Memphis Brooks Museum of Art – Home School Day
Myths, Fables, and Traditional Stories in Art
Bamana. Africa, Mali. CHI WARA HEADDRESS (MALE FIGURE). Wood. Bequest of Henry L. Easterwood,
RS2003.1.30
Myths, fables, legends, and other traditional stories are popular subjects for all kinds of art
from all over the world. These stories can entertain us, teach us a lesson or a moral, or even
teach us about the history or worldview of a country or culture. There are also a lot of different
ways that artists can depict these stories in art. Artists can use different styles, and they can
choose different parts of the story to focus on. Today, you can explore these traditional stories
through the art in the Brooks’ permanent collection. We hope that this guide gets you started
on using the museum as a resource for exploration and for teaching about myths, fables,
legends, and traditional stories.
 Viewing Questions/Suggestions
Myths, fables, legends, and traditional stories appear throughout art from different time
periods and different cultures. Sometimes a little background about the stories or the culture
can help you understand the work of art more, but there are some questions that can be asked
about these works of art no matter what your background knowledge is.
• What do you think is happening in the work of art?
•Who do you think is the main character of this story?
• What do you see that makes you say that?
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 Vocabulary
Anthropomorphize The act of giving animals, mythical creatures, plants, inanimate objects,
or forces of nature human form or other characteristics, such as verbal
communication, emotions, or personality traits. Most cultures
have traditional fables with anthropomorphized animals, who can stand
or talk as if human, as characters.
Fable
A fable is a short fictional story, that features animals, mythical
creatures, plants, inanimate objects or forces of nature, which are
anthropomorphized (given human qualities such as verbal
communication), and that illustrates or leads to an interpretation of
a moral lesson (a "moral").
Legend
A legend is a narrative of human actions that is considered to take place
within human history and to be at least somewhat true or based on
something that did or could have happened by both the teller and the
listeners.
Moral
A moral is a message conveyed or a lesson to be learned from
a story or event.
Myth
A traditional story, especially one concerning the early history of a
people or explaining some natural or social phenomenon and typically
involving supernatural beings or events
Traditional Story
A traditional story can be a myth, legend, folk tale, religious story, or fable.
Traditional stories differ from both fiction and nonfiction in that the
importance of transmitting the story's worldview is generally understood to
be more important than whether the story is factual or imaginary.
 Selected Works
The following are 3 suggested works – each accompanied by a traditional story – that you can
use to create your own tour of the museum’s permanent collection. You can read the story
aloud, ask your family to tell it if they are familiar with it, or read it together. Then talk about
the story, the art, and the meaning that you can find.
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The Tortoise and the Hare - Aesop’s Fables (ancient Greek)
Location: Downstairs, Marble Gallery (across from the Auditorium)
Left: Ernest “Popeye” Reed, American, 1919-1985. TURTLE,
ca. 1980. Carved Sandstone. Memphis Brooks Museum of
Art Purchase 2007. 21
Right: Walter I. Anderson, American, 1903 – 1965. RABBIT,
ca. 1945 Wood Gift of the Brooks Art Gallery League 46.28.
© Estate of the Artist
Tortoise
Rabbit
Aesop was a slave in ancient Greece. He was known for his learning and his wit, and for the
stories that he gathered and passed down. These stories were fables. Two of the most
important things that makes a fable a fable is the anthropomorphizing of animals – giving
them human traits, personalities, and actions – and the moral. Aesop’s fable of the Tortoise
and the Hare is a great example:
A conceited hare boasted about her speed to everyone who would listen. “Not even the
North Wind is as fast as I am!” she declared. “No animal in the forest could beat me in a
race!”
Now, a tortoise nearby grew tired of such bragging, “We’ve all heard you talk, but we’ve
never seen you run,” she said. “Why don’t you race with me, and then we’ll see who is the
fastest.”
The hare burst out laughing. “I could beat you standing still!” she exclaimed. But she
agreed that they would race to an oak tree around a bend in the road. In an instant they
were off – the hare soon out of sight, the tortoise plodding step by patient step.
“I’ve practically won already!” thought the hare as she dashed around the bend in the
road. “I could stretch out here and take a little rest, and still beat that tortoise by a mile.”
And she settled down by the side of the road. She planned to jump up and finish the race
the minute she saw the tortoise. But the grass was so soft and the sun was so warm that
before the hare realized it, she had fallen fast asleep.
Meanwhile, the tortoise continued on. Slowly she came around the bend in the road and
passed the sleeping hare. She was only a few feet from the oak tree when the hare woke
from her nap.
Seeing the tortoise so close to the finish, the hare leaped up and tore along the road as if
the hounds were after her. But she was too late. Before she could reach the oak tree, the
tortoise had already been declared winner by the crowd of cheering bystanders.
Moral: Slow and steady wins the race. i
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
How did the artists choose to depict the animals? Can you tell anything about the animal
from the way they are made? Think about the materials of the two animals as well as the
way they are treated on the surface.

