Central Africa is at the core of the African continent. The nations that comprise this region are inhabited by hundreds of different ethnic or tribal groups. While there are many differences among these groups of people, there are also many similarities. Oral tradition has played a very strong role in the passing on of the stories of these people, which we refer to as folktales. These stories, told to children and shared in villages and homes, reveal a great deal about the thought and the culture of the people of this region. In many ways, they show the way people think and the values they possess. The stories in this children s book come from the people of the Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and the Republic of the Congo. Variations of these stories are found throughout Central Africa, where they are recounted in hundreds of other native languages.