This is a South African, Zulu Story

A woman's children aske her for stories every night, but she has none to tell. So, she asks the neighbors and they don't have any stories either. Finally, her husband sends her out into the world,promising to take care of the children, so she can go and collect stories.

The first thing she meets is a hare, “Known for their trickster ways.” He tells her he has plenty of tales, but no time to tell them to her, then runs away.

The woman goes to find a place to lie down and she encounters a baboon. The baboon is a mom too, and when the woman asks her if she has any stories to share, the baboon replies “Do you think I have time for stories?”

The next animal she meets is a wood owl. It just cries “Who are you? Who are you?”

Then she meets and elephant. It tells her to ask the fish eagle, Nkwazi. She spots it and cries out, causing the fish eagle to drop its fish. She tells it that it is very wise, which pleases it. It goes out to get a large sea turtle for her.

The sea turtle takes her on a journey under the sea where she meets the King and Queen of the Seas. THey request a picture of her family from “dry land,” so she goes back and gets the gift. Her husband carves a sculpture for her.She takes it back to the King and Queen and they are very happy. They give her a necklace and a shell and tell her whenever she needs a story to just hold the shell to her ear.

She returns to her village and everyone is excited to see her. Her children beg for a story, so shelifts the shell to her ear and begins by saying “Kwasukesukela,” or “Once upon a time…”

Swazi, Swaziland

The sonof a king is given charge over the king's cattle. He is paranoid about losing them so he watches them very closely. It gets hot and he has to fight sleepiness. An old woman points to a smooth boulder and tells him it is his boulder and a safe place. She then teaches him a magic song “Cattle, cattle, come to me…”

Eventually, the boy falls asleep and the cattle are stolen. The king tells him not to come back until he has the cattle. He meets the old woman again and she tells him to go and ask a chief to let him work for him. He meets a chief and he makes the boy his herdsmen because eh can sing the magic song.

The boy works for the chief for many years and grows into a man. He waits till there is a feast and he slips some sleeping powder into a calabash. Sure enough, all of the feasters fall asleep. The boy goes and sings to the cattle to steal them for the king.

The chiefs and his men chase the boy until he has to hide by a creek. THe old woman appears again and tells him to slaughter a white ox and make 10000 little shields. She then gives them to the frogs and whenever the boy says “Woo-ooh” they all line up like they are ready for combat. Whenever he says “Boo-ooh,” they go back to being frogs.

When the chief's men catch up to him, they are so scared at seeing 10000 frogs with shields they run back and tell the chief it was a 1000 men. The chiefs sends more men, they see the frogs, come back saying it was a huge army and not worth the cattle they stole.

The boy/man returns home to the king who is so happy to see him he gives him a wife and makes him a chief. Every night he sang the song “Cattle, cattle, come to me…”

Hausa, Nigeria

A man has two sons and one daughter. HE loves his daughter more than the boys and treats her much better. Her eldest brother tricks her into going to get firewood with them, then ties her to the top of a tree.

Some traders come along and she begs for help. One of the traders says she can't go home because her brother will kill her. So, he takes her back to his home and raises her as his own.

She is so beautiful her foster father will only let the finest man marry her. Eventually, her eldest brother, seeking a wife, bargains to marry her. He takes her back home. SHe is torn about being married to her brother and worried that her parents won't believe her. She shows them the scar on her back and they are convinced. They are so happy to have their daughter back they hold a feast. The eldest brother runs away in shame.