The five folktales here are the first in the author’s series of thirty-six popular Yoruba tales, entitled: Yoruba Folktales: ‘How’ & ‘Why’ Tortoise Tales; Selected Tales With Songs; Selected Tortoise Tales Without Songs.

The tales in Yoruba Folktales: ‘How’ & ‘Why’ Tortoise Tales are built around the legendary tortoise (Ijapa) – around ‘how’ & ‘why’ he came about his appearance: how Ijapa got his shell, then cracked it, and why his stomach became hollow, and how he became bald, and finally why his nose is very small.