Animal tales from Africa
Hannah Bell
language
(Rosslyn Press, March 12, 2015)
This classic collection of animal tales is quintessentially African. The animals are sly and wise, proud and ingenious in the defeat of natural disadvantages and in the face of each other’s competition. This version of the race between the elephant and the tortoise is unique, and fits seamlessly into stories of the hare’s pranks, the baboon’s attempts to drink the hare’s entire supply of milk and the explanations of why cats live with people (a cunning feminist fable!) and chickens scratch in the ground. Such tales can be of enormous value as a teaching tool, marvellous entertainment and cannot avoid having a good-humoured unifying effect on all who share in their humanity.