An Anthology of Tashelhiyt Berber Folktales (South Morocco)

The Berber languages, along with old Egyptian and the Chadic, Cushitic, Semitic as well as Omotic languages, belong to the phylum of Afro-Asiatic languages. At present, Berber languages are found from Egypt (Siwa) across Libya and Algeria to Morocco and from the shores of the Mediterranean Sea to south of the Sahara. Among the Berber languages, Tashelhiyt Berber represents the largest individual language with an estimated 6 to 8 million speakers. It is found geographically in Southern Morocco. The texts selected for this anthology were gathered and subsequently published over a period of some hundred and fifty years, e.g. by de Slane, Stumme or Roux. These transcriptions varied linguistically to a considerable degree. The aim of this present book is to present these folktales in a modernized version which is phonologically and morphologically adequate and consistent, and includes a full translation in English. The reader will find the following genres included in this collection: fairy tales, animal stories, funny anecdotes, imam/taleb stories, stories about fools, clever people, clever answers, clever solutions, human relations, oversexed women, stories explaining words or phrases, and stories about (local) saints.