I had no hopes of finding a book from Benin, so it was a complete surprise to stumble upon Raouf Mama's "Why Goats smell bad and other stories from Benin" at the local library. Intended for young adults I found the book in the "folk/fairy tales" section in the library.
Like many other pre-colonial cultures, the Fon people of Benin also had a very rich oral tradition. This book by Mama is an attempt to capture these tales in written form to preserve it for posterity and also to give others a glimpse into Fon culture.
I enjoyed the stories and even narrated a few to my young one who enjoyed those too (especially the Cinderella equivalent of Denangan and Hobami). I am a fan of Joseph Campbell's comparative mythologies and as I read Mama's book could not help wondering that there is also a ripe field of comparative folk tales as i saw a few parallels to other tales I've heard/read. There is a whole section devoted to the "Trickster - Yogbo the glutton" which is very common in folk tales and mythologies. There were also a couple of stories about Rainbow Snake - which made me recall the Rainbow Serpent from Aborginal Mythologies.
There is also a section on Pourquoi tales from Benin which I had to wiki to find out what they were! I especially liked the book for the introduction to the culture by Mama and also for the notes at the end of the story providing an explanation. In Fon culture the stories dont have titles, but Mama has provided one for the reader's sake. Also every story begins with "My story takes flight..." as the tale is likened to a bird taking flight and landing on a protagonist. Every story also has short verses which I'm sure Mama's done a great job capturing from local language - he has even preserved the rhyme scheme for many of the verses.
Overall a light and easy yet fascinating read which exposed me to a culture i had never even heard of before!
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