The story of Amero Kopfhi

The story of Amero Kopfhi

African traditional short story

Long ago a man called Kofi Amero lived in a village called Amero Kopfhi. The village was named after him because in those days he was the wealthiest man in the whole area. Kofi Amero was a very strict man, but he wasn’t fair, no, he was nasty and selfish. In spite of his wealth, he lived by himself, without a wife or child, because no woman could tolerate his strange behaviour.

One sunny day, after Kofi Amero had taken his breakfast, he was relaxing on the front porch of his house, when all of a sudden he caught sight of a stranger dressed in the most tattered and shabby clothing. The man looked so weird that Kofi Amero decided he must be a madman and tried to ignore him. He was a little surprised when the man addressed him and asked for some food. Kofi Amero didn’t like giving charity, and he was quite annoyed the man should ask for something. But he had some uncooked kokoyam lying around under the window, so he took a small dry piece and threw it at the beggar. The man grasped the vegetable greedily and ate it within seconds. When he had eaten every last bite, and licked his fingers in the process, he straightened himself and before Kofi Amero’s astonished eyes changed into an angel of god.

Kofi dropped to the floor. The stranger requested Kofi Amero not to be disturbed, he meant him no harm. He said: “Kofi, as you were kind enough to let me share some of your food, even though you thought I might be a troublesome beggar, before I leave this place, I will grant you any three wishes that you may make.”

As you can imagine Kofi Amero got very excited when he heard this. “Hahahah, heeheehee, today is going to be a good day for me!” He scratched his head, wondering what he could possibly ask of the angel, then asked him to come inside. He pointed to an old armchair in the corner of his room. “Master, he said, you see that chair in the corner, there?” The angel nodded, “Yes, I can see it.”

Kofi continued: “Well, you see, I bought that chair for myself, at great expense, so that I may rest after a hard days’ work. But it is the only chair in my house, and every time I get a visitor, they have to sit in it, and I have to remain standing or sit on the floor. That really bothers me. I’d like you to put a spell on it, so that if anybody sits on it, other than myself, of course, the chair buckles and throws its occupant into the air! So high that when they fall onto the ground they’ll be hurt and will never want to sit on my chair again!”

Even though the angel thought this was rather an unusual request, he had given his word, so he said to Kofi: “It is done.”

Kofi Amero rubbed his hands together, and took the angel back to the front of the house, where he pointed out a tree; “Master, do you see this tree?” The angel nodded, “Yes, I see it.” Kofi explained: “I planted it, a great expense, in order to improve the environment, to make the place look nice and green, but you know, Master, I’ve noticed that people from the village have been stealing the leaves from my tree. They say it has some medicinal qualities and that it cures children’s illnesses, but I’m not at all happy with that, not at all!” Kofi coughed, and then continued: “So Master, I’d like you to put a spell on it, so that anybody who tries to pluck a leaf, gets sucked onto the tree and gets stuck to the trunk!

Again, the angel considered this to be a rather strange request, but he it was not his job to judge the merits of people’s wishes, so he had no other choice but to grant that one too. So he told Kofi: “Very well, Kofi, it is done. What is your third and last wish?”

Kofi asked the angel to follow him to the back of his house. There he pointed out some hoes and rakes and other gardening tools. “You see these tools, Master?” asked Kofi. The angel nodded. “Yes, I can see them, fine tools they are.” “Exactly, agreed Kofi. I bought these tools, they cost me a lot of money, I don’t need to tell you. People come all the time to borrow them. Sometimes they ask, sometimes they don’t, they just pick them up and take advantage of my good nature. And of course when they break, it’s down to me to pay for the repairs. So I’d like you to make them soo soo heavy, that every time somebody tries to pick them up, other than me, of course, they just drop them and they fall on their toes! Then next time they’ll think twice about wanting to use my tools!”

The angel nodded sadly, “Very well, Kofi, he said, it is done. I leave you now.” After that the angel vanished into thin air where he was standing and Kofi Amero was left on his own again. As usual.

Several days later, as Kofi Amero was cleaning up after his supper, Satan came to visit him. Of course Kofi Amero didn’t recognize his visitor, he showed him into the house and offered him the only chair to sit on. The visitor lowered himself onto the seat, and as soon as he touched it, the seat threw him up into the air, and as he fell down with a great thud, he hurt his leg. The visitor got up, straightened his clothes, swore at Kofi Amero, and limped away. Kofi Amero laughed and laughed, he was happy that his trap had worked and that night he slept exceptionally well.

On another day Kofi Amero was getting ready to go to work when he heard a loud commotion at the back of the house. He walked round there and was pushed aside by one of his neighbours, who was limping and cursing the day he first laid eyes on Kofi Amero. Kofi laughed out loud and called after the neighbour: “Let that teach you a lesson! You should save up and buy your own tools!” The incident put Kofi Amero in a good mood for the rest of the day.

On yet another day, he was returning from a hard day’s work in the fields, when he noticed a woman from the village, carrying a baby on her back, walk up to the tree in the front of his house. It was obvious that she intended to pluck some leaves from the tree, and Kofi Amero stopped and watched with anticipation to see of his third trap would work as well as the first two. As soon as the hapless woman touched a leaf, she was pulled towards the tree by an invisible force, and found herself stuck to the trunk. She called out for help, but Kofi Amero just laughed at her.

“Serves you right, he called out to her. You people think you can just take what’s mine without paying! You think about it while you’re stuck there!”

That evening Kofi Amero was having his supper, he couldn’t stop laughing to himself at the plight of the woman stuck to the tree, and the two men who had fallen into his traps. The more he thought about it, the more he had to laugh; his laughter came out in uncontrollable bursts.

But suddenly he stopped: a sharp pain shot through his chest, and Kofi Amero collapsed, he’d suffered a heart attack. A few days later Kofi Amero’s brother, who worked a field next to Kofi’s, became curious about the fact that he hadn’t seen his brother for some time, and decided to call on him. He found Kofi dead on the floor of his room. Immediately he set about informing other members of the family, and making the funeral arrangements. As the body had already started to decompose, this had to be done in rather a hurry. Kofi Amero was buried without much ceremony, only two of his brothers attended the funeral. None of the villagers wanted to waste any of their time mourning a man they all despised.

So it was that Kofi Amero arrived at the gates of heaven to be judged. He was greeted there by the angel who had appeared to him some time ago, but Kofi Amero didn’t recognize him. The angel produced a large book, and invited Kofi Amero to look at was written there about him. “As you can see, Kofi Amero, said the angel, during your lifetime you have only ever done one good thing, that is when you gave me some of your kokoyam. But everything else that’s written about you is about all the bad and selfish things you did to your family and your neighbours. You’re not qualified to enter this place. You have to go to hell.”

So Kofi Amero walked away from the gates of heaven and made his way to the gates of hell. When he got there he found Satan waiting for him. Satan recognized him as the man who played a nasty trick on him with a chair, and flatly refused him entry. So Kofi Amero was denied access to heaven and hell. Because he had failed to please either the masters of heaven or the masters of hell his soul was doomed to roam restlessly in the space in between for eternity.

