Caribbean, and from the Ashanti people of West Africa. Read together they help to provide a background to the history of the West Indies. The stories are retold here in a warm, rich style--some tales gentle and philosophical, some humorous and full of action.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0192741276
• ISBN13: 9780192741271
• Release Date: June 1988
• Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
• Length: 160 Pages
• Weight: 0.57 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 5.4" x 8.5"
• Age Range: 9 years and up
• Grade Range: Grade 4 and higher

Customer Reviews

West Indian reader

What the above poster may not know is that Anansi stories are very much a part of West Indian culture. Seeing as how the West Indies were created by the blood of African slaves this only makes sense. That said, this book is 100% full of West Indian folklore. Enjoy!

Final Grade: 83%

With the exception of the first few stories, which are interesting legends that originate with the Native Americans of the Caribbean, all of the other stories are of Akan origin (southern and central Ghana and East Ivory Coast)and deal entirely with the legendary spider, Anance, who is a prominate character in Akan literature.