Did you already know this story? Do you think the artists did, too? How does knowing this
story change the way we think about these animals?
The Finding of Moses – Bible, Old Testament (ancient Hebrew)
Location: Main Floor, Schering-Plough/Baroque Gallery
Sebastian Ricci, Italian (Venetian School), 1659-1734. THE FINDING OF
MOSES, ca. 1710. Wood Gift of the Brooks Art Gallery League 46.28.
© Estate of the Artist
Religion is a popular source of inspiration among artists. Stories like the Finding of Moses were
especially popular with artists in Europe in the 17th and early 18th centuries. They told a story
that was known by many at the time and were painted for both churches and for private
people. This painting depicts a scene from this story from Moses’s early life, after the Pharoah
of Egypt had ordered that all Hebrew boys be killed when born:
Exodus 2:
2 Now a man of the tribe of Levi married a Levite woman, 2 and she became pregnant and
gave birth to a son. When she saw that he was a fine child, she hid him for three
months. 3 But when she could hide him no longer, she got a papyrus basket for him and
coated it with tar and pitch. Then she placed the child in it and put it among the
reeds along the bank of the Nile. 4 His sister stood at a distance to see what would happen
to him.
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Then Pharaoh’s daughter went down to the Nile to bathe, and her attendants were
walking along the riverbank. She saw the basket among the reeds and sent her female
slave to get it. 6 She opened it and saw the baby. He was crying, and she felt sorry for him.
“This is one of the Hebrew babies,” she said.
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Then his sister asked Pharaoh’s daughter, “Shall I go and get one of the Hebrew women
to nurse the baby for you?”
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“Yes, go,” she answered. So the girl went and got the baby’s mother.9 Pharaoh’s
daughter said to her, “Take this baby and nurse him for me, and I will pay you.” So the
woman took the baby and nursed him. 10 When the child grew older, she took him to
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Pharaoh’s daughter and he became her son. She named him Moses, saying, “I drew him
out of the water.”ii

What part of the story has the artist chosen to depict? Why do you think he chose this
specific scene?

Look at how the figures in the painting are dressed. Is that how people in ancient Egypt
would have dressed? Think about when the painting was made. Why did the artist choose
the clothing for the figures that he did?
Chi Wara – traditional story of the Bamana (Mali, Africa)
Location: Upstaris/3rd Floor, African Gallery
Bamana. Africa, Mali. CHI WARA HEADDRESS (MALE FIGURE). Wood.
Bequest of Henry L. Easterwood, RS2003.1.30
According to the beliefs of the Bamana people, who live in the upper regions of the Niger River
in Western Mali, Chi Wara is a half-man, half-antelope spirit who taught them how to farm.
Each year, the Bamana people select two “champion farmers” who dance in Chi Wara masks
during the annual spring planting festivals. During the dances, these champion farmers wear a
basket-like cap onto which the Chi Wara mask is attached. Today the festivals are more
entertainment than a social ceremony.
The Story of Chi Wara:
In Africa, a long, long time ago, people did not know how to farm. They had to wander the
dry land to find food. On the land, there were a lot of antelopes. An antelope is an animal
like a deer, but with tall curved horns called antlers. One of the antelopes felt sorry for the
people because they had to keep moving all the time to find food. The antelope's name
was Chi Wara, which means “working animal.” Chi Wara decided to help the people by
teaching them how to make a garden of food. He showed them how to find seeds and dig
holes by using his antlers. He showed them how to cover the holes with soil by using his
hooves. The people were so happy to learn about planting. Now they could live in one
place and not have to move around searching for food. The Chi Wara became a special
friend of theirs and he stayed and helped them work their gardens and farms. Although
they were very pleased with all of the help Chi Wara gave them, as their crops became
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better and better, they grew lazy. They were wasteful and were not as careful with their
planting. This made Chi Wara upset and he went back into the earth from which he had
come. From then on, when planting season and harvest time came, the men and women
missed Chi Wara. They prepared a special ceremony that calls upon the spirit of Chi
Wara. iii

Chi Wara is a combination of different animals’ body parts and traits: an aardvark’s body
with his big ears and short legs and whose habit of burrowing in the earth mimics farming;
an antelope’s horns, reminiscent of the hoes used to cultivate the land and also of the tall
millet stalk, which is a food staple of Bamana life. Is there anything about the mask that
reminds you of an antelope? An aardvark?

The style of this piece is abstract and stylized. Why do you think the artist chose to depict
the Chi Wara in this way?
 Further Resources
Nelson Mandela’s Favorite African Folktales by Nelson Mandela, ISBN: 0393052125
Aesop’s Fables by Jerry Pinkney, ISBN: 9781587170003
The Minneapolis Museum of Art has a great website about art and myth:
http://archive.artsmia.org/world-myths/
 Post-Visit Activities
Activity 1: Choose your favorite myth, legend, fable, or other traditional story and illustrate it.
What scene do you want to focus on? Why? Try out a few different styles of illustration and
different materials based on your trip to the Brooks.
Activity 2: Writing Activity inspired by the story of Chi Wara: Create a story involving an animal
and ritual that represents an important aspect of your home culture. Write and illustrate your
story.
Activity 3: Create an animal using characteristics of three different, but real, animals. Describe
their new animal and what its purpose is.
Please join us in April to explore our special exhibition This Light of
Ours: Activist Photographers of the Civil Rights Movement.
Thursday, April 16th – Artists as Eyewitnesses
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The Tortoise and the Hare from Aesop’s Fables by Jerry Pinkney. Chronicle Books LLC, San Francisco: CA, 2000.
Exodus 2, Old Testament, The Bible: New International Version (NIV)
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http://www.virginia.edu/artmuseum/VirtualExhibitions/african/chiwara_myth.html
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