Kate Awo Fumey collected this story in Ghana

The reason why the crab has a shell

The reason why the crab has a shell

African folktale story

Once upon a time there lived a woman whose name was Aftermath. She had one daughter, whose name was Akuvi. Her husband had died when the girl was still very young. As Akuvi grew up she began to rebel against her mother’s authority. If Aftermath asked her to fetch water she would refuse, if Aftermath asked her to pound some yam, the girl would snarl and sulk. Mother used to curse her daughter, but all to no avail. “You think I’m hard on you, she would say, just wait if you keep behaving like this you’ll meet your fate one day!” This went on for quite some time, until one day the mother again asked Akuvi to fetch some water from the well. Akuvi refused bluntly. “Why do I always have to fetch your water, mother? Why can’t you get it for yourself. You have arms and legs just like I do!” Aftermath got so angry at her daughter’s insolence that she took a cane and beat her. This in turn made Akuvi very angry. “that’s it! She said, That’s it! I’ve had enough, I’m going!” With that she took some of her clothes, packed them in a bundle and left home. She really had no idea where she was going, she had nobody to turn to, she didn’t know anybody outside the small village they lived in.

As there was nowhere else to go she headed towards the forest. After she’d been walking for some time, she came across a small farm. On the edge stood an old hut, and outside the hut sat an old lady. Akuvi had never seen such an old lady, she must be at least a hundred years old! Akuvi walked up to the old lady, who looked her in the eye, and asked “Who are you and where are you from?” Akuvi just about opened her mouth to answer, when the old lady shouted “Stop! Don’t speak! I know all about you!” She wagged her crooked fingers at the girl. “Your mother tried her best to bring you up well, but you wouldn’t have it, would you? You thought you knew better. You wouldn’t listen to your mother, well, now you’re here, you’ll see something else! Welcome, my dear! ”

The old lady took her in, gave her some food and a corner of her hut where she could lie down to sleep. The next morning the old lady took Akuvi to her field, where she grew some vegetables; yam, cassava, beans. The old lady spread her arms and said to Akuvi: “what you see here is my farm, I grow everything here, and you will have to help me. Everytime I send you to pick something, these plants will talk to you. Some will say: Don’t touch me please, I’m too young, or: I’ve only just been planted, I’m not ripe yet! I want you to ignore them don’t take any notice; just pick the one that protests loudest.”

That same afternoon the old lady sent the girl to the farm to pick some cassava and yam so that they could pound some fufu for their supper. As she entered the field the plants started talking to her. One of them said: Look girl, I’m too old to be here, and fed up being stuck here in this field, come and pick me!” Another said: “Please don’t pick me, I’ve just been planted! Go to the next one!” With all these voices coming at her from all directions Akuvi got scared; nothing like this had ever happened to her in her entire life. She wanted to run away but she was frightened of what the old lady would do to her. So she gathered up all her courage and started picking the plants that were saying they were not ripe enough or mature enough to be picked, just as the old lady had told her to do. She took the vegetables home and the old lady instructed her to peel them and boil them. She finished this task, and then looked for mortar and pestle to pound the fufu, but she couldn’t find these anywhere. So she went to the old lady and asked her what she should use. The old lady told her: “I haven’t got a mortar or pestle and I still eat fufu. I still manage to pound it!” All Akuvi could say was: “Well, how do you do it? Can you show me?” The old lady raised an arm, and said to Akuvi, “Go to the back of the house. There you’ll find a log, bring it here. When Akuvi came back with the log a few minutes later, the old lady was lying on the ground, and instructed Akuvi to put the wood under her head.

Resting her head on the log, she told Akuvi to use her nostrils as the mortar; pointing to them she said: “This is where you’ll pound the fufu!”

Akuvi was shocked, never had she heard of anything like this before. But the old lady reassured her: “Don’t worry dear, I always do it like this and it comes out perfect every time. Now it became clear to Akuvi that the old lady had magical powers. Her nostrils expanded into a big bowl, and Akuvi was able to pound the fufu. When she finished the old lady told Akuvi to go her room where she kept a pot full of soup, and to bring it out to her. Akuvi hung the pot over the fire to heat the soup, and brought out a little table for the old lady to eat at. The old lady sat down and started to eat. Akuvi washed her hands and sat down with the old lady as she was by now very hungry.

But the old lady stopped her taking any food. “Don’t even think about it. Before I let you have any of this food, you have to tell me what my name is.” Akuvi didn’t know the old lady’s name, she had absolutely no idea. How could she? Nobody in the village had ever even mentioned her. She started guessing some names, Mawutor, Mawuko, but all the names she could think of were the wrong ones, and she was not allowed to touch any of the food. After the old lady finished her meal she gave the pot to Akuvi to fetch some water from the river. Obediently Akuvi took the pot and made her way to the river. As she approached the water, she saw a crab. The crab called out to her: “Hey there, little girl! I know what’s happening to you, that old witch has got you guessing her name, hasn’t she? I can help you because I know her very well!”

Akuvi was very excited: “Mr Crab, if you know her name please tell me and help me out of my misery!” The crab answered: “Her name is Zeglo. Call her Mama Zeglo!” Akuvi jumped in the air, she was so happy, at last she would get something to eat. She thanked the crab profusely, and set off home again. But she was so happy, she was dancing and jumping all the way home, carrying the pot filled with water on her head. She stumbled over some stones that were strewn on the path, the pot fell off her head and broke into a hundred pieces. She started to cry, she knew the old lady would be furious with her. Slowly she finished the walk home, and as she came up to the house the old lady was sitting outside, waiting for her. When the old lady saw her, she asked immediately: “What happened to my pot? Where is my water?”

Akuvi answered “Mama Zeglo, I fell down on the path and your pot broke.”

The old lady was astonished that Akuvi had guessed her name correctly, so she asked her: “How did you find out my name? Who told you?”

Akuvi replied that she met a crab by the river who told her. The old lady jumped up, she was indeed furious. “I’m going down to the riverside, I’ll find that stupid old crab and teach him a lesson!” She got up, took her stick and a calabash and walked briskly towards the river. She fully intended to punish the crab for his indiscretion. And she did indeed find the crab still rooting around in the sand on the riverbank, and addressed him in an angry tone: “Why on earth did you disclose my name to that young girl? What business is it of yours?” The crab hardly deigned to look at the old lady. “Why don’t you bugger off, he said. Who do you think you are; can’t I mention your name to anybody?” The old lady got even more annoyed, and she raised her stick and hit the crab on the back. Wallop! And again: Woosh!

The crab jumped sideways and shouted at the old lady: “Hey what! What are you playing at? Hitting me? You don’t know me! Just you wait!” The crab dived under the water, and started scooping up white sand, splashing it all over the old lady’s head so that all her hair turned white. She got ever more angry, so angry that she just threw the calabash at the crab, which landed on his back and got stuck there. She tried to pull it off, but try as she might, it was stuck hard. The crab groaned, and the old lady cursed, but they could not remove it. That’s why when you see a crab now, it’s got a hard shell on his back, and when you see an old lady, her hair is white all over!

The pregnant virgin

The pregnant virgin

This African story seem to be like a version of the Virgin Mary story in the Bible. Such pregnant virgin stories really do exist in some other parts of the world.

Once upon a time there lived a very great and honourable chief called Gbeyor. He had a daughter called Gbeofia, meaning queen of beauty. Gbeyor had given this name to his daughter because she was the most beautiful girl in the whole village. When she had reached the age of 21, Gbeofia called her father and told him that she wanted to marry. Gbeyor was aghast! He shouted at his daughter: “Hai, my only daughter! My queen of queens! What are you trying to tell me? I will not allow you to marry any man in this village. My daughter, you are so beautiful and precious to me, therefore I would like you to marry a man who is very rich and handsome.”

Before long word got around in the village that Gbeofia wanted to marry, and the conditions that her father had imposed. In spite of this, some of the men in the village still thought they might have a chance. Therefore some of them would call on the chief’s place every Saturday evening, carrying special drinks and some expensive cloth as presents requesting Gbeofia’s hand in marriage. Gbeyor could see that they were only farmers and that they were not good enough to marry his precious daughter.

