Ebook307 pages3 hours
The Magic Pot: Nansi Stories from the Caribbean
Rating: 0 out of 5 stars
()
About this ebook
This book comprises a collection of popular folk stories from Guyana and other countries of the Caribbean region. The starring character in all of them is Nansi whose exploits form part of the folklore of these countries. Nansi, the starring character in all the stories, is also popularly known as Anansi. But in Guyana and some other Caribbean countries, Nansi, the shortened form of this name, is usually preferred.
Nansi, who is a spiderbut who sometimes takes the qualities or form of a man, or even half-man and half-spideris originally the chief trickster among the Ashanti and Akan peoples of West Africa. When some of these peoples were forcibly brought to the Caribbean and the American continent as slaves from the sixteenth to the nineteenth centuries, they also brought with them the tales of the exploits of Nansi, who was, and still is, variably regarded as a folk hero, a cunning trickster and also sometimes as a fool.
The stories in this book are no different to the ones told in West Africa or other parts of the Caribbean and the south-east United States, even though the plots and the characters involved may vary slightly. They certainly provide tangible evidence that much of the oral traditions of people of African origin in the Americas remain intact, despite the historical trauma caused by centuries of slavery.
Nansi is always outwitting the forest creatures, humans, his own family, the community in which he lives, and sometimes even deities. His character assumes various patterns. In some cases he is regarded as wise, but he can be greedy, cunning, gluttonous, stupid and dishonest. Despite these varying characteristics, Nansi is generally admired for the manner in which he outwits others.
In Guyana and other countries of the English-speaking Caribbean, particularly in rural areas, the exploits of Nansi are related by older people as a form of entertainment at wakes and other community gatherings. The stories are now no longer exclusive to people of West African ancestry, since people of all ethnic origins in the these countries regard Nansi as their folk hero as well.
Interestingly, all stories told at these informal community gatherings are regarded as Nansi stories even though Nansi may not be a character in any of them.
The tales of Nansi are very imaginative and they are so embedded in the minds of people of Guyana and the Caribbean that sometimes any story that is far-fetched and hard to believe is dismissed as a Nansi story.
Nansi, who is a spiderbut who sometimes takes the qualities or form of a man, or even half-man and half-spideris originally the chief trickster among the Ashanti and Akan peoples of West Africa. When some of these peoples were forcibly brought to the Caribbean and the American continent as slaves from the sixteenth to the nineteenth centuries, they also brought with them the tales of the exploits of Nansi, who was, and still is, variably regarded as a folk hero, a cunning trickster and also sometimes as a fool.
The stories in this book are no different to the ones told in West Africa or other parts of the Caribbean and the south-east United States, even though the plots and the characters involved may vary slightly. They certainly provide tangible evidence that much of the oral traditions of people of African origin in the Americas remain intact, despite the historical trauma caused by centuries of slavery.
Nansi is always outwitting the forest creatures, humans, his own family, the community in which he lives, and sometimes even deities. His character assumes various patterns. In some cases he is regarded as wise, but he can be greedy, cunning, gluttonous, stupid and dishonest. Despite these varying characteristics, Nansi is generally admired for the manner in which he outwits others.
In Guyana and other countries of the English-speaking Caribbean, particularly in rural areas, the exploits of Nansi are related by older people as a form of entertainment at wakes and other community gatherings. The stories are now no longer exclusive to people of West African ancestry, since people of all ethnic origins in the these countries regard Nansi as their folk hero as well.
Interestingly, all stories told at these informal community gatherings are regarded as Nansi stories even though Nansi may not be a character in any of them.
The tales of Nansi are very imaginative and they are so embedded in the minds of people of Guyana and the Caribbean that sometimes any story that is far-fetched and hard to believe is dismissed as a Nansi story.
Read more from Odeen Ishmael
The Guyana Story: From Earliest Times to Independence Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Trail of Diplomacy: The Guyana-Venezuela Border Issue (Volume Two) Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Democracy Perspective in the Americas Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Related to The Magic Pot
Related ebooks
Famous Liberian Folklore Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsNarrating History, Home, and Dyaspora: Critical Essays on Edwidge Danticat Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAncient Heroines Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsRace and the Literary Encounter: Black Literature from James Weldon Johnson to Percival Everett Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsHow a Mountain Was Made: Stories Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsUnder African Skies: Modern African Stories Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5An Appeal in Favor of That Class of Americans Called Africans Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsDance of the Jakaranda Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Roving Tree: A Novel Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAll Shades of Iberibe Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Great Awakening Meta Davis Cumberbatch, 'Mother of the Arts' Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Further Adventures of Robinson Crusoe Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Book of Khalid: A Critical Edition Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsFolktales and Other Stories from the Edge of the Great Thirst: Tales of Survival in a Harsh Environment Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAutobiography of Ma-ka-tai-me-she-kia-kiak, or Black Hawk Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsWorkbook for The Water Dancer: A Novel (Max-Help Workbooks) Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Kind of Homecoming Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsKhabzela Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Old Capital: A Novel of Taipei Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe History of Mary Prince, a West Indian Slave: Related by Herself Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsOne Night in Georgia: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Legacy of Eric Williams: Into the Postcolonial Moment Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Study Guide for Zora Neale Hurston's "Gilded Six-Bits" Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBrave Music of a Distant Drum Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSecond Class Citizen Summary & Analysis Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Study Guide for Sandra Cisneros's "Little Miracles, Kept Promises" Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsLeonardo’s Handwriting Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings12 Years a Slave Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSpeaking of Slavery: Color, Ethnicity, and Human Bondage in Italy Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Readings in Syrian Prison Literature: The Poetics of Human Rights Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
General Fiction For You
The King James Version of the Bible Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Covenant of Water (Oprah's Book Club) Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5You: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Outsider: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Life of Pi: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Fellowship Of The Ring: Being the First Part of The Lord of the Rings Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5It Ends with Us: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Unhoneymooners Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Beartown: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Priory of the Orange Tree Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Heroes: The Greek Myths Reimagined Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Nettle & Bone Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Terminal List: A Thriller Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Babel: Or the Necessity of Violence: An Arcane History of the Oxford Translators' Revolution Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Rebecca Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Ocean at the End of the Lane: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Shantaram: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Dante's Divine Comedy: Inferno Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Meditations: Complete and Unabridged Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Dark Tower I: The Gunslinger Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Beyond Good and Evil Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Silmarillion Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Cloud Cuckoo Land: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Canterbury Tales Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Nineteen Claws and a Black Bird: Stories Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Cabin at the End of the World: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Iliad of Homer Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Man Called Ove: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The City of Dreaming Books Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5
Reviews for The Magic Pot
Rating: 0 out of 5 stars
0 ratings
0 ratings0 reviews
Book preview
The Magic Pot - Odeen Ishmael
vQa book_preview_excerpt.html [ݲܶ~z/&KOtbN%C@"Ou7@3n.RufH?_ݍy9=xӿ^zzxe/կXS>8yz՚+s*l4XXwgwAG
SW33>¿xE˹hZنk'h+zkm[;j]l3qqs'W/\L绀X6Εi9s`g=*;tn~KՙgzZsF3кm~9Tߙg}ʫR囃ןjOj=.PX 3Y_7ԃZ[ͶNgz{+3 ; +TOxH]PСG͵8yONފ=왖#FTQxlc\#[rgDbU} Kxh*W27NF"ՏxOhi#-Jp,^)`][C_Eo8 7?J"kqìw|`[FXv$=I4|`Bgz|ZTۺmd@p.v>Ta@(Ȓ]8UAsdBRiU;ىT`ao; O1f{枣