It's not like siting down to a book on Greek Mythology. There is no Bullfinchian or Hamiltonian categorization or pigeonholing. Africa is vast, with immense diversity of culture and human genetics. It kind of makes Europe look like a inbred hillbilly. The book, aside from the introduction, is simply stories. No family trees, no taxonomy, and there has been no apparent analysis and 'bending' of the stories to form some sort of Aesopic lesson. The presentation is quite nice, actually.
The book includes stories and myth from the people and regions of Alur, Hausa, Swahili, Yoruba, Nigeria, Mozambique, Zaire, Taganyika, Bantu, Dahomey, Malozi, Wakaranga, Fang, Bini, Nupe, Wapangwa, Kono, and even more. It has various origin myths, trickster tales, proverbs, cautionary tales, and hero myths. There is plenty of material here to get you thinking in whole different ways about world creation and adventures.
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| Fun Factiod #938 |
Did you ever notice that Deities and Demigods never touched on Sub-Saharan Africa? At all? D&D was a huge influence on my life, and helped spur interests in history, archaeology, architecture, and a host of other things. I wonder if the inclusion of an African Mythos section would have sent me off exploring African myths at a younger age.
I don't mean to imply that the creators of Deities and Demigods were racists. I have no clue, but I seriously doubt it. But what I do know is that we are a product of our culture, and that we value some stories more than others, and heck, haven't even heard of certain stories because of our cultural blinders. I find it's good for me to expand out of my comfort zone and delve into the foreign - because seeing things from different viewpoints can be so enlightening.
So go take a look at other myths and stories - those outside of the classic European (or where-ever the heck you or your ancestors are from) mold - and get inspired. To whet your appetite, here is a table of contents from Essential African Mythology: Stories That Changed the World:
Chapter One: Myths of Origin and Extinction
- Doondari and Gueno
- Sa and Alatangana
- How Humans Were Scattered
- King Kitamba and Queen Muhongo
- The Chameleon and the Lizard
- The Dog and the Toad
- The Bag of Mystic Powers (you could make this one the basis for a whole campaign)
- The Sheep God (one of my favorites because it is so frikkin strange)
- The Two Brothers
- Stories of Obatala
- The Distant Sky
- Tortoises, Humans, and Stones
- The Quarrel Between Earth and Sky
- Fam, the First Man
- Nyambe and Kamunu
- Father Moon
- Morning and Evening
- The Sun, the Moon and the Creation of Fish
- Thunder and Lightning
- A Daughter-in-law for Kimanaweze
- The Discovery of Fire
- A Home for the Sun and the Moon
- The Fruit of Generosity
- Spirits of the Bush
- The Rock Spirit and the Child
- The Bird Spirit
- The Origin of Night and Day
- The Underwater World
- The Country Under the Earth
- Chapter Four: Animals and Humans
- The Beautiful Hind
- The Hunter's Secret
- The Leopard and the Boy
- Mokele
- Chichinguane and Chipfalamfula
- Blaming it on Adam
- The Snake Bite
- A Quarrel Between Friends
- The Jealous King
- The Reward of Envy
- The Suspect
- The King's Magic Drum
- How To Find Suffering
- The Girl Who Wanted Dawn's Dress
- Chief Liongo
- The Antelope in the Moon
- Tortoise and the Palm Tree
- How Tortoise Grew a Tail
- Tortoise Swears an Oath
- Tortoise and Babarinsa's Daughters
- Tortoise's Last Journey
- A Lesson for the Bat
- How the Cat Came to Live with People
- Frog Inherits the Kingdom
- Ark