One evening Mr Spider made his way to the chief’s door, carrying a bottle of local gin. The chief laid eyes on Mr Spider and asked him harshly: “Hey Mr Spider, what do you want in my palace?” Mr Spider answered in a very polite manner. “Please chief, I an here to marry your beautiful daughter.” The chief got very angry and shouted: “You fool! Come on, clear off! You think you can come along here with a bottle of local gin, and marry my daughter? My daughter, who is the queen of queens1 Get out of my face!” Mr spider left without speaking any further, just as some more of the village men were arriving, carrying their presents. When Mr Spider got home he went to his room, sat down and concentrated on trying to think of a trick he could play so that he could marry the chief’s daughter after all. Mr Spider realized after some time that the girl liked eating pawpaw. He remembered he had seen her in the area near his house several times, to pick the fruit of the pawpaw trees that grew there. “Yes, he thought, pawpaw is probably one of her favourite foods!” This gave Mr Spider the idea for the trick he decided to play on them.

Mr Spider started hanging around the pawpaw tree, so that he could waylay the girl on her next visit there. He didn’t have to wait very long, but to Mr Spider’s dismay, she was accompanied by her mother when she turned up. At first Mr Spider was a little worried, because he had not reckoned on the mother being there. But he was a resourceful fellow after all, and before long he had thought of a trick. He went up to the mother and said: “Hello, mother dear, can I pluck some pawpaw for you? These pawpaw trees are so difficult to climb for you ladies. Allow me to get up there and get the best fruit for you people!” The women had no objections to Mr Spider’s proposal, so he climbed the pawpaw tree and started picking the fruit. Very quickly he’d picked a bag full of the fruit, and the mother called up to him: “Hello, my son, this is quite enough for us!” But Mr Spider hadn’t finished yet, and he told her: “Ooh mother, this is not enough for you, so I want to pick just a few more!” The women didn’t want to argue, so they just said, “OK, that’s very good of you, carry on picking as many as you like!”

Mr Spider climbed a bit further up the tree, pretending to look for the best fruit. Within the twinkle of an eye Mr Spider intentionally fell down and started wailing: “Adish! Adish! Today my life finish! My leg – Oh my leg, Oh my leg!” As he lay there wailing the women became very frightened, and didn’t know what to do to help Mr Spider. “Oh dearme Oh dearme, you poor fellow! What can we do for you?” the mother asked. The crafty Mr Spider, pretending to be in a great amount of pain said: “Take me to your house! Please take me to your house!” Between them mother and daughter carried Mr Spider to their house. When they reached there, the mother asked Mr Spider if there was anything she could do for him. Mr Spider asked her to give him a bath. The mother consented, and proceeded to give Mr Spider a bath. After having his bath, he asked the woman to find him some mats so that he could lie down and have a rest. She quickly found a mat for Mr Spider, and he lay down on it.

Mr Spider rested for a short while, then when he heard somebody move around in the next room, he started moaning again. Gbeofia’s mother was in the room nextdoor, and heard the moaning. She came into Mr Spider’s room, and asked him if there was anything he needed. “EhEh, Mother, answered Mr Spider, I am so uncomfortable, all my limbs are aching and this heat seems to be making it worse. Maybe if you help me remove all my clothing I might be more comfortable!” So mother helped Mr Spider get undressed, and he stretched out on the mat again, completely naked. She went back to take care of her business in the next room, and for a short while all was quiet. But not for long. Mr Spider started moaning again, and the woman came over to his side once more. She was getting eather worried about Mr Spider’s condition, and asked him what else she might do to alleviate the pain he was in. “EhEh, Mother, there is just one thing that will make me better,” said Mr Spider. The woman asked him to tell her what this might be. Mr Spider coughed, then he said: “I want you to ask your daughter to come her and lie on top of me!” This rather took the good woman by surprise. “That’s impossible!” she exclaimed. But Mr Spider was very tricky, and he knew exactly what to say to get his way. “I’m afraid if she doesn’t come and lie with me, I will surely die all at once!” said he to the woman. She was genuinely afraid that Mr Spider might indeed die from his injuries, so she went to find her daughter. She explained the situation to her, and although her daughter was not at all sure that she wanted to do this, eventually she let herself be persuaded by her mother. She came into Mr Spider’s room and lay on top of him on the mat.

Two hours later Mr Spider burst into laughter. “Hahahaha! I am very very lucky! I won this situation and I am now free. Wot! I really took these women for a ride.”

The lazy townspeople

The lazy townspeople

African traditional short story

Once upon a time there was a town where all the people were exceedingly lazy. They didn’t like to do any kind of work at all! They didn’t clean up their yards, they didn’t keep their streets clean, and they couldn’t be bothered to weed their vegetable patches. The place was disgusting, it was a disgrace. The chief hated it, he quite liked cleanliness, and every so often he would start a clean-up campaign. But only a handful of people ever turned up to lend a hand, and even then they would stop working after one or two days, and the weeds would grow again and in the blink of an eye the place would be just as bad again as it ever was.

One day a hurricane blew through the town; after it had passed the place looked even worse than before, but the worst thing was that an enormous tree had been blown over and thrown right across the main road leading to the market place. The first trader came along, carrying his produce, and found the road blocked by the tree. He said: I haven’t got time to move this tree! I’ve got to get my produce to the market!” So he walked around the tree, and carried on his way. And a second and a third trader came along and did exactly the same thing. Nobody could be bothered to do anything about the obstruction. People were coming and going, looking at the tree and just walking around it. The chief heard about the tree blocking the road. He asked; “Why don’t some of these people get together and move it?” But days went by and nobody did anything about it and the tree remained where it was. The chief came up with a plan to teach his townspeople a lesson. Very early the next day, before the sun had come up, he took some of his servants and got them to dig a hole under the tree. He hid some gold in the hole and got his servants to cover it up again. Then he made them swear to keep this affair a secret. Back at his palace, he instructed his town crier to go round and summon all the citizens to gather at the spot of the fallen tree that afternoon.

When they were all together the chief made a speech to his people suggesting that if all of them worked together, it would not take very long to remove the obstacle. One of the farmers said: “The hurricane put that tree there, let’s ask the hurricane to move it out of the way.”

“Yes, said another, why should we exert ourselves?”

“What’s wrong with walking around it?” asked another. The chief was exasperated. He was just about to give up when a skinny young man stepped forward. He was just a poor farmer, who had no living relatives in the town: “I will have a go,” he said, and started pulling and pushing to shift the heavy tree. The other townspeople just stood there and watched, some making fun of the young man. The chief waited for a short while to see if anybody would come forward to help the young man, and when he saw that nobody else made a move, instructed his servants to lend a hand. Once the tree had been moved to the side of the road, the Chief went up to the young farmer, and took him to the spot where he’d buried the gold that morning. The chief told him to dig there, and promised him that he could keep whatever he found there. The young farmer started digging in the road, and very quickly uncovered the gold. He was overjoyed.

The chief said to him: “All this gold is yours to keep. You have deserved it, and you can do with it as you please.” And to the lazy townspeople he said: “Let this be a lesson to you all! Laziness doesn’t get you anything. Rewards come to the person who is prepared to work hard.”

Kate Awo Fumey told this story to Frans Timmermans

The hare and the tortoise (Somalia)

The hare and the tortoise (Somalia)

This version of the old story, which we all know in the version made famous by Aesop, was told to me in London by Zarah, a refugee from Somalia.

Hare was a very vain creature. He was always going around putting others down, and boasting about his won exploits.

One day tortoise got really fed up. “We’ll teach him a lesson”, he said. He sat by the roadside and waited for hare to come racing by. He called out to him: “Hare! Where are you going in such a hurry. Stop and listen to my proposal, which might be of some benefit to you.”

