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Reading Part B "West African Folk-tales"

A tortoise in the desert (Source)
This series of stories now seems to be less focused on the machinations of the trickster god Anansi and instead on other themes, such as value lessons.
One of these is a story of a tortoise and a hunter who finds it in the woods.  It is singing, and the hunter, enthralled by its voice, takes it home with him, promising that he will keep her to himself.  Eventually he breaks this promise, trying to impress the village.  This eventually leads to his death.  Anansi is not even part of this tale.
Another story talks about a chameleon who, by his tricks, becomes king of the animals.  None of them are happy with this outcome and they all abandon him.
Then we get back to Anansi, who continues to teach us lessons through his selfish and immoral actions.  He had an opportunity to take home a whole elephant for dinner, but because he did not want to share it with his family, he instead chased after a small wren to give to his family.  By the time he had given up, the elephant had escaped and Anansi returned home empty-handed.

Story Source: West African Folk-Tales, compiled by W. H. Barker and Cecilia Sinclair.
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