equal in wildness and horror the strangest inventions of oriental
imagination. Their tales of ogres and ogresses are unsoftened by any of
that playfulness and bonhomie which give such undying charm to the
"Thousand and One Nights." The element of the miraculous takes many
original forms in their popular tales, and they have more than their share
of the folk-lore legends and traditions such as Herodotus loved to collect.
It was said of old that something new was always coming out of Africa, and
certainly the contribution which the Berbers and Kabyles have made to the
fund of wonder-stories in the world may be looked upon as new, in more than
one sense. It is new, not only because it is novel and unexpected, but
because it is fresh, original and highly interesting.

The fables of these tribes are very abundant and very curious. The great
hero of the animal fable in Europe has always been the fox, whose cunning,
greed, and duplicity are immortalized in the finest fable the world's
literature possesses. The fables of northwest Africa employ the jackal
instead of Reynard, whose place the sycophant of the lion not inaptly
fills.

There are a number of men among the Kabyles and other Berber tribes who
make a profession of reciting poems, tales, and proverbs, and travel from
one village or encampment to another in search of an audience. They know
the national traditions, the heroic legends, and warlike adventures that
pertain to each community, and are honored and welcomed wherever they go.
It was from these men that the various narratives contained in this
collection were obtained, and the translation of them has engaged the
talents and labors of some of the world's foremost oriental scholars.

[Illustration (Facsimile Signature): Epiphanius Wilson]