Zanzibar Tales

by George W. Bateman (Translation), Walter Bobbett (Illustrations)

Herein you will find 10 tales from the tiny island archipelago of Zanzibar - "THE SPICE ISLANDS" of old. Stories like "THE KITES AND THE CROWS" - which tells why African Kites always fly away from Crows. The story of "THE APE, THE SNAKE, AND THE LION" which tells of poor 'Mvoo Laana, Neeo'ka the snake and Sim'ba the lion, and how 'Mvoo gains riches for sparing the snake's life teaching him the lessons of trust, kindness and loyalty. You will also find the stories of "GOSO, THE TEACHER," "HAAMDAANEE," "THE MAGICIAN AND THE SULTAN'S SON" and more. But why should such a small island have such a rich heritage of folklore? As far back as 3AD Zanzibar was known to the Greeks and Romans. Later it was used by the Persians, Arabs, and Indians for trade and as a base for voyages between the Middle East, India, and Africa. Vasco da Gama's visit in 1498 marked the beginning of European influence. In 1698, Zanzibar fell under the control of the Sultanate of Oman and in the 1830's Said bin Sultan moved his capital from Muscat to Zanzibar. In the 1800's the Sultanate consolidated power around Ivory and the East African slave trade. In the mid-19th century as many as 50,000, mainly Negro, slaves passed annually through the port enroute to Arabia, Asia, Europe and the USA. The Zanzibar slave trade was finally abolished in 1873. After gaining independence from Britain in 1964, Zanzibar merged with mainland Tanganyika to form the modern nation of Tanzania. So, it is not surprising that this small island archipelago, just off the coast of Africa, should have such a rich and varied tapestry of culture and folklore.

Genres: Africa

182 pages, Paperback

First published April 1, 1901

About the author

George W. Bateman is the author of the famous Zanzibar Tales, which were supposedly the inspiration for a lot of Disney stories like Bambi, The Lion King etc.

Bateman translated these folk stories, which were "narrated to him by the locals of Zanzibar" to English.

Reviews

[Java]

It was great reading (audiobook)some folktales from the native people of Zanzibar.Even though, I truly believe there are mistranslations made.

Zanzibar was the starting place of the European colonial
Conquest into the interior of Africa,where in Unguja,the big town of that island was the area where the
preparations for plunging into “the great
unknown” were made.

[Alan Bach]

The stories were a bit of a mixed bag. The trickster stories resonated with me more. While they were quick and not that substantive, I'd rather have a small story that seems to know what it wants to do, compared to some of the other stories that didn't really come together. For example, in one story a sultan ignores the dangers of a monster until it starts killing his sons. The story then goes on for several pages of his remaining son confusing other monsters to be the monster and killing them, only to realize his mistake, which seemed like a complete change in the tone of the story of the sultan getting his comeuppance to one that I guess i supposedly comedy, only the repetitiveness instead made that section tedious. When they do finally kill the monster, the story just ends, rather than tying it back to the sultan in any way.

[Kayla]

While the stories themselves are fun (I really liked the trickster tales and the one about finding who killed the teacher under the tree), i question some of the authenticity behind the stories and translations. There is one story that is just Puss n Boots with a gazelle instead of a cat. Was the similarities because of the translation or is it just a Zanzibar version of the story?

Theres also a lot of missing context that makes it hard to interpret the stories.

Low rating just because I question the translator choices.

[Mourine Marango]

Reading this book reminded me of my childhood days, sitting around bonfires to hear stories from old folks. However, the author did not do justice to the tales.

This is a case of someone listening to African tales and trying to tell the same without understanding the context or the morals they're supposed to bring forth.

I am not surprised at all that the author in his disclaimer wants acknowledgement of the positives but is quick to direct the blames somewhere else in case of negatives.

[Heather]

Kind of comical. They were fun to listen to. And give insight into the thinking of a long time ago.

[Ana Bugalho]

A small collection of tales from Zanzibar, with some standout stories. However, the translation may not fully capture the original meaning, making certain elements feel unclear. It’s an interesting read, but some cultural depth and intended morals seem lost in the retelling.

[Jurij Fedorov]

The free LibriVox audiobook I listened to was not good. The text itself is of course not great, but on audiobook it's hard to understand the chapters and settings too. It just reads like a mess with no points. The moral points are just not clear and even the settings are nonsensical because magic just seems to randomly be there. The text itself just retells the stories without putting them into a Western context or making them fun so it's very hard to understand unless you grew up in that culture.

The bad morals and themes is something I know is the case for most of these African tales as we see exactly the same primitive storytelling in the rest of Africa unfortunately. But this book just seems even weaker than just bad stories. It's bad stories that are not well-told at all. For me it wasn't enjoyable or educational in any way, but it's still an important historical book for sure. It just needs a rewrite and preferably cartoon versions of these stories to make all clear.

It's not a 1 star book at all! I'm just too lazy to focus on it as it wasn't a fun book and felt random. It's just not a book for me at all! I had to struggle to get through it. Shame. I'm sure other people can enjoy it.

[Fatma_Almheiri]

لا أدري هل أكتب عن القصص أم عن اللغة، صحيح بأنها قصص رويت من قبل المواطنين سكان الساحل الشرقي والذي نقلها هو الكاتب جورج دبليو باتمان وترجمها إلى العربية حسين حمد حسّين الفقيه. اللغة العربية أو المترجمة كانت رصينة جداً تخلو من الأخطاء وأكاد أنسى أنه كتاب مترجم ونادر ما يشدني كتاب مترجم بهذه الصورة، تحية جلية للمترجم الذي استطاع إيصال القصة بحبكتها وشخصياتها وأحداثها دون عناء.

الكتاب عبارة عن عشر حكايات مترجمة ومتنوعة كان يرويها الأجداد للأحفاد في بلاد زنجبار. بعضها حكايات اقتبست لصنع أفلام شهيرة مثل حكاية "الأسد الملك" سيمبا. تحمل القصص فوائد علمية أدبية وذهنية وإنسانية التي تصقل معارف القارئ وتنمي ذوقه الأدبي من خلال السرد التراكمي والأسلوب المتشعب، والجميل في الحكايات أن جميعها تحمل بلا شك العبرة والموعظة والحكمة التي تترك أثراً طيباً وعبرة حسنة في النفس.

[Haifa Busamra]

أسلوب القصص المحكية يعكس بساطة مواطني سكان الساحل الشرقي بأفريقيا، ومع تلك البساطة امتلكوا خيالات واسعة في سرد وحبك قصص أغلبها على لسان الحيوانات، اقتبس الغرب الكثير منها كما ذكر الكاتب وتبين من القراءة في أفلام الكرتون
القصص ممتعة إلا الأخيرة لم تعجبني كثيرا أو لعلي لم أفهمها جيدا

[Kay Kay]

It was Ok. It was well translated. The stories were interesting. They give you something to think about.