African Heroes, Legends and Myths

Mbe the tortoise considered himself the wisest of all creatures, he had proven this over and over again but as he grew older, he became paranoid What if some one becomes wiser than i am, who would respect me then.. The tortoise came up with a plan, he would gather all the wisdom in the world and lock it away and so his journey around the globe began First he visited the kings of birds and stole the secret of flight, then he went to the great Python from whom he stole the secret of stealth. From the Elephant he stole strength, from the Lion he stole ferocity. He tricked the giant Rat to teach him the secret of dungeons and the Antelope taught him the usefulness of grass After the tortoise was done visiting all the creatures and kingdoms of the world and stealing what ever knowledge they had, he was finally pleased. He gathered the wisdom into a gourd and hung it on his neck, then he resolved to hide the wisdom he had gathered at the top of the world's tallest palm tree. It

A long time ago, Anansi the smartest of all creatures and the Baboon were friends. They laughed, played and feasted together. It was said that they were inseparable Anansi enjoyed his friendship with the Baboon as he benefited more from their collaboration, when ever they went out to hunt for food, Anansi would devise ways to cheat the Baboon so he always took the bigger share home. The baboon did not mind, he knew his friend was a glutton One day the duo went out to search for food as usual and came around a banana plant teeming with ripe bananas. The Baboon loved bananas but it is said that in the those days, Anansi loved bananas as much as his friend. On sighting these succulent fruits, Anansi began to scheme. He wanted the banana all to himself While the Baboon wanted to share the bananas equally with his friend, Anansi came up with an idea. He convinced Baboon that one of them should have all the bananas while the other should get the stump of the plant Baboon : why w

Once there was a king who had a very beautiful daughter, her name was Bola Bola was enchanting to look at but she had one fault. She had never spoken a word in her life. The king summoned the best medicine men in the land and they brewed various talking potions but none of them worked As the daughter would still not speak, the king became desperate.. so he made an announcement KING: Any one who can make my daughter talk, i shall give her hand in marriage to that person and i will offer half my land The tortoise heard the reward and set out to get it He bought a bottle of honey and placed it by a bush near where Bola lived while he hid himself. When Bola came by and saw the bottle of honey, she put her hand in it and tasted the sweet liquid. Immediately Tortoise jumped out of his hiding place and grabbed Bola by the hand Thief!? he cried. ?So it is you who steal my honey and eat it.? Tortoise then tied Bola with a rope and started to lead her back to the palace singing,

Once upon a time, the tortoise had hair on his head until ....well, one fateful act of greediness The king had become so prosperous that he decided to host a feast for the all the animals, so he sent the tortoise out give the announce. They should all be at his palace before sunset But the tortoise was never one who liked to share meals with others, this feast should be for him alone, he thought. After all it was him who provided all the wealth of wisdom that helped the king to become so successful The tortoise went out and announced Tortoise: The king has decided to host a feast for everyone, you all are invited to the palace. Make sure sure you arrive after sunset  The day of the feast came and bowls of hot meals were served but the tortoise was the only one around to devour them. This was exactly what he wanted, so he rejoiced Bowl by bowl, the tortoise ate and drank but sunset would soon be upon him and the animals would begin to show up. The tortoise had no plan to

A long time ago, in the outskirts of Jago village, there lived a lioness and her cub, whose name was Kako. The lioness was very fond of her baby and every night before he went to sleep, she sang the song “Kulumbu Yeye” (Bouncy Baby). Kulumbu yeye Oyeye kulumbu Kulumbu yeye Oyeye kulumbu A o fotun gbomo jo Kulumbu yeye Oyeye kulumbu A o fosi gbomo pon Kulumbu yeye, oyeye kulumbu. As the days went by, Kako and her cub grew so fond of each other that they were literally inseparable, until one fateful day. As was usual, the lioness prepared to go hunting for food. Her cub wanted to go with her and said, “Mother, can I hunt with you? It is boring just lazing around in the sun.” ‘“No.” The lioness was emphatic. “As you know, it is getting increasingly difficult to get good meat near home. Today I want to explore new territories and I will only take you once I know it is safe.” “All right, I’ll wait for you here,” said Kako disappointedly as he watched his mother disap

