The Runaway Princess and Other Stories is a thrilling collection featuring prose and verse retellings of the deeds and misdeeds of memorable women from African history, legend and folklore. Illustrations by a variety of African artists add spice and verve to the collection!
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The Runaway Princess and Other Stories
15 Short Stories
5 Poems
17 Countries
20 + Unforgettable Girls and Women
Sages, sorceresses, mothers, monsters, seekers, healers, sisters, leaders, warriors, survivors, rebels and more…
The Stories
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Mother, Monster is a retelling of “The Maiden Konara” found in Peter Fuch’s collection of Hadjerai Folktales.
Books
The future is an ancient lake: traditional knowledge, biodiversity and genetic resources for food and agriculture in Lake Chad Basin ecosystems by Caterina Batello, Marzio Marzot, & Adamou Harouna Touré.
Research Papers
La Structure du Pouvoir chez les Hadjeraï (Tchad) by Jean Pouillon
Were Nuba and Hadjeray Stateless Societies? Ethnohistorical Problems in the Eastern Sudan Region of Africa by M. C. Jedrej
Des Rois Sacrés Montagnards ? Hadjeray du Tchad et Mofu-Diamaré du Cameroun by Jeanne-Françoise Vincent
Read more about the Hadjerai of Chad here.
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Ndhawu Ya Hina Ya Ntsako (Our Place of Happiness) is a retelling of “La Jeune Fille et La Baleine” found in Henri Junod’s collection of Ronga/Tsonga Folktales.
Read more about the Ronga/Tsonga of Mozambique here.
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The Alledjenu Princess is a retelling of “The Monkey Girl” from the Kordofan region of Sudan. The original story is found in in Leo Frobenius’ African Nights: Black Erotic Folk Tales.
Read more about the Kordofan region of Sudan here.
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Thakane and the Nanabolele is a retelling of “Nanabolele , Who Shines In the Night” found in Minne Potsma’s collection of Basotho Folktales.
Research Papers
The Constitutional Rules of Succession to the Institution of Monarch in Lesotho by Nyane Hoolo
The Dynamism of Culture: The Case of Sesotho Proverbs by Rethabile M. Possa & Mokgale Makgopa
Spiritual Healers in the Basotho Society: An Overview of "Traditional" Beliefs in Christianised Lesotho by Agnieszka Podolecka
Leshoma, the Visionary Plant of Southern Africa by Luca Pasquali
Read more about the Sotho of South Africa here.
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When Mwindo Met Kahindo is a retelling of a series of events from The Mwindo Epic from the Banyanga by Daniel Biebuyck.
Read more about the Mwindo Epic here.
Read more about the Nyanga of the Democratic Republic of Congo here.
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Eternal Love is a retelling of an unnamed story from Odette St Lys’ From a Vanished German Colony: A Collection of Folklore, Folk Tales and Proverbs From South-West-Africa. From the author’s notes:
[This story was] told in Swahili by a girl in the School of the Universities Mission at Zanzibar, who was brought as a slave from the country near Lake Nyassa; she describes herself as an Mkipeta, apparently a branch of the Nyassa nation, and said she had heard these tales in her own old home.
Read more about the Nyasa of Malawi and Tanzania people here.
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Black Bird Medicine is an original short story based on some past cultural traditions of the Ila of Zambia. It leans on the spirit of “How The Ringdove Came By Its Ring” an Ila folktale found in Edwin William Smith and Andrew Murray Dale’s The Ila-speaking Peoples of Northern Rhodesia. Vol. 2.
Read more about the Ila of Zambia here.
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The Runaway Princess is an original retelling of the story of Yennenga, Princess of the Dagomba, and Founding Mother of the Mossi. My retelling of her story is informed by the following sources:
Books
Droit de cité: être femme au Burkina Faso by Monique Ilboudo
Historical dictionary of Ghana by David Owusu-Ansah
French perspectives in African studies: a collection of translated essays edited by Pierre Alexandre
In Praise of Black Women: Heroines of the slavery era. Vol. 2 by Simone Schwarz-Bart
La femme fleuve et le lamantin: contes by Bernard Lacombe
Africana Woman: Her Story Through Time by Cynthia Jacobs Carter
Rejected Princesses: Tales of History's Boldest Heroines, Hellions, and Heretics by Jason Porath
Research Papers
Names that prick: Royal praise names in Dagbon, Northern Ghana by Abdulai Salifu
An Ethnographic Sketch of Social Inter-actions in Dagbon Society: The Case of Greeting, Sharing Drinks and Kola Nut by Abukari Kwame
The Dagomba Smock (Bim’mangli) of Northern Ghana in the Light of Contextualism and Instrumentalism Theories of Aesthetics by Fusheini Mumuni Zakari
Decolonizing Our Library System: The Living Librarians (Baansi) of Dagbon, Northern Ghana by Florence Dedzoe-Dzokotoe Plockey & Baba Alaa-Bany Ahamed
Dagomba Plant Names by Roger Blench & Mallam Dendo
Living Libraries: The Role of the Baansi in Preserving the Culture of the Dagbon in Northern Ghana by Florence Dedzoe-Dzokotoe Plockey & Abdulai Salifu Asuro
Convergence and Divergence Strategies in Greetings and Leave Taking: A View from the Dagbaŋ Kingdom in Ghana by Abdulai Salifu Asuro & Ibrahim James Gurindow M-minibo
African Religious Healing Practices: A Case Study of the Dagomba Ethnic Group in Northern Ghana by Abdulai Salifu Izudeen
A Preliminary Account of the Role and Recruitment of Drummers in Dagbon by Christine Oppong
The Influence of Islam on an African People: The Case of the Dagomba People of Northern Ghana by Mustapha Abdul-Hamid
Signaling Politeness, Power and Solidarity through Terms of Address in Dagbanli by Nantogma Alhassan Salifu
Dagomba Personal Names and Address Terms by Abdul-Rahim Baba
Read more about the Dagomba of Ghana here.
