In general there is
little art in these stories, and in style they are far below other
collections celebrated through the entire world.
An important place is given to the fables or stories of animals, but there
is little that is not borrowed from foreign lands, and the animals are only
such as the Berbers are familiar with. The adventures of the jackal do not
differ from those of the fox in European stories. An African trait may be
signalled in the prominence which it offers the hare, as in the stories of
_Ouslofs_ and _Bantous_. Also, the hedgehog, neglected so
lamentably in our fables, holds an important place; and if the jackal
manages to deceive the lion, he is, in spite of his astute nature, duped by
the hedgehog when he tries a fall with him. As to the lion, the serpent,
the cock, the frog, the turtle, the hyena, the jackal, the rat, their roles
offer little of the place they play in the Arab tales, or even the
Europeans.
If we pass from Berber we find the Arab tongue as spoken among the Magreb,
and will see that the literature is composed of the same elements,
particularly in the tales and songs.
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