Qui mangera l'autre? Le thème du "Conjoint animal" dans les contes d'Afrique noire

The "Animal Spouse" theme in Black African folktales.- There are several variants on this theme. In the most common one a disobedient daughter marries a beautiful stranger who turns out to be a monster in disguise. Less frequent is the story of the hunter who marries a were-beast while she is out of her animal skin -- she turns back into her primitive form when the husband reveals it. There is more to these tales that the elementary lesson "don't marry an unknown person against your parents' advice" (even if there is also that). The theme is, in fact, closely linked to the problems of the bride's integration (or lack of it) into a foreign lineage within the framework of African kinship systems.