The Story of Little Black Mingo

The Story of Little Black Mingo is a children's book written by Helen Bannerman and first published in 1899.

It tells the story of a young girl named Mingo who lives by a river and is sent to collect water. On her way, she is captured by a mugger, a type of crocodile, who takes her to his cave intending to eat her later.

While imprisoned, Mingo meets Little Black Jumbo from The Story of Little Black Sambo, who has also been captured. The two children escape when the mugger leaves the cave. They run away and eventually find safety.

Like Bannerman’s other books, this one was illustrated by the author and reflects the colonial context of the time, including language and depictions that have been criticized for racial stereotyping in modern readings.

"Once upon a time there was a little black girl, and her name was Little Black Mingo. She had no father and mother, so she had to live with a horrid cross old woman called Black Noggy, who used to scold her every day, and sometimes beat her with a stick, even though she had done nothing naughty. One day Black Noggy called her, and said, “Take this chatty {ed. A chatty is a large ceramic vase used to carry water.} down to the river and fill it with water, and come back as fast as you can, QUICK NOW!” So Little Black Mingo took the chatty and ran down to the river as fast as she could, and began to fill it with water, when Cr-r-rrrack!!! Bang!!! A horrible big Mugger {ed. A Mugger is an alligator like creature.} poked its nose up through the bottom of the chatty and said “Ha, ha!! Little Mingo, I’m going to eat you up!”"