THE TALE OF KGODUMO-DUMO

A TALE OF KGODUMO-DUMO

A story from Lesotho

A long long time ago, under the mountains of Lesotho there lived a creature that used to terrorise and eat anything that was on its path. It swallowed people, cows, chickens, goats, horses, anything that it could smell and get its paws on. It looked like a snake, but it was not a snake, it had big red eyes on the back of its head, a big mouth, big ears, huge feet and a big belly. Everyone was scared of it, and it was called Kgodimodimo.  When this creature was moving, everyone knew because the mountains would shake, when it was sleeping everyone knew because the land also heaved up and down and almost everyone was deaf because of its snoring.

On the other part of the mountain there was a woman who lived with his son. The young man’s name was Moshanyana wa Senkatana(son of Senkatana). Moshanyana wa Senkatana and his mother lived in fear because of this beast. But again the hiding and the running away from the beast made the young man to grow up big, strong and clever because he had to think of ways to outwit the beast at all times. He learned to climb mountains and hide their livestock in the caves where the beast would not reach.

 One day the king had called a meeting, kgodimodimo had done it again, the creature had swallowed half of the palace and the princess. The King had offered half his kingdom to anyone who would save the princess. Now the young man sat down and thought about this very hard, his mother was getting older and it was getting hard for her to run around to hide.

Then he had a plan, he took his knife, dried grass and wood and put it in his bag so that when the creature swallowed him, it swallowed the bag also. He left for the mountains to where Kgodimodimo was. He also had his big spear with him and with it he started poking the animal. As expected the creature saw him and swallowed him with his bag of goodies.

 Once he was inside, he saw his neighbours, the villagers, the princess and a lot of animals. It was another village inside the beast’s belly!!!. Some people were even getting married inside there!. Because Kgodimodimo swallowed everything in its path, people and animals were getting hungrier and hungrier because there were no means of cooking.  But Moshanyana wa Senkatana came in prepared, he started by making fire with his wood and dried grass, with his knife he started slicing the beast from the inside and he started cooking the inside of the beast every day. People were grateful because they hadn’t had cooked food for a long long time.

The creature started coughing smoke, it stopped chasing people and animals and it grew weak day after day. Finally it fell down and died. Finally Moshanyana wa Senkatana and everyone and everything that was inside the belly of the beast came out. People were overjoyed to see their long lost relatives and their animals and because the boy saved the princess, they were married and lived happily ever after. Tshomo kamathetho!!THE END.

THE SNAKE PRINCE

THE  SNAKE  PRINCE 

 A story from South Africa

Long, long time ago there lived two beautiful sisters who were as different as night and day. They were Dambisa and Duma. While Dambisa was quiet, kind and caring, Duma was loud, stubborn and selfish. Duma would offend people and Dambisa would clean Duma’s mess.

Not far away there was kingdom with a very handsome prince, but he was a prince under a spell of a very wicket witch. Whenever night time came, he would be turned into a snake. The witch had told the royal family that, the only thing that would save the prince was if an honest, quiet and caring girl would fall in love with him and loved him unconditionally.

 All the girls in the neighbourhood kingdoms tried but nothing came out of it, the minute they saw a black mamba coming to them during the night, they would run like the wind.

Now, the strong headed, stubborn Duma thought that she was the one to marry the prince, and off she went to the palace. Along the way she met an old woman with a very heavy load on her head and the woman asked Duma to help her, “please my daughter help me with this load, it is too heavy for me”, and stubborn Duma answered the woman without thinking twice “go to whoever put it there so they can take it off, as for me I can’t waste my time, my husband the prince is waiting for me”, and off she went. Halfway to the palace she met a man who walked backwards, ”Please my daughter, show me the way to the market”, and the ever ready to answer Duma answered back, ”when you left your house, were you expecting to get to the market walking like that?, and she clapped her hands and laughed at the man, leaving the poor man to wonder off alone.

Finally, she made it to the palace and she was taken into a hut where she was asked to make beer and to everyone’s surprise she told everyone, that she was there for her prince and not for making beer. Before leaving her, she was warned not to scream if she saw anything frightening.

As night time came, she became tired and decided to take a nap. She was woken up by something hissing next to her, and when she opened her eyes she saw a snake, a big black mamba looking at her and hissing. For once she had no words to say, she could not even fight, all she thought about was getting out of that hut and that’s what she did, she ran until she got home!

Dambisa knowing her sister and not wanting her to get into trouble followed Duma without Duma’s knowledge. When Duma refused to help the old woman, Dambisa helped her and the old woman gave her blessings and when Duma refused to help the old man who was walking backwards, Dambisa helped him and showed him the way to the market, and also this man thanked Dambisa and gave her blessings. When Dambisa got to the palace, she was placed in another hut and was also told to make beer and she did. She was also given the same instructions as her sister of not screaming when she saw something frightening.

