151 Tales From Africa

Once upon a time, there was an old man who lived alone. He ate and slept alone. One day, at the time of the dinner, a strange young man came to his house. The old man was disappointed as he did not want to share his food with the young man. The old man thought […]

There was a strong young cat, which caught many mice. All the mice were afraid of him. With the passage of time, he grew old and could no longer catch mice. One day, he decided to play a trick on the mice. He lay on his back, unmoved. A mouse saw him and thought he

A dog and a jackal were friends and lived together in the forest. They used to hunt together and then eat together. One day, they had bad luck at hunting. As night fell, they felt hungry. A cold wind blew and they shivered with cold. “Oh,” said the dog, “It is so bad to be

It was evening. Two strangers came to a remote village. They met the chief of the village and asked to spend the night in the village. “Oh, yes, my dear visitors,” said the chief. The chief said that they had a house for strangers in the village and they could sleep there. At the same

Long, long ago, it was believed that there was a link between heaven and the earth. People could easily travel from the earth to heaven using a string that connected the two. It was easy for anyone to go to heaven and come back to the earth. Similarly, if anyone from heaven wished to visit

Long ago, in central Africa lived Chiruwi, a half-man creature. He had only half a body, one arm, one leg and one side of a torso. He was invisible if looked at from one side and would suddenly appear and challenge any man to wrestle with him. If a man defeated Chiruwi, the creature would

Long ago, a girl of the Chaga tribe went out with her friends to cut grass. She saw a spot where the grass was thick and beautiful. But, the moment she put her foot there, she started sinking into the thick mud below the grass. Her friends grabbed her hand and tried to pull her

Long, long ago, the animals had almost no tails. One day, the lion called all the animals to get good tails from him. It was raining and was very cold. The hare had a short little tail but he did not want to go out. So, he said to the other animals, “Please bring me

Once upon a time, there were two girls, Afia and Femi, who were very good friends. They were always together and loved each other very much. They bought the same dresses and ate the same food. When people looked at them, they always said, “What good friends they are!” But, there was a young man

Once upon a time, there was a King who used to call writers, poets and musicians from all over the world to see him. The King loved to hear their stories, poems and music. Though the King liked all, one of them was his favourite. His name was Mahamood. Everyone in the kingdom called him

Once, there was a very large cave whose top part was dry while the bottom was filled with water. In the dry part, there lived many animals but in the water, a crocodile lived alone. At times, he came out of the cave for a very short duration. One day, a hunter came near the

A hen went to the river daily to drink water. One day, a crocodile came up to her and threatened to eat her. But she cried, “Oh, brother, don’t eat me!” The crocodile was surprised and went away. But he wondered how she could be her sister. Next day, he again went to the river

Once upon a time, a chameleon and a dog were friends. One day, the chameleon asked the dog, “Why do you sometimes go with the man?” The dog replied that he was friends with the man. Once, when a hunter and the dog went hunting, they killed an antelope and carried it to the hunter’s

Long ago, there was a poor but a clever man named Abhilas. Once the Chief called for Abhilas and he came to the Chief’s house. The Chief said, “I have heard that you are very clever. I want you to build me a house in the sky in three days. If you are not able

Long ago, the Sun and the Moon lived together on the earth. The Water was their best friend and they often visited him. But the Water never went to the Sun’s house. So, one day, the Sun asked the Water, “Why don’t you come to see us?” The Water replied that the Sun’s house was