Hare turned round and approached tortoise. “What’s this I hear”, he said, “are you planning to give me some reward?”

“Indeed so”, said tortoise. “We are going to have a race! If you can beat me you will be able to call yourself the fastest in the animal kingdom”.

Hare fell over backwards laughing. “Beat you? That’s hardly a challenge. I could beat you in a race hopping on one leg!”

“We shall see”, said tortoise, “Do you accept the challenge?”

“Of course I do”, said hare, “It’ll be a gas!”

They determined the course of the race. Then tortoise went and called together some of his cousins, and gave them instructions to be at certain places along the race course. The next morning hare and tortoise met at the starting point. They set off together, but hare immediately rushed off, leaving tortoise far behind. After a few minutes he rested to get some breath. Then he set off again. To his great amazement he spotted tortoise in front of him. How was that possible? He’d only stopped for a minute! He raced past him, and shouted: “See if you can catch me again, shorty legs!” Within seconds he’d left tortoise far behind again.

Hare got tired again, and decided to have another little rest. There was no way he was going to lose this race! After a short while he set off again, at great speed, and lo! There was tortoise in front of him again! That was impossible! How could that slowcoach have overtaken him again? He caught up with tortoise and looked at him. “Have you taken some kind of magic potion?” he asked. Tortoise didn’t stop, he just said to hare: “Slow and steady, that’s me!”

Hare raced ahead. After a few minutes he looked back, there was no sign of tortoise and his self confidence returned. He stopped to have a nibble at a bush. He had a drink and a quick snooze to refresh himself, and then set off again, as fast as his strong legs could carry him. The finish of the race was now in sight. He looked up, and to his great consternation he saw that tortoise was just about to cross the line. He summoned all his strength, and made himself go as fast as the wind, but he crossed the line only to bump into tortoise, who was sitting there waiting for him! All the animals gathered were screaming and shouting.

Hare went off by himself, his ears drooping with sadness and shame. Tortoise and his cousins had a party to celebrate their victory.

As told to Frans Timmermans by Zarah Mohamed

The Considerate Hunter

The Considerate Hunter

Traditional old African short story

Once upon a time there lived a hunter called Ajakasi. Many hunters lived in his village. Some hunters used guns, some used bows and arrows, others used sticks and cutlasses to do their hunting.

Ajakasi went on a hunting expedition early one morning. He went deep into the bush. He wondered around all day long, but the bush seemed deserted, and by late afternoon he had not even seen a bird. He was terribly tired and hungry. He decided to go back home. Just as he was about to turn back, he heard an unusual sound coming from somewhere in the distance. He listened carefully, thinking he finally got lucky; he hard peeap peeap peeap uuwuurgh oowuurgh uuuwuurgh.

He said to himself, goodness, that sounds like a big animal, maybe even a lion, I’ll sneak up carefully and see if I can find it. He headed in the direction from which the sound was coming, and soon he came upon a clearing in the forest, and right there in the middle of the clearing was a big hole. He approached gingerly, and craned his neck so as to be able to see inside the pit, and what did he see?

He saw a lion.

Instinctively he jumped back, then after collecting his nerves, he approached the hole again, and craned his neck so as to be able to see inside the pit; then he saw a snake in the same pit! And he saw a man, crouching in one of the corners. Ajakasi couldn’t help but wonder what was happening down there, why was the lion not eating the man?

Then he also saw a rat! He couldn’t believe is eyes, so there was a lion down there, and a huge snake, and a man and a rat!

The lion was he first to spot Ajakasi. Please Mr Hunter, get me out of this pit! I‘m terribly hungry! Ajakasi shook his head, and with a trembling voice, said: I’m really sorry Mr Lion, but I can’t do that! A hungry lion? How can I pull you out? As soon as I get you up here you’re going to have me for your lunch!

The lion growled in response. Don’t you think I could have eaten this man here, he asked. Or the snake, or the rat? We all agreed not to eat each other but to stick together, so that we might all get out of here. I guarantee that if you help us you will be safe

The man in the pit joined in: Please Mr Hunter, believe us, the lion is telling the truth, please get us out of here, please help us. The snake joined in, hissing, and the rat was squeaking. The hunter was touched.

All right, he said, all right, I’ll help you. Just hold on while I find something. He went into the trees, and found the longest possible rope, he tied one end to the nearest tall tree, and pulled it hard to test it. When he was satisfied that it would be strong enough to pull all those creatures out of the pit. He threw the loose end into the hole. And who was the first to come out? Of course, the lion, the snake came out next, and then the rat and finally the man crawled to the surface. The lion gave Ajakasi a heavy handshake. Ouch, screamed Ajakasi, you’ve hurt me! That was painful! Is that how you’re going to thank me?

No, no, no, no, said the lion, Thank you very much indeed, Mr Hunter, I will see you again. With that the lion disappeared into the jungle. The snake thanked him too, and slithered away. The man thanked him, and ran off.

The rat was the last to thank him; I won’t forget your kindness, he said before scurrying off in the undergrowth.

Ajakasi was left all by himself; it was getting dark and he remembered how hungry he was, so he too set off back to his hut in the village.

Several days later, very early in the morning, even before the sun had crawled over the horizon, he heard somebody knocking loudly on his door.

Bhoumm Bhoumm Bhoumm! Who is there, asked Ajakasi. But there was no reply. He opened the door, and there stood the lion. Ajakasi was scared to the marrow, and almost threw the door shut again, but the lion raised a paw in greeting. Mr Lion, sighed Ajakasi, you really scared me there! I’m sorry about that, said the lion, I suppose that can’t be helped. I can’t very well turn up here in broad daylight, can I now? Ajakasi had to agree. Well then, said the lion, you did something wonderful for me the other day, you were very brave to help the four of us get out of that pit. So I have come to thank you, just come over here. The lion stood back and Ajakasi stepped outside. There, in front of his house he found a huge pile of wild meat. All for you, said the lion, and wandered off.

Ajakasi was very excited. He sat to work immediately cleaning the meat and cutting it up. He kept some in his hut and took the rest to the city to sell. He got a lot of money for it! A few more days went by, when Ajakasi was woken again by the same noise coming from his door. He opened the door carefully, and found the lion there again. The lion directed him to the usual spot, and there was an even bigger pile of meat! Again, Ajakasi cleaned the meat, cut it up and took it to the market to sell. He got even more money. The remarkable thing was that the lion kept coming back every three or four days to bring more meat. Ajakasi became a very rich man. He could pay his children’s school fees, he built a new house, he bought new clothes for himself and all his family members He was turning into a very happy man.

Then one day, he noticed a hole in the roof of his new house. Oooh, what is this? He went to inspect and to his surprise he saw a rat peeping through the hole. Aaaii, said Ajakasi, who are you, and what are you doing to my roof, making holes in it? The rat said: Don’t you remember me? I’m the rat you rescued from the pit in the jungle, some time ago now. If it hadn’t been for you coming along I would surely have ended up as supper for the lion or the snake! I’ve come to bring you something to thank you, just wait there a minute.

Ajakasi was left speechless, he watched as the rat disappeared, but came back presently, lugging an enormous sack, which he dropped through the hole at Ajakasi’s feet. Take these things, the rat said, as a token of my appreciation , and then he disappeared as quickly as he had come. Ajakasi, tugged at the sack, and opened it.

