North African Folktales

The folktales of Northern Africa are a heady mix of nomadic sources and Arab stories of romance and ingenuity. Historically Northern Africa was strongly affected by events and empires around the Mediterranean, from the exploits of the Phoenicians and their power centre Carthage, Alexander the Great, the ebb and flow of the Roman Empire and the Byzantine era in the early middle ages. The nomadic tribes of Libya and the ancient empire of Aksum are little understood today but their roots sit long behind the rise of Christianity and later the dominance of Islam. For this book of folktales the Berbers of Algiers, Libya and Morocco yield some stories, but many more come from the Arab influenced era with romances and poems which bring similarities to the Persian stories of the same period, with titles such as The Jealous King, The Lovers of Antequera, The Tower of Gold and The Ogre and the Beautiful Woman.