"[This text] includes introductory essays, nearly 150 African American stories, 20 seminal African tales as historical background, the familiar Brer Rabbit classics, as well as news-making vernacular tales from the 1890s' Southern Workman, a section of Caribbean and Latin American folktales, and approximately 200 museum-quality images and illustrations throughout"--Amazon.com.

African tales. Making sense of the world with Anansi : stories, wisdom, and contradiction -- Figuring it out : facing complications with dilemma tales -- Adding enchantment to wisdom : fairy tales work their magic -- Telling tales today : oral narratives from Africa -- African American tales. Defiance and desire : flying Africans and magical instruments -- Fears and phobias : witches, haunts, and spooks -- Speech and silence : talking skulls and singing tortoises -- Silence and passive resistance : the tar-baby story -- Kindness and treachery : slipping the trap -- Joel Chandler Harris and the Uncle Remus tales -- Folklore from the Southern Workman and the Journal of American Folklore -- Folktales from The Brownies' Book -- Zora Neale Hurston collects African American folklore -- Lessons in laughter : tales about John and Old Master -- How in the world? Pourquoi tales -- Ballads : heroes, outlaws, and monkey business -- Artists, pro and con : preacher tales -- Folkloric cousins abroad : tales from Caribbean and Latin American cultures -- Something borrowed, something blue : fairy tales.