When he saw what was inside he almost fainted. The sack was filled with gold, diamonds, emeralds and other precious stones and minerals

Now Ajakasi was almost the wealthiest man in the whole village. Only the chief was richer. It so happened that a few months later thieves broke into the chief’s compound while he was away on a trip. They took everything that had any value. When he returned the chief was soooo sad, he wept for days on end. People came from all over the district to bring him presents and to console him. Ajakasi also went to see him and took some pieces of gold. One day the man who was rescued from the pit by Ajakasi passed through the village and called at the chief’s compound. He asked to see the chief, saying that he had some information about the theft. The chief had him ushered into his private quarters immediately, he was still very sad and tearful, and asked his visitor to tell him everything he knew without stalling. Don’t cry again, nana, the man started, I know who it was who stole all your jewels and your rich kente cloths. Who is that man? The chief shouted. Where is he?

Don’t worry, said the visitor, he is here in the village, it is the hunter Ajakasi.

The chief fell down on his chair. Ajakasi? I don’t believe it, he is such a good man!

The man raised his hand up. Don’t you remember, Oh great chief, Ajakasi was just a poor wretched hunter, but look at him now, he has built a new house, almost as big as your own, he has bought new clothes for himself and all his family, he pays his children’s school fees, and he never goes out hunting any more, yet he always has plenty of meat on his table. How is he able to do all that…? He is surely the one who stole all your things.

The chief was now very angry. He called some of his soldiers and commanded them to arrest Ajakasi and bring the thief before him immediately. This was done. The soldiers went to Ajakasi’s house, tied him up and brought him before the chief. He was mercilessly beaten. He tried to explain how it was that he had come by his riches, but when he mentioned the lion bringing him meat, the soldiers just beat him more, and when he mentioned the rat bringing him gold and precious metals in a sack, the chief shouted: Enough! Tie him to the stocks, and tomorrow morning we will execute him!

So, Ajakasi was put in the stocks and condemned to death as punishment for a crime he didn’t commit. He realized he would be executed the next morning and there was nothing he could do about it. After darkness had fallen and the last of the village people had gone home, he felt a strange sensation around his ankles. What is this, he wondered, what is going on now? He heard the hissing of a snake, and when he looked down he saw a large snake slithering on the ground in front of him.

I would normally be afraid of you, said Ajakasi, but as I’m going to die anyway tomorrow, I’m not really worried. Well, said the snake, you’re right not to be worried. You probably don’t remember me, but I am the snake you rescued from that pit in the jungle all those weeks ago now. I have come to thank you for what you did.

Oh. It was nothing really, said Ajakasi, but I’m afraid it’s a little bit late. I’m about to be executed! I have been accused of a crime I never committed.

We’ll see about that, said the snake. I have a plan. I have some medicine here, which I’ll hide under your belt. I understand the king has a very beautiful daughter. That’s right, confirmed Ajakasi, she is his only child. Even better, said the snake. I am going to give her a little bite, and poison her. She will surely die, but the medicine in the bottle is an antidote, the only thing that will cure my bite. When you save the life of the king’s only child, he will be forever in your debt, and he surely will not want to kill you any more! With that the snake slithered towards the chief’ living quarters.

Be careful, don’t get caught! whispered the hunter.

As the sun sent its first rays over the eastern wall of the compound, Ajakasi heard some screams coming from the chief’s living quarters. Women were wailing. Ouwooaagh! The king’s only daughter! Owowowow! A snake has bitten her! Owowowow! The snake has run away! Owowowowo! Why is this happening?! Owowowow!

People were running towards the house.

Ajakasi shouted at them: I can bring this girl back to life! A soldier came up to Ajakasi, and shouted at him: Shut up, you’re only a common thief!

Ajakasi pleaded with him: I am sincere, I can really bring the girl back to life, go and tell the chief! The soldier spat at him, and told him again to keep quiet. But as he was running to the chief’s house, the soldier thought to himself: what if the condemned man was telling the truth? The chief would be grateful to him and he would surely be rewarded. He had nothing to loose by telling the chief.

At first, when the chief was told that Ajakasi could bring his daughter back to life, he didn’t want to know. That man is only trying to postpone his execution, he thought. But when he looked at the body of his dead daughter, and saw his distraught wife, he changed his mind. After all, there was nothing to be lost, and everything to be gained. You never know what secrets these hunters learn in the jungle. So he ordered his soldiers to cut Ajakasi loose and bring the man to him.

When Ajakasi got to the dead girl’s bedside, he asked for a bowl and some water. He poured in the medicine that the snake had given him, and stirred it with his fingers until it was well mixed into a smooth sauce. This he mopped up with a piece of plain cotton cloth, and he squeezed the liquid into the dead girl’s nostrils. The chief and his wife and all the soldiers were watching his every move. Ajakasi knew very well that if the girl didn’t revive he would be dead on the spot.

But the girl twitched her nose. Itchee! Itchee!

She sneezed! The chief shouted: She sneezed! Slowly the girl opened her eyes, and the chief jumped up and down for joy. The girl’s mother rushed to her side and the soldiers started to dance. The girl spoke to her mother: mommy, where am I? I’m hungry, can you get me some fufu?

Ah, the chief and his wife were so excited! A servant brought in some fufu with a wonderful soup, and the girl ate everything.

Ajakasi was carried shoulder high all around the village. When things quietened down a little the chief sent for him.

Ajakasi, the chief addressed him, you have done me a great service, the greatest possible service, so I am going to save your life. But you must tell me, honestly and without lying, why did you have to steal all my property.

Ajakasi replied: O my great chief, I really didn’t steal your property, as I’ve been trying to tell everyone. He then told the chief his remarkable story, what had happened in the jungle, how he found the lion, the snake, the rat and the man in the pit and how he got them out. How the lion thanked him by bringing him meat, which he sold at a great profit; how the rat brought him gold and diamonds and other precious minerals, some of which he sold and got even more money for.

But his fellow human being thanked him by getting him into trouble. If it had not been for the snake coming to his rescue at the last minute, he would not be standing here to tell his tale.

The king was astonished by the tale. He apologized to Ajakasi for not believing him and he ordered all his possessions to be restored to him. To show the chief he did not harbour any grudges, Ajakasi organized a big feast, which went on long into the night.

Collected in Ghana by Kate Awo Fumey

The Bear and the Travellers

The Bear and the Travellers

A unique fable/story by Aesop that gives your kids or children the value of moral lessons

Two travellers were on a long journey through the countryside. They were walking along a track on the edge of some wood, when, some way ahead of them, they suddenly spotted a great bear ambling towards them. They were not sure whether the bear had seen them, but not wanting to take any risks, the first traveller climbed up the first tree and hid amongst the high branches. The second one dropped his bags and fell to the ground, pretending to be dead. He’d heard somewhere that bears don’t like to eat dead flesh, so he thought this was his safest way to survive.

The bear reached the spot where the man was lying on the ground, who was keeping as still as he could, and doing his best to keep his breath in. The bear sniffed around his head for a few minutes, but did not seem to be all that interested, and went on his way. The second traveller gingerly climbed down from the tree to join his friend. “Phew!” he said, “That was close. From up there in the tree, I could have sworn that bear was talking to you!”

“He was”, the second one replied. “He told me to be more careful in future when setting out on a journey, and not to travel with someone who deserts you at the first sign of trouble!”.

Monkey and the shark

Monkey and the shark

Traditional African story

Monkey lived on the branches of an old mangrove tree, right on the spot where the land ends and the sea begins. He liked living here. There were lots of other animals to talk to and play with, most of them much smaller than he was, which he particularly liked because it made him feel safe and comfortable at home. The big hunters like the lion hardly ever ventured here because the ground was so soggy that their heavy paws would sink into the mud and they wouldn’t be able to move fast enough to catch their prey. There were birds of all shapes and sizes, some that flew and some that could only run along the ground, like the guinea fowl; and the fish! He loved talking to the fish, listening to their stories of life under water. In fact his best friend was Shamus the Shark.