Read more about the Mossi of Burkina Faso here.
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The Tragedy of Clever Hatumata Djaora is a retelling of “Clever Hatumata Djaora” from the Sahel region of West Africa. The original story is found in Leo Frobenius’ African Nights: Black Erotic Folk Tales.
I very loosely base my retelling on the culture of the Fulani people. Read more about the Fulani of Niger, Nigeria, Cameroon, Chad, Central African Republic and the Democratic Republic of Congo here.
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The Rain God’s Bride is a retelling of “Rain’s Bride” from the Amazigh of Algeria. The original story is found in Brahim Cherfia’s Myths and Fables: Short Stories from the Algerian Lore.
The Amazigh are found in Morocco Algeria, Tunisia, Libya, Western Sahara, Mauritania, the Canary Islands, Egypt, Mali and Niger. Read more about the Amazigh here.
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The Darkest Moon is a retelling of “The Brightest Sun”, a Libyan folktale as told by Salima Abd Alsadeg Abu Khasheem. Read the original story here.
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Songkanngoh’s Friends is an original short story based on the folklore and culture of the Bafanji of Cameroon.
Read more about the Bafanji here.
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The Mapa’in Don’t Give Bad Gifts is an original short story based on the folklore and culture of multiple coastal West African peoples.
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The Coming of the Dawn Dance is an original short story based on the folklore and culture of the Mende of Sierra Leone. The information about Mende women comes from:
Sylvia Ardyn Boone’s Radiance from the Waters: Ideals of Feminine Beauty in Mende Art.
Frederick Lamps’ Cosmos, cosmetics, and the spirit of Bondo.
Read more about the Mende of Sierra Leone here.
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Oum Hani is a poetic retelling of “Oum Hani”, a Moroccan folktale found in Elisa Chimenti’s collection of Moroccan Folktales.
Read more about Morocco here.
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Praise the Queens, Praise the Women is a celebration of notable women from Cameroon’s Northwest Region.
Read more about the Cameroon’s Northwest Region here.
Read more about Ndieu-ala’a here.
Read more about Ngonnso here.
Read more about Nahnyonga here.
Read more about Nandong here.
Read more about Nyianya here.
Read more about Mama Ngum here.
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The Pretty Girl Who Had No Teeth is a poetic retelling of “The Beautiful Girl Who Had No Teeth”, a Venda folktale. The original version is found in Norman Atkinsons’ The Broken Promise: And Other Traditional Fables from Zimbabwe.
Read more about the Venda of South Africa here.
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The Sacred Spring is a poetic retelling of “The Sacred Spring”, an Ibibio folktale. The original version is found in Amaury Talbot’s Woman's mysteries of a primitive people: The Ibibios of Southern Nigeria.
Asáŋasáŋa Idim is the Ibibio version of “The Sacred Spring“ translated by Ubong Edison.
Read more about the Ibibio people here.
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The Great Woman, Yigoro is a poetic retelling of “Tere and a Great Woman”, a Mandja folktale. The original version is found in Polly Strong’s African tales : folklore of the Central African Republic.
Read more about the Manja people here.
Table of Contents
The Art
I commissioned a variety of African illustrators to create portraits and scenes from a selection of stories in the book. Listen to a conversation with the illustrators here.
The Poetry
Asáŋasáŋa Idim, the Ibibio version of
“The Sacred Spring”
The Ibibio people of Southeastern Nigeria have a rich musical and poetic culture which finds full expression in their language. Many Ibibio songs and poems focus on their water spirits known as Ndem spirits. To the Ibibio people, Ndem spirits are a religion, a way of life, a source of identity and much more!
The Sacred Spring is a poetic retelling of an Ibibio folktale about a woman named Adiaha Anwa who goes to the village’s sacred spring to fetch water in violation of the Sacred Day of Ndem, the Spirit of the Spring. The original version is found in Amaury Talbot’s Woman's mysteries of a primitive people: The Ibibios of Southern Nigeria.
Asáŋasáŋa Idim is the Ibibio version of “The Sacred Spring” translated and read by Ubong Edison.
Listen to the poem in Ibibio and read it in English here.
Ibibio Water Spirit Mask
The stories come from a variety of sources:
Folktale Collections
Essays
Research Papers
Folklore Websites