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A collection of Jamaican folktales gathers short animal and trickster narratives centered on the spider Anansi alongside tales about tigers, monkeys, goats, and birds. Stories account for curious animal traits, stage comic reversals, and probe themes of cunning, justice, and social order through episodic plots and origin motifs. The volume also presents riddles, dance and song materials, and field-recorded music, arranged in thematic sections that compile variants, brief notes, and folkloric context for each tale.
Again there are, in this medley which imitates animal sounds, reminiscences of consecutive Nansi stories—Crab’s words, in number 54; Ground Dove’s in 50. For the fasting contest, see number 61.
Tremearne, 28, says that the imitation of animal cries is a favorite device in African story-telling. Compare Hollis, Nandi, 109–111, where a great many examples are given of this kind of entertainment.