Every evening when the sun was about to go down, Shamus would wind his way through the roots of the mangroves and look for Monkey. Monkey was always expecting his friend, and he’d find a nice cosy branch that hung close to the water’s surface to sit on while he waited for his friend. The first thing he usually saw was the triangular tip of Shamus’s fin sticking up above the water.

Monkey would jump up and down on his branch, and wave and shout. “Over here, Shamus, I’m over here, Uh Uh Ugh Ugh Un Ugh. Shamus would roll over a few times in the shallow water while he swam the last few yards, and lift his enormous jaws out of the water to greet Monkey: “Yo, Monkey my man, how’s life in the trees?”

“Toil and toil and toil, my salty friend”, Monkey would joke.

Then they would fill each other in on all the news from among the mangrove trees and under the deep blue sea. Monkey would talk about all the mischief he’d got up to that day, how he chased the birds, or caught a ride on Uncle Turtle’s back, or hid from the preying eyes of a hovering hawk. Shamus would tell him about all the beautiful creatures at the bottom of the sea, the squids with their trailing tentacles catching glimpses of light from the surface, the sea anemones that were always waving at passers by.

But Shamus’s favourite subject by far was food!

He loved to talk about delicate textures and flavours of the different species of fish he devoured on a daily basis. And he was always curious to know what Monkey’s favourite dish was. To be honest, monkey didn’t think that much about food. He was a strict vegetarian and usually dined on mangrove leaves. But he did remember once a long time ago he did eat something rather special. That was when his cousin from Zanzibar had paid him a visit. He’d brought along a large bag stuffed to the rim with palm hearts. And they’d been delicious! So Succulent! So chewy! So tangy and so sweet! So utterly Yummy!! They’d feasted for days on end. So whenever Shamus asked him about his favourite food, Monkey would lie back on his branch, rub his tummy and tell the tale of eating palm hearts for three whole days and nights.

Then one day, not so long ago, Shamus turned up at the usual time, the setting sun painting the whole mangrove a glorious bright palm oil red. He seemed a little excited, as if he couldn’t wait for their usual banter to pass so he could get down to business.

“Hey Monkey my man”, he burst out, “GUESS WHAT?!? You know those palm hearts you’re always going on about, yea, well, guess what? I just mentioned it to my wife, you know, a while ago now, just casually, in passing you know, the way you do, you know what I mean, and she just, and she only, you know what, she’s got this friend, who’s a bit of a merchant in the fine food business, you know, he can get hold of anything you like, just like that, you just mention it and he’ll get it for you…………”

Monkey was nodding away through this monologue of Shark’s, to be honest he was getting a bit bored and he wished Shamus would get to the point whatever it was. So he just nodded and smiled and made a few polite noises every now and then when Shamus happened to look his way. “Um, Uhm. Ya Ya, Great, ya, triffic, Groovy, Ugh, Ugh, Uhn Uhm”.

Finally Shark got to the point. “Well! She got some!!!”

“She got a whole bag of these palm heart thingy-me-bobs. And she’s inviting you to dinner! She’s preparing a feast right now, as we speak! Do you wanna come?”

Monkey was so surprised, he didn’t know what to say at first, and believe me, that doesn’t happen very often with monkeys! “D’you wanna come? D’you wanna?”

“Well, Shamus, my salty mate, how we gonna do that? Where do you live?” Shamus pointed his pointy nose out towards the sea.

“That’s what I thought,” said Monkey. “How’m I gonna get there? I can’t swim that far! Y’know, here in the mangrove I can just about get by, I paddle around a bit in this shallow water, that’s OK, ‘cause I know it’s not deep enough for me to drown. But out there……..”

But Shamus had obviously thought about this a great deal because he had a plan and he set out to explain it to Monkey. Monkey could sit on his, Shamus’s back, and hold on to his fin, and he, Shamus, would stay right on top of the water, right on the surface, so Monkey wouldn’t even hardly get wet at all. “What do you think? Shall we go? Let’s go! My wife has done all this work, she’s been in the kitchen all afternoon!”

Well, as you know, Monkeys are nothing if not adventurous and intrepid, not to mention foolhardy. So Monkey agreed to come and join the feast. He jumped from his branch and onto his salty friend’s back, clinging on to the hard fin, and with a swoosh! of his strong tail and a “YIPPEE!” from his grinning mouth full of teeth, Shark set off.

This was really the strangest and weirdest and most wonderful and utterly frightening thing Monkey had ever done. He’d never been out to sea before and he was impressed by the huge waves that pushed them up and down, and the force behind them. Shark must be very strong indeed to swim through this lot! After they’d gone some way, Shark slowed down and lifted his head out of the water.

“You know, Monkey, my friend, there’s something you should know. You see, even though my wife is preparing this wonderful feast for you, she herself is very sick.”

Monkey sat up a bit from his position on Shark’s back, so he could listen better. “Oh really”, he managed to say, feeling very wet and very cold and really rather scared, “I’m sorry to hear that man. What’s wrong with her? Anything I can do?”

“Actually”, said Shark, looking rather sheepish, “there may be something you can do. You see, she went to see her doctor the other day, and he told her there was one thing that would improve her condition without fail and immeasurably enhance her chances of getting better, Surefire guarantee.”

“So what’s that?” asked Monkey.

Shark coughed and hesitated, then he said, softly, menacingly: “Well, the doc told her to get a hold of a monkey’s heart and eat it raw!”

Monkey almost fell into the roaring sea. He looked around nervously. He didn’t at all like what he was hearing! Not at all! Instinctively he tightened his grip on Shark’s fin.

“So,” Shark continued, making his voice sound eerily calm, “we were wondering, you know, if we give you the palm hearts, whether you’ll give us your heart. Like an exchange”, shark explained.

“Hey, Shark!” Monkey shouted, because there was a roaring in his ears, and he wasn’t sure whether it was the sound of the sea or his heart pumping, “Sure! Of course, man, no problem at all! Whatsoever! Man! Are you my friend or what? I mean, what’s a little bit of heart between friends!” Shark smiled. “Aaagh”, he sighed, “Monkey, man I can’t tell you how happy it makes me to hear you say those words. I tell you man, if you do this for me, I mean for my wife, anything, anytime, anywhere, anything at all you ever want at any time in the future, man, I’ll get it for you or my name isn’t Shark!”

“You know, Shark, my salty friend”, Monkey said in a very small voice, “there’s only one thing, though, you know, I wish you’d mentioned this before we set off, because you know, I left my heart at home! I left it in a very secret place in my tree where I always hide it!” Monkey almost stopped breathing while he waited for Shark to digest this information.

Shark Sputtered. He coughed. He gurgled. “You left it at home??” He grinned his crooked grin at its most crooked. Monkey knew he had to be very careful what he said right now. He knew he had to get this exactly right. He could feel his heart beating in his throat, and he was afraid it might just jump out right into Shark’s open mouth. He hoped the thumping wouldn’t make Shark suspicious.

“You see, my friend, it’s like this. For a monkey like me, the heart is the most important thing, the most vital possession. If a monkey loses his heart, well, you might as well give up living right there and then! So you see, I’m always really, really, careful with it and make sure it’s always in a safe place somewhere, so I can find it when I need it!”

“I see”, grumbled Shark grimly, “I see, so what do we do now, Monkey, my man?”

“Well”, said Monkey, hopefully, “we’re not that far out yet, are we? We could race back, I’ll jump up into my tree, get the heart, and we can be back here in what, ten, fifteen, minutes at the most! Let’s hurry, let’s not keep your wife waiting any longer than is strictly necessary.”

