A. O. Stafford, an African American educator and folklorist, wrote this collection of African and African Diaspora folktales for students in elementary school. By combining African and Diaspora stories together in a single collection, Stafford sought to demonstrate the storytelling continuity between African cultures and African American culture in the United States. The stories are all fables about animals, and many of them are trickster stories featuring the trickster rabbit and also stories about the trickster jackal. There are also "just-so" stories explaining the world of nature, such as how the hyena got its spots, how the dog became domesticated, etc. - Summary by Laura Gibbs