There had been a terrible drought, with intense heat that had dried up the rivers, streams and springs, until there was no water anywhere. The animals wandered far and wide in search of water, but could not find any. Nowhere was water freely flowing. The animals held a meeting, and all of the large animals…

One day, a God asked Mayimba the Honey Bird to meet with him. The God gave the Mayimba three gourds which were all sealed, and gave the Honey Bird the following instruction, “Go to the man and the woman I first created, and give them these three gourds. But you are not to open them…

Once there was a great famine on earth, and all the animals were very thin and weak from want of food; but there was one exception, and that was the tortoise and all his family. They were very fat, and did not seem to suffer at all. Even the leopard was very thin, in spite…

It was while grazing one night under the watchful eye of the king of the night and his tribe of stars, that the leader of a herd of very strong buffaloes decided to move to a place where there was better grazing. They journeyed for many days and arrived at a place where life was…

Long ago, Nile Crocodile was in charge of all the water creatures and it was his duty to ensure their well-being. So, one year, when no storm clouds formed in the land was ravaged by drought, Crocodile grew worried about the animals as drinking water had become scarce. When the river became a dry, sandy…

From sunrise to sunset, old Bushcat was out hunting, but she had not been successful in finding food, not even a snake. So, exhausted, she lay down in the shade of an old gnarled tree that was about the same age as she was. They had both known almost 20 summers. But Bushcat was restless…

It once happened that a leopard and a dog were very great friends; the leopard was, however, the owner of the house in which they lived; the dog was treated more as a servant than a friend by the leopard. When the rainy season began, the leopard said to the dog, “Let us go and…

One day a cobra fell down a deep crack in the ground and couldn’t get out. A man passed by, and heard a strangled voice calling: “Help! Save me!” The man peered down the crack, and immediately jumped back in alarm. The cobra is man’s great enemy. The cobra said: “Please, pull me out!” Still…

Long, long ago, the man-in-the-moon and his wife Atai, had a quarrel which led to very strange results. These two were the royalty of the skies once the sun had gone down. The man you all know, he looked then as he does now. Sometimes he was smiling, sometimes he looked grim. His wife was…

There was once a herd of elephants who went to gather honey to take to their in-laws.  As they were walking along, they came upon Hare who was just about to cross the river. She said to one of them: “Father, please help me get across the river.” The elephant agreed to this request and…

The goat and his mother lived alone in their village. He said to her, “I have here a magic-medicine to make one strong in wrestling. There is no one who can overcome me, or cast me down; I can overcome any other person.” The other beasts heard of this boast; and they took up the…