151 Tales From Africa

Once, a woman had eight sons and a stepson named Kore. Kore was very brave. His step-brothers were jealous of him and wanted to kill him. One day, they said to their mother, “Let’s get rid of him.” She agreed. All of them planned to send Kore to the forest to be eaten up by […]

Once upon a time, a thorn got stuck in a jackal’s paw. “Oh, Oh!” he cried as he walked through the forest. Suddenly, he saw an old woman passing by. “Please help me,” he said, “Pull the thorn out of my paw.” The old woman pulled the thorn out. The jackal thanked her and went

Once upon a time, Sheikh Nasreddin was sitting at the window of his house. It was raining heavily. Suddenly, he saw his neighbour running in the rain. Sheikh Nasreddin called out, “This rain is a gift from God. Why are you running from it?” The neighbour was confused and did not know what to say.

Once upon a time, the Chief wanted to give a feast. So, he sent the messengers all around to announce that each guest would bring a jug of palm wine. One man wanted to attend the feast but had no wine at home. He did not want to spend money on buying the wine. He

Once upon a time, the mother hen warned her children not to go near the well and play around it. So, they never went near the well. But, one day one little chicken went to the well. ‘Why is the well so bad?’ he thought. Everything appeared all right to him. He was curious to

Long ago, a man lived in Obobo sub-district in Pokedi village. He was very upset with his son’s weakness. One day, while talking to his friend, the man told him about his will. He said that his son was too lazy and so he could not leave all his property, his sorghum, maize and ground-nuts

Long ago, there was a Zulu girl whose mother had died. Her stepmother was very cruel to her. One day, she was crying at her mother’s grave. Suddenly, the earth of the grave parted and a stalk started growing out of it. Soon, it grew into a tree. The wind rustled its leaves and the

Once upon a time, a man was carrying a sheep. A hare saw him and wanted the sheep for himself. He took off his left shoe, kept it on the road and hid behind the bushes. The man saw the shoe and liked it. But, he did not need one shoe. The hare ran, put

Agenga stayed with the King. One day, he went and sat where the people had assembled. Agenga had put his shoes on the grass roof of the shelter where the King would sit. The King came and sat without looking at the shoes. When everyone sat and conversed, Agenga went and sat near the King.

Long ago, a thief was walking along the road. On the way, he met a man who lived near by in a small house. The thief said to him, “Take me to your house. I want to stay with you tonight.” The man was foolish and said to the thief, “If you come along to