The art of the storyteller. The beauty of the partridge (Kabyle, Algeria) -- The unborn child (Lenje, Zambia) -- The blue crane (San, southern Africa) -- The python's shining stone (Ekoi, Nigeria) -- The weight before the door (Arabic, Morocco) -- Salamone the orphan (Tswana, Botswana, South Africa) -- The head of a Masai woman (Kikuyu, Kenya) -- The gamboler of the plain (Ronga, Mozambique).

Origins. The creation (Ganda, Uganda) -- God creates man and woman (Anuak, Sudan) -- Isis and Osiris (Egyptian) -- The parting of the waters (Khoi, South Africa) -- Ikaggen and the All-devourer (San, South Africa) -- Ikaggen creates an eland (San, South Africa) -- How death came in the world, five myths. God's message is garbled (Kamba, Kenya) ; The chameleon is late (Yao, Malawi, Mozambique, Tanzania) ; The dead man and the moon (Zande, Sudan) ; Sleep and death (Boloki, Central African Republic) ; The first war on Earth (Kono, Liberia, Sierra Leone) -- Two stories about primal choices. The two bundles (Boloki, Central African Republic) ; The crow and the vulture (Asante, Ghana) -- God moves to the heavens (Lozi, Zambia).

Tricksters. Abunawas and the goat's horns (Tigre, Ethiopia) -- The story of Chakijana (Zulu, South Africa) -- Beiho tricks his uncles (Tigre, Ethiopia) -- Two tar baby stories. The wax doll (Vai, Liberia) ; The cunning hare (Ikom, Nigeria) -- Turning the tables on trickster (Nuer, Sudan) -- The magic drum (Benga, Gabon) -- The grasshopper and the fiddle (Gogo, Tanzania) -- The fox and the hyena (Yao, Malawi, Mozambique, Tanzania) -- Mohammed with the magic finger (Arabic, Libya).

The hero. Sikhuluma, the boy who did not speak (Xhosa, South Africa) -- Sudika-mbambi (Kimbundu, Angola) -- Liongo (Swahili, eastern Africa) -- Ibonia (Malagasy, Madagascar) -- Nyikang and the sun (Shilluk, Sudan).

Rites of passage. Ngomba's basket (Fiote, Congo) -- Lion-child and Cow-child (Lamba, Zambia) -- Ramaitsoanala (Malagasy, Madagascar) -- Mrile (Chaga, Tanzania) -- The girl with one hand (Swahili, eastern Africa) -- The girl without legs (Somali, Somalia) -- Konyek (Masai, Kenya) -- The pregnant boy (Swati, Swaziland) -- Thakane and her father (Sotho, Lesotho, South Africa) -- Yarima, Arafa, and the king (Hausa, Nigeria and Niger) -- The romance of the fox (Yoruba, Nigeria) -- The two brothers (Egyptian) -- The king's twelve sons and one daughter (Ijo, Nigeria) -- The two Hammadis (Fulbe, Gambia) -- Ma'aruf the cobbler and his wife (Arabic, Egypt) -- The sky princess and the poor youth (Ndau, Mozambique) -- The pauper's daughter (Swahili, eastern Africa) -- The old woman and the eggs (Duala, Cameroon) -- Umxakaza-wakogingqwayo (Zulu, South Africa).