The Sahara Desert has always served as a great dividing line for the cultures of the African continent. North of the desert, from Egypt to the Atlantic Ocean, the contact with European and Moslem culture has been intimate and continuous. As far as the folktale, at least, is concerned, that whole stretch of land is properly to be considered as a southern fringe of the European and Asiatic area. South of the Sahara, however, though there are intrusions from Europe and Asia, folk traditions are essentially native. The great majority of their tales have certainly had their origin on the soil of central or southern Africa.

The extent to which these tales are purely African differs greatly from tribe to tribe and especially from one culture area to another. Where there has been little direct contact with the Asiatics or Europeans, contamination is negligible, but it increases in direct proportion to outside contacts. In east [p. 285] Africa, especially that part lying close to Arabia and even further south, there is ample evidence of long association with Asiatic Moslems, even when the native populations have not embraced Mohammedanism. In contrast to this very old intrusion of outside tradition, the taking over of tales from Europe has occurred only during the last two or three centuries with the gradual penetration of the Western Powers into Africa. Some of this may have taken place rather early in the development of the American slave trade, since there are unmistakable signs of European tales which have been brought to America by slaves, probably during the eighteenth century.

An analysis of the occurrence of European and Asiatic tales in central and south Africa shows a considerable difference in the interest various tribes have had in stories which have come to them from outside. In some, the folk tradition is very little affected; in others, the material from outside actually overbalances the native. Of the tales which have been brought in, some are found once or twice but have never made much of a place for themselves, while others have spread over the whole continent. Some of these tales which have great popularity in Africa have certainly come directly or indirectly from India. Such are The Tarbaby (Type 175), The Animal Languages (Type 670), The Four Skillful Brothers (Type 653), and probably The Table, The Ass, and The Stick (Type 563). A larger number seem clearly to have arrived from Europe: The Theft of Butter (Honey) by Playing God father (Type 15); The Fox as Nursemaid for the Bear (Type 37); The Wolf Flees from the Wolf Head (Type 125); Red Ridinghood (Type 333); The Quest for the Lost Wife (Type 400); The Black and the White Bride (Type 403); The Cat as Helper (Puss in Boots) (Type 545); Race with Relatives in Line (Type 1074); Ogre Kills Own Children: Substitutes in Bed (Type 1119); The Rich and the Poor Peasant (Type 1535); and The Eaten Grain and Cock as Damages (Type 1655). The Aesop tradition seems to be almost entirely lacking. Biting the Foot (Type 5), while it belongs to that tradition, probably came to the Africans from Northern Europe.

The tales just listed are very popular, not one of them appearing in Africa in fewer than ten versions. Their conformity to the European or Asiatic type is unmistakable, and we are sure that for at least this many stories there has been a widespread borrowing from the other continents. For a few very widely distributed African tales, the situation is not quite so clear. The story is told with some difference from the European or Asiatic analogue, and there is at least a possibility that we are dealing with a closely parallel narrative rather than an actual borrowing. Doubtful cases of this kind are represented by The Animals Build a Road (Type 55); The Princess Who Murdered Her Child (Type 781); Attempted Murder with Hatchet (Type 1115); Crayfish as Tailor Drowned (Type 1310); Holding Up the Rock (Type 1530); and Lending and Repaying, Progressive Bargains (Type 2034C). [p. 286]

These are only the most popular of the foreign tales in Africa. When we consider all of the borrowings which have thus far been reported, we find a total of 119 of the 718 types listed in the Aarne-Thompson catalogue. Perhaps most popular are the animal tales, a goodly number of which have become familiar to us in a later stage of development in the American Negro Uncle Remus cycle. But we also find a considerable group of the typical wonder tales such as Cinderella, Puss in Boots, The Two Travelers, and, strangely enough, six black adaptions of Snow White.

There are, of course, certain types of European stories not likely to appeal to such an alien culture, with different social contentions and life experiences. We seek in vain for tales based primarily upon the typical religious organization in Europe. But these fields of very special interest are strictly limited, and the African finds enjoyment in nearly every kind of European folktale. He may do some queer things with them and change them around so that little more than a skeleton of the original remains and so that it takes the expert eye to discover that they are not actually native. On the other hand he may take the tale over completely with all its foreign trappings, and it may remain as completely exotic as the railroad train or the airplane.