Now Shark was in a real quandary. Was Monkey telling the truth or was he having him on? But of course, he didn’t really have a choice. If he was not to arouse Monkey’s suspicion he had to go along with him and pretend to believe him even if he wasn’t at all sure that was the right thing to do. So he swooshed his tail, and turned his pointed nose back towards the land.

“OK, Monkey, my mate, let’s hurry!” He swam as fast as he could, thinking that the quicker he got this done, the less time Monkey would have to change his mind.

They got back to the mangrove in less than five minutes, they’d hardly reached the first tree, and Shark had barely started to slow down, when Monkey got up and made an almighty leap from his friend’s back towards the nearest branch, caught it, then swung up and over, and onto the next branch, and up and over again onto the next highest one, and higher and higher he swung and hurled himself until he was at the highest point in the highest tree in the middle of the mangrove. Then he stopped and looked down.

The sun had gone down completely now and the full moon shone a pale greyish yellow light over the mangrove. Below him Monkey could see the silver dorsal fin of Shark against the black water, his jaws snapping at the cool night air.

“Monkey, Monkey, where are you? You promised, your heart? Where is it, where have you hidden it? Where is it then? Monkey, your heart!”

Monkey couldn’t help himself. Suddenly all the tension left him and he started jumping up and down. “Ugh Ugn Ugm Ugh Ugh Oh my friendly fiendish shark! I was almost done for, wasn’t I? The only thing that saved me is that you are even more stupid than me!!”

zarah Mohamed told this story to Frans Timmermans

How the tortoise got its scars

How the tortoise got its scars

Traditional African story

The grass shrivelled up and turned a pale grey. Rivers and pools dried up. All day long animals scurried around looking for food and finding nothing. Mr Tortoise was getting desperate. Every day he woke up to the sound of his wife and children crying. One day, while he was wandering the countryside looking for food he knew he wouldn’t find, he noticed a flock of birds flying overhead and disappearing on the other side of the mountain range. The next day, he saw more birds flying in that direction and disappearing over the mountain range. And again the next day. It occurred to him they might be onto something, and he tried to attract their attention. He shouted, he screamed, he danced, he jumped up and down, he shouted while jumping up and down, he ran in circles and waved a stick. None of the birds paid any attention to him; none even slowed down.

Many animals would have given up, but not Mr Tortoise. He decided he would compose a song to the vulture; he thought the vulture might just be vain enough to stop and listen. That night he finished composing the song and the next morning positioned himself in a nice open spot by the side of a field. When he saw the first birds in the sky he started to sing his song:

The vulture is so good

The vulture is so wise

Everyone admires him

As he flies through the skie-ie-ie-ie-ies

The vulture heard snatches of the song, and he was intrigued, so he came down to land and strode over majestically to where Mr Tortoise was sitting. When Mr Tortoise saw vulture approaching, he sang again:

The vulture is so good

The vulture is so wise

Everyone admires him

As he flies through the skie-ie-ie-ie-ies

Aaaah, the vulture exclaimed, what a beautiful voice! What enticing music! Mr Tortoise thanked him profusely for his praise, then asked very politely if he could ask a favour of Mr Vulture. Certainly, the vulture beamed, go ahead my lyrical friend!

Tortoise explained that because of the drought, there was no food left where they were living, if Mr Vulture could only give him a lift to the other side of the mountain, so that he could look after his family. Vulture readily agreed to help his new friend. He raised himself and flapped his wings. Just hang on to my waist, Mr Tortoise, and we’ll be there in no time at all.

Mr Tortoise grabbed hold of Vulture’s scraggy feathers, Vulture flapped his giant wings, took a few great strides, and up they went. And vulture had been quite right, it seemed to take hardly any time at all and they were floating over the mountains, and Tortoise could see a glimmer of green appearing below. A few more flaps of those giant wings, and they were landing in the middle of a truly amazing landscape. The place was covered in trees and bushes carrying every fruit imaginable, mangos, bananas, pears, oranges, apples, pineapple, papaya, plums, you name it, it grew here in abundance.

Tortoise walked around in a daze, he picked an apple here, tasted some mango there, found some blackberries on a small bush. The most remarkable thing was that apart from the birds who must have discovered this pleasure paradise flying over it, there seemed to be no other animals here at all! This set our Mr Tortoise thinking.

Now you may have realised already that Mr Tortoise was not just any old tortoise, but that he had a very good brain, and a great imagination. So, slowly but surely, he hatched a plan. The next morning he found a spot on the hillside which gave a good view of the orchard, he stood upright and started speaking in as loud a voice as he could muster:

Yo! Yo! All you birds, listen to me for a few moments! Yo! Yo! I have bad news for you all! I’m afraid you’re all trespassing here on this land. This land belonged to my great great grandfather. When he died he gave it to my grandfather. And my grandfather left it to my daddy, and my daddy, well now, my daddy he gave it to me before he died.

There was consternation among the birds, they weren’t sure how to take this news.

Then Mr Tortoise carried on: I’m going to count to three, and at the count of three, I want all of you to have left this place.

ONE!

Hey, Mr Tortoise, you’re joking aren’t you?

Is he joking?

No, man, he’s not joking!

TWO!

Some of the birds started flying. We thought you were joking! We never intended to trespass, after all, we’re all just law abiding citizens, you know. More and more birds flew off.

THREE!

Now they were all leaving. Mr Tortoise looked for his friend, Vulture. When he saw him, he ran up to him and called out: Heyo, Vulture, hold on, you’re my friend aren’t you, you can stay here with me.

After feasting on the fruit for several hours, Mr Tortoise had another idea. He really wanted to find out exactly what he had here. So he approached Vulture and said: Vulture, you’re going to carry me high into the sky! Then I will know how big my own land is, and I will see how useful it will be.

Vulture replied: Yessirr! Hang on to my waist. So Mr Tortoise clung on to Vulture’s waist, Vulture flapped his wings, gently at first, and up and up and up he went.

It was very breezy so high up in the sky, and Mr Tortoise was enjoying himself. Whoa, whoa, he shouted, this is wonderful, I’m enjoying this breeze, it’s just beautiful!. Then, in his excitement he started scratching Vulture’s armpits; that was not such a wise thing to do.

Please, screeched Vulture, I am ticklish, do-do-do-don’t do that PLEEEEASE, Stop it, please, I’m sooooo ticklish!.

Unfortunately Tortoise wouldn’t stop. In desperation Vulture shook his wings so violently that Mr Tortoise lost his grip. He went down and down and down and down and down, and there was nothing at all to stop him. It was Mr Tortoise’s rather bad fortune to land in a place that was covered in hard jagged rocks, there was an enormous crashing sound when he made contact with he rocks. Cracks appeared all over the body of Mr Tortoise.

He tried to shout for help, but his voice only made a very small sound. Luckily for Mr Tortoise Vulture saw him lying there, his body all cracked up, and felt sorry for him. So Vulture decided to get the ambulance, and they managed to get him to a hospital. Because he was in such a bad way and looked as if he could die any minute there and then, Mr Tortoise was taken straight into the operating theatre and three doctors started work on him. They worked for hours on end, stitching, stitching, stitching all the cracks in his shell.

Eventually all the sores healed and he was discharged, but of course he was left with the scars, and that is why every time you see a tortoise you can still see the scars on the back of his shell.

Ananse’s Funeral

Ananse’s Funeral

Africa is the cradle of humanity, such stories about life and superstition mostly started here, written in rocks in caves. This one is an example of a fairy tale story from Africa.

