Other editions of book The Girl Who Married a Lion: and Other Tales from Africa

From the author of the phenomenally successful, New York Times best-selling No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency mystery series, comes this spellbinding collection of African folktales from Zimbabwe and Botswana. When a woman becomes the target of ridicule from her husband's new wife, the jilted woman befriends a talking guinea fowl, who helps her get revenge. In another tale, a young woman who lives in a cave falls victim to the wicked scheming of a dangerous cannibal. And when a woman suspects her husband is actually a lion, she asks her brother for help in driving the cunning beast away from her and her two sons, who may also be lions! The more than 30 stories in this wonderful anthology have a uniquely African flair, but still manage to tap into ideas, love, jealousy, and ambition, that are universally human. And since folktales are part of an oral history, hearing them spoken aloud by a cast of wonderfully talented, completely authentic narrators is pure magic.

Gathered here is a beguiling selection of folktales from Zimbabwe and Botswana as retold by the best-selling author of The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency. This treasury contains most of the stories previously collected in Children of Wax and seven new tales from the Setswana-speaking people of Botswana. A girl discovers that her young husband might actually be a lion in disguise, but not before they have two sons who might actually be cubs . . . When a child made of wax follows his curiosity outside into the heat of daylight and melts, his siblings shape him into a bird with feathers made of leaves that enable him to fly into the light . . . Talking hyenas, milk-giving birds, clever cannibals who nonetheless get their comeuppance, and mysterious forces that reside in the landscape—these wonderful fables bring us the wealth, the variety, and the particular magic of traditional African lore.

Gathered here is a beguiling selection of folktales from Zimbabwe and Botswana as retold by the best-selling author of The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency. This treasury contains most of the stories previously collected in Children of Wax and seven new tales from the Setswana-speaking people of Botswana. A girl discovers that her young husband might actually be a lion in disguise, but not before they have two sons who might actually be cubs . . . When a child made of wax follows his curiosity outside into the heat of daylight and melts, his siblings shape him into a bird with feathers made of leaves that enable him to fly into the light . . . Talking hyenas, milk-giving birds, clever cannibals who nonetheless get their comeuppance, and mysterious forces that reside in the landscape—these wonderful fables bring us the wealth, the variety, and the particular magic of traditional African lore.

The Ndebele people of Matabeleland, Zimbabwe, from whom these stories originate, are renowned as the proud descendants of the Zulu nation. They are also the possessors of a language rich in beauty and musicality. From animal fables to mysterious forces residing in the landscape, this collection demonstrates the wealth and variety of African folk tales and the particular magic of Africa's spiritual roots: a sense of unity with the environment. Simple, surprising, cruel and humorous, these beautifully rendered tales remain as fresh and vital as the original African idiom.

Gathered here is a beguiling selection of folktales from Zimbabwe and Botswana as retold by the best-selling author of The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency. This treasury contains most of the stories previously collected in Children of Wax and seven new tales from the Setswana-speaking people of Botswana. A girl discovers that her young husband might actually be a lion in disguise, but not before they have two sons who might actually be cubs . . . When a child made of wax follows his curiosity outside into the heat of daylight and melts, his siblings shape him into a bird with feathers made of leaves that enable him to fly into the light . . . Talking hyenas, milk-giving birds, clever cannibals who nonetheless get their comeuppance, and mysterious forces that reside in the landscape—these wonderful fables bring us the wealth, the variety, and the particular magic of traditional African lore.

How can a girl possibly have married a lion? How can a man have a tress growing out of his head? And how can a woman have children made of wax? The stories in this collection make these questions seem simple, everyday ones—then deftly supplies simple, everyday answers. Surprising and humorous, these beautifully rendered tales demonstrate McCall Smith's renowned storytelling skills.