All about history book of myths and legends. ( PDFDrive )

SOUTHERN AFRICA

THE TORTOISE AND THE HARE

There was once a severe shortage of water in the jungle, so all

the animals (except for the hare, who could not be bothered)

tried to make the water come back. Finally, only the tortoise

succeeded, by stamping on the dry riverbed until a pool of water

appeared. The animals feared that the lazy and cunning hare

would try to steal the water, so they took turns to stand guard

over the pool each night. First the hyena stood guard, then the

lion, but the hare tricked both of them, and took away a few

calabashes of water. Then the tortoise ofered to stand guard:

he covered his shell with sticky bird lime and hid at the bottom

of the pool. When the hare came, he assumed that the water

was unguarded. He drank his fill, and then jumped in for a

bath. His feet stuck to the tortoise’s shell and he remained

trapped there until the morning, when all the other animals

came to see what had happened, and tied him up as punishment.

Opposite characters

The tortoise and the hare

feature in many tales as

contrasting characters,

the hare being fast but

impetuous and easily

bored, while the tortoise

is slow but wise.

Storytelling forms an important part of the culture of the peoples of

Southern Africa. Legends and folk tales encompass a variety of topics,

but abiding themes are the unusual birth and adventures of

miraculous “wonder-children” and mythical encounters with

animals. Many of these stories combine unusual or unexplained

happenings with a firm grounding in the realities of the natural

world and everyday life, such as drought and famine.

Southern African Folk Tales

BANTU PEOPLES

There are some 400 ethnic groups known as Bantu,

who speak related languages. They originated in

Central and East Africa, but many had migrated

southwards by the 11th century. The Southern

African groups include the Xhosa and the Zulu, who

traditionally made their living by farming and raising

cattle. These peoples have a rich tradition of arts and

crafts, and a deep store of myths, from creation stories

(^134) to tales explaining the origin of death. Bantu artefacts