African Folktales

This children's storybook contains five African folktales. The first story explains How the Tortoise Got Its Rough Shell. The animals had a summit with the supreme being, Eke, in the sky. Greed and lack of altruism cost the Tortoise dearly, as he crash-landed onto the roof of his hut from the sky. His broken shells were mended by Snail, but the result was a tortoise with rough shells. Altruism and concern for others are the morals of this story.



The second story which extols the pride of motherhood is on The Farmer Who Buried His Mother Alive. Donealot, the successful farmer, had no choice other than to bury his persistently sick mother in the evil forest at night with the help of his friend, Conscience. The spirits of the evil forest brought his mother back home to a remorseful son with a sobering message, "You can never do enough for your mother."



Encounters of the Lion and the Tortoise is the third story. In two separate incidents, Tortoise outwits Lion. The animals that were on their way to work for Lion never got there. Instead, Tortoise intercepted and entertained them all day with his melodious music. Wiseone, the youngest son of Tortoise, survived a murder attempt by Lion. Agunta, Lion's son, was killed instead. Wiseone returns home to a heroic welcome, with a reminder to all of us that wits usually prevail over raw strength, and that slow and steady wins the race.



The story of The Two Mischievous Brothers describes how two brothers, Kofi and Uka, conspired to swindle people. On market days, Uka would transform himself into a bull, and his brother Kofi took him to the market. Unsuspecting buyers would exchange the bull for other animals. Uka, the bull, escaped from the buyer and transformed himself back into a human, only to be resold to someone else. The two brothers ran out of luck when Nkume, the buyer with magical powers, beat them to their game. The moral of the story is that it does not pay to be a cheat.



The fifth story, Vengeance of the God of Justice - Amadioha, explains the ordeal Chuk went through at the hands of his wicked stepmother, Dab. This heir to the throne of the ancient city of Kaa survived numerous physical and emotional abuses from Dab. He was buried alive for a crime he never committed. Only the timely intervention of the god of justice - Amadioha brought him back from the grave. The moral of the story is that we should be careful not to maltreat the less-privileged in our society, because the natural law of justice is sure to catch up with us if we treat others unfairly.