Elphinstone Dayrell

Elphinstone Dayrell was a British colonial administrator, folklorist, and writer whose name is closely linked with traditional stories from Southern Nigeria. His best-known book, Folk Stories from Southern Nigeria (1910), gathers forty tales he collected while serving as District Commissioner in the region, with an introduction by Andrew Lang.

Dayrell is also remembered for helping preserve material on Nsibidi, a symbolic writing system used in parts of southeastern Nigeria and nearby areas. Articles published under his name in 1910 and 1911 recorded signs and meanings from the Ikom district, giving later readers an early English-language source on the subject.

Many listeners may know him through "Why the Sun and the Moon Live in the Sky," a story drawn from the tradition he collected and later adapted for children. Today, his work is read both as a doorway into memorable animal tales and wonder stories, and as a historical record of how these traditions were presented to English readers in his time.