Under the Mango Tree: Tales from Kamakwie

Kamakwie, Sierra Leone is a farming town like any other. For countless generations, whole families would go out to the field to attend their crops, with one day of toil following the next. Rainy season and dry season alternated, boys and girls grew up to become men and women, new chiefs and local doctors rose, and the cycle continued.

Yet when the day's work was done, the families came home to tell stories. People from different tribes, religions, and home villages sat down in the light of a palm-frond fed fire and swap tales. They talked about their people's history, about clever sons and bold hunters, about devils and witch doctors, and animals--monkeys, squirrels, lions, and spiders. These fables evolved into a complex verbal history, one that grew stronger and more developed as it passed through the years.

Although this culture was disrupted by the civil war, the folk culture it produced lived on. The stories in this book are a slice of that oral tradition. They include such works as "Legend of Kamakwie," "The King's Clever Son," "The Devil and the Orphan," "Brer Spider and Brer Bat," "Searching for Work," "A Lion and a Farmer," and "The Fox and the Well."


All profits from this book go to the students who wrote it and the SLMB library.