Once upon a time there lived a man, his name was Kweku Anansi. Kweku was both greedy and selfish and even after her got married, he had no desire to share his food with his new wife One day, he went to God to complain that his wife was nothing more than an extra mouth to feed. He also complained that she was eating his share of the food at home. God asked Kweku, ‘What would you like me to do about this problem?’ ‘God, please give me a wife with no mouth upon her face,’ replied Kweku. God looked upon Kweku with bemusement as the trickster never failed to surprise him with his strange reasoning and outlandish plans. ‘Okay,’ said God. ‘Come the morning I shall give you a new wife with no mouth upon her face.’ Kweku was so excited that he went straight to the supermarket to buy yams and plantains for the next day. ‘Finally,’ thought the greedy man, ‘all of the food that I buy will be for me alone to eat!’ Waking up to a beautiful sunny morning, Kweku Anansi saw his new wife

A long time ago, there was a boy called Atilola. His parents loved him dearly because he was their only child and so they made sure that he got whatever he wanted. They treated him like a delicate egg and would not allow anyone to reprimand him, even when he behaved very badly. Because of this, Atilola grew to be a selfish, arrogant and spoilt child who found it difficult to obey instructions. One day, during the rainy season, Atilola, told his mother that he was going outside to play with his friends. ‘Stay in the neighbourhood and do not wander off into the valley; the sky is heralding rain,’ warned his mother. But, as usual, Atilola ignored his mother’s advice and ran off to find his friends. ‘Let’s go and look for honey in the beehive in Oyin valley,’ Atilola said to his friends once they had gathered together on the edge of the village. The boys agreed, and so they all set off on the four mile journey in search of honey. But as the boys approached Oyin they noticed that

A long time ago, there lived a mouse and a frog who were very good friends. Every morning the frog would go to visit the mouse who lived in a hole inside a tree. The mouse very much enjoyed the company of the frog, but the mouse did not realize that the frog was growing increasingly frustrated because it was always him who had to visit the mouse and never the other way around The frog was gradually beginning to make an enemy of him. One afternoon, when it was time to return home, the frog decided that he had had enough of this one-sided friendship, he would drag the mouse to his home. And so the frog tied one end of a piece of string to his leg, and then tied the other end of the piece of string to the little mouse’s tail without him noticing The frog waved his friend goodbye and dived into the pond at the foot of the tree far below. All at once, completely to his surprise, the string pulled tight on the mouse’s tail and he was dragged from the safety of his tree and sent tumb

Once upon a time there live a spider, his name was Anansi and he didn't like to cook. To feed, Anansi would visit his friends just when their meal was ready One morning Anansi was hungry and as usual choose the option of visiting his friends over cooking. So he went to the Rabbit's house and headed straight to the kitchen but the food was not prepared yet. The Rabbit was preparing green veggies Anansi:  Those are some lovely greens you are cooking, Rabbit ‘ Why don’t you stay for breakfast? ’ replied the friendly rabbit. ‘The greens are not yet cooked, but they will be soon.’ Anansi knew that if he stayed while the meal was still cooking, then Rabbit would surely give him chores to do, and the greedy spider did not visit his friend in order to do chores. So Anansi said to Rabbit : Please forgive me, dear friend, but I have some things I must do right away. Why don’t I spin a length of web and tie one end around my leg and the other end around your cooking pot. That way

Once upon a time, the Tortoise was slow and he knew he was slow... But he did not like the fact that he was never invited to compete in a race even though other animals like the Caterpillar whom he considered slow were often invited to compete. So, he decided to end it

Once upon a time, a great king ruled the kingdom of Gbogan, after winning several great victories for his people he became ill due to accumulated injuries. All the medicine men in the kingdom and neighbouring kingdoms tried to treat him but to no avail. Finally it was concluded that Ikumejakako, the most dreaded amongst herbalist should be consulted, so the king sent his chief to the evil forest to fetch the man who was once banished for his daring methods