Dream on Monkey Mountain Literary Heritage & History

Dream on Monkey Mountain Literary Heritage

Like many countries in the West Indies, Trinidad has a long tradition of folklore with identifiable stock characters. Some of these legends have their roots in animist traditions from West Africa and were brought over by those enslaved. Patois folklore was derived primarily from the slaves of French speakers and has a variety of characters. They include the Soucouyant (evil old hag), Papa Bois (the father of the woods), and Mamadlo, the mother of the water whose form is a snake with human features. Jumbies are anything that could be construed as a bogey-man. Some stories focus on La Diablesse, a female devil in disguise who attracts men and lures them into the forest where they come to harm. Anase tales feature a universal trickster who lives by his wits, though is also greedy and selfish. He is not usually admired because of these characteristics, though stories involving him often...
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