In the time that all animals still lived together, there once lived a spider called Ananse. He lived in a village with his relatives and all kinds of other animals: hyena, porcupine, squirrel, guineafowl, the chameleon, the warthog and many, many more…

Ananse was one of the village elders, and one day he summoned all his friends and relations to discuss how they could all do more to help each other. Since they were all farmers, they decided it would be a good idea if they would all go to help one individual each day to plough, weed, harvest, whatever needed doing in the fields or around the house. For example, on Monday, they would start at Ananse’s uncle’s farm to help, on Tuesday it would be his grandfather and on Wednesday it would be his nephew’s turn. Ananse put himself in charge of this program and he saw to it that everyone joined in and helped out. After a month or so or so, he was having a quiet sit down in front of his house, and he started thinking.

“You know, he said to himself, I think I can see a way to benefit from this arrangement. I could pretend to be really ill, so I can’t help out with the others, and by the time I’m well again, all the work on my farm will be done!”

So the next morning, Ananse stayed in his bed, and when his nephew came to call on him told him: “Oo oo yoo, my dear nephew, this body of mine is really sick today, I’m afraid I can’t join you today”. Ananse’s nephew told the others that his uncle was sick. They were all very concerned, and decided that the next day, they would all go and help out at Ananse’s farm. This went on for several weeks, and Ananse’s condition got no better.

One or two people started to whisper: “It’s all very well us helping out on Ananse’s farm, when is he going to give us a hand?” Ananse heard the complaints, and realized that he wouldn’t be able to pretend for much longer. He decided he would have to do something to make everybody believe that he was really very sick. The next day he called some of his relatives together and said to them: “This illness of mine has been going on for some time, and it doesn’t look as if I’m getting any better. In fact I feel worse every day. In fact I think I’m going to die”. Some of his relatives protested, “No, no, uncle, you won’t die!” “No, no, my brother, I will call on the medicine man and get you some herbs.”

But Ananse told them he was getting weaker all the time, and started making his funeral arrangements.

“When I die, he said, you should bury me on my brother Kwami’s farm. I have always loved his yams, and I would like to be buried next to them”.

Kwami agreed that his brother could be buried there; after all it’s very difficult not to grant a dying man his last wish. Ananse continued giving his instructions: they should dig a nice big hole, and line the walls with cloth, so that his spirit would be comfortable. They should put pots and pans and cooking utensils in the grave, so that his spirit would be able to prepare food for himself. Ananse’s relations set to work digging the grave, while Ananse himself pretended that his condition was getting worse all the time.

Soon he learnt that the grave was finished, so the next time he saw someone approaching his house, he pretended to be dead. They tried to wake him, but Ananse wouldn’t wake up, so they decided that he must indeed be dead. The next day they took his body and laid it in the grave, which had indeed been prepared they way Ananse had instructed. There were pots and pans and cooking utensils. That same night, Ananse climbed out of the grave and started collecting yams from the field, which he hid in his tomb. He cooked some of them. He made fufu with some of them. When daylight approached, Ananse hid in his tomb and slept. The next night he collected more yams, and feasted again. This carried on for one month. Eventually Kwami noticed that somebody had been stealing his yams. He thought long and hard, who could have done this to him? Normally he would have suspected Ananse, because he knew what his cunning brother was like, but he was dead, and he just couldn’t think who else could be doing this to him.

Kwami decided to set a trap. He went to see the carpenter, and got some sturdy wooden poles, which he took back to his farm, where he poured tar all over them, and placed them strategically around his field, like scarecrows. Except these scarecrows weren’t meant scare, but to trap.

Kwami was sure that the thief, whoever he was, would either touch one of the poles, and get tar all over himself, or leave a mark of some kind by which he could be identified.

That night when Ananse came out of his tomb to help himself to a few more of his brother’s yams he immediately spotted a figure standing in the middle of the field.

“Oh Oh, he thought, somebody’s watching me!”

But he noticed the figure just stood there, not moving at all. His curiosity got the better of him, and he slowly crept up to the figure. As the pole didn’t stand very tall, Ananse figured it must be a young boy. He decided to play a trick on the child, he crept up to it, and said to it: “I’ve just seen your mother out looking for you. She said you have to come home to have your dinner”.

But there was no reaction from the scarecrow.

Ananse repeated: “Your mother has been looking for you! Your dinner is waiting for you!”

But there was still no reaction. Ananse got quite annoyed at the child’s insolence. “Look, I’m talking to you, you vagabond! Why don’t you answer me?”

Still no reply, and Ananse got even more annoyed. “Do you want me to give you a slap? Very well, I’ll slap you, and then we’ll see what happens”. With that Ananse gave the scarecrow a big slap, and his hand got stuck in the tar. He pulled, but he couldn’t get loose.

“Let go of me, you rascal, he shouted. Let go of this hand!”

He screamed at the wooden pole to let go of his hand, “Let go of me or I’ll slap you again!”, and he slapped with his free hand. And immediately that one got stuck in the tar as well. Ananse got more and more agitated and angry.

“I’ll give you a good kicking, if you don’t let go of me!” He kicked the scarecrow with his left foot, and that got stuck. He kicked again with his right foot, and that got stuck as well. Ananse was now well and truly stuck to the scarecrow, he tried pulling as hard as he could, but there was no way he was going to pull himself free. In the end he was so exhausted he had to give up, and cried himself to sleep.

As soon as the sun was up, Ananse’s brother Kwami came strolling into his field, eager to see if his plan had worked. He looked around carefully and saw that no more of his yams had been stolen, so that part of the plan had worked. Smiling to himself, he went round to inspect the tarred poles, when lo and behold he saw the figure of a spider attached to it. As he hurried closer he recognized his brother, Ananse.

Kwami exclaimed: “Ananse! Ananse! What are you doing here, you are supposed to be dead!”

Coolly, Ananse replied: “Ananse is indeed dead, it is his ghost you are looking at!”

You may have gathered by now that Kwami was rather naïve, and he was also very superstitious, so when he heard these words, he really believed this was a ghost addressing him. He became very scared and ran away! He ran straight back to the village, calling out to everybody he passed: “Ananse’s ghost! I’ve just seen Ananse’s ghost!” People gathered round him, wanting to know more. Kwami told them he’d seen Ananse’s ghost, stuck to a pole he’d put up on his farm. Of course the villagers all wanted to see this, so they all started running to Kwami’s farm. There they saw for themselves the figure of Ananse still glued to the pole.

“What are you doing here, they asked, You’re supposed to be dead. We buried you not so long ago!”

“You’re looking at my ghost!” wailed Ananse, who by now was getting very uncomfortable. The villagers too were scared, and they were about to run away, when Ananse cried out: “Stop, stop! Why are you running away? I’m your relation, aren’t I? There’s no need to be so scared! And anyway, I need your help! I need help!”

One of the braver men came a little closer, and asked: “What kind of help do you need, Ananse brother?”

Ananse replied: “I’m stuck to this tarred pole, can’t you see? I need help to pull me free!”

Two or three of them worked up enough courage to approach, and started pulling at him. Ananse was giving them instructions: “Pull here, a little more on this side, a little harder here!”

But one of the villagers who’d been pulling at Ananse’s leg, stood back and scratched his head. “Wait a minute, he said. This is not a ghost! This is the real Ananse. He’s not dead at all!”

They all stopped pulling and heaving. “Yea, said another, how can a ghost be instructing us to pull here and pull there?” They started hitting him with sticks, throwing mud at him and raining insults on him. After a while Kwami took pity on his brother, and asked them to stop. They pulled him loose, and told him to leave the village, and never to show his face again. After Ananse was banned all his family members were so ashamed that they too decided to leave the village, and that’s to this day, whenever you see a spider it is always trying to hide somewhere, in a crack in the floor or a dark corner, because it is still ashamed of what its ancestor Ananse got up to.