Folktale: The Honeyguide’s Revenge
A Zulu folktale about Gingile, a greedy young hunter who refused to share honey with the honeyguide bird, and the lesson the bird taught him.
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Folktale: The Magic Calabash
A West African-style tale about a generous farmer, a calabash that gives food to those who share, and a greedy merchant who learned the hard way.
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Folktale: The Lion’s Whisker
An Ethiopian folktale about a woman who must pluck a whisker from a living lion, and what it teaches about patience, love and building trust.
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Folktale: The Talking Skull
A famous West African folktale about a hunter who finds a skull that speaks, the king who does not believe him, and the danger of saying too much.
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Folktale: The Boy and the Talking Drum
A Yoruba-inspired tale about young Kunle, his grandfather’s sacred talking drum (dundun), and the day he learned that words carry power.
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The Epic of Mwindo: The Hero Born Walking
A retelling of the Mwindo epic of the Nyanga people of the Democratic Republic of the Congo: the hero born walking, his jealous father, and his journey to the underworld.
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Folktale: The Singing Tortoise
A gentle animal tale about Timba, a shy tortoise with a beautiful voice, and a proud lion who learned that greatness does not always look strong.
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Folktale: Why Tortoise Has No Hair
A Yoruba folktale about Ijapa the tortoise, a pot of hot yam porridge and a stolen meal hidden under his hat, and why tortoises are bald to this day.
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Keeping Your Mother Tongue Alive at Home
A practical plan, ideas by age, where to find help and a weekly checklist for raising children who can talk to their grandparents.
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Folktale: The Tortoise and the Birds (Why Tortoise’s Shell Is Cracked)
The classic West African folktale of how greedy Tortoise borrowed feathers to attend a feast in the sky, named himself “All of You”, and ended up with a cracked shell.