Just like Duma, Dambisa also decided to take a nap, and when she woke up, she also heard the hissing sound, and when she looked closer she saw a mamba, instead of her shouting and running away she just froze and the snake left her alone. Because she did not run away, she was kept in the hut and the snake came to her every night, and for some weird reason she grew fond of the snake, when the snake was not there, she would miss it.

One day, the snake did not leave the hut and as the rays of the sun came into the room, the snake turned into a very handsome prince and he told her the whole story. By then Dambisa was already in love with the prince and not even frightened of the snake.

That night the prince didn’t turn back into a snake, and everyone was overjoyed because finally the prince was cured from the spell. And everyone knew that Dambisa was the right girl for him!!

They got married and lived happily ever after!!

Oh! as for Duma, she finally realised that being good hearted had its rewards!!!, she learned from her mistakes and turned a new leaf!!

TWISTED FATE

TWISTED FATE  
A story from Ghana

It was the last day of the Homowo festival, and it had been raining for the past few days, the sky was dark and through the wetness and the darkness a poor little girl was wondering the streets with bare feet and no protection over her head except of a little tray filled with avocados. Her feet were torn, bleeding and swollen from walking. It had been a bad day for her, no one has bought any avocados and she had not earned any money for that day. She was hungry, wet and she looked very frail.

Lights were flickering from the windows of the houses and there were wonderful smells of food coming from every direction. She found a hole in between two houses and she sat there and tried to warm herself up, but she grew colder and more wet. For her going home was not an option since her father would beat her up for not selling anything, besides it would be cold at home anyway and there would be no food and her father would be drunk.

Her little hands were almost dead from the cold. As she  sat there she could see the sky clearing up, a small cluster of stars was showing. She felt warm by just gazing at them. They reminded her of her Nana, her beloved grandmother, the only person who has ever loved her and she had died a year earlier, leaving her with a father who drank all the time and who was always blaming her for killing his wife and beating her up every day for nothing. She never knew her mother for she had died while giving birth to her.

“Oh Nana!, how I wish you were still here with me, how I wish you could wrap me in your arms and warm me up”. As she was saying that she saw her grandmother coming towards her, looking so happy and radiant. It felt like she was dreaming. Nana was smiling at her and she was coming closer and closer, she took her hand and it felt like they were flying higher and higher and she was not cold anymore. She did not even feel hungry or wet anymore.

When the sun came up the following day, people found her still sitting between the two houses, dead. She had a smile on her face. The crowd around her was crying and shouting but she was at peace finally. She was in Paradise with her beloved Nana!!!

ADESEWA,CROWN OF BEAUTY

ADESEWA, CROWN OF BEAUTY

A story from Nigeria

Long, long ago there lived a man with the name of Abah and he had two wives. He loved the second wife more because she had given birth to three sons and a daughter, while the first wife only had one beautiful daughter named Adesewa. Both the second wife and her children hated the first wife and her daughter Adesewa, and made them do all the work in the compound while she and her children did nothing. Adesewa and her mother had to clean other people’s farms so they could get food because they were not allowed to eat in the house.

As time went by Adesewa’s mother passed away and she was left alone to do everything on her own. Although she was treated like a slave in her father’s house she was happy and did her best to please everyone, never complaining.  She had also managed to find herself a friend named Kofi. Kofi was a crippled boy and no one seemed to mind their friendship because no one talked to Kofi anyway!. Everyone avoided him, except Adesewa. She shared her food with him and told him all her heartache and they understood each other.

One day when Abah came back from the Igwe’s palace, he told them that the king was looking for a wife for the prince and the king has asked him to bring his daughters to the festival that was going to be held at the palace. Everyone was so happy and when it was time for them to leave they told Adesewa to stay behind and finish up her chores and that she was not beautiful enough to be at the palace. Although she was heartbroken, she stayed behind. That day even Kofi her friend was nowhere to be found, he had also gone to the festival.

When everyone came back, they were complaining that the prince did not spend time with any of them. He seemed bored as if he was expecting someone since he was looking everywhere and did not even bother to talk to any girls.

The following morning, they were woken up by noise outside, it was Kofi, and on that day he was not a cripple but a prince and he had come for his bride. He had come for Adesewa his crown of beauty!!!!

TSELANE AND THE GIANT

TSELANE AND THE GIANT

A story from South Africa

Kwesukasukela, long, long ago when giants used to walk free among everyone, when chickens used to talk, there was a widow who was very poor, she had a daughter named Tselane and she used to leave her and go to plough the fields. Every time she left for the fields, she would tell her not to open the door for anyone since it was dangerous for her and every time when she came back, she would sing to her with the loveliest voice ever, ”Tselane my child, Tshelane my child, come open the door”, and Tselane would also sing with the same lovely voice, ” yes mummy I hear you, yes mummy here I come!”, and she would open the door for her mother.

Not far away, there was a giant that used to listen to them, and every time wish that he could eat Tselane up because she was a very nice, tender snack for him!.

One day when the mother was not home, the giant came and sang with his rough voice,” Tselane my child, Tselane my child, come open the door!”, and Tselane laughed from inside the house and told the giant to go away!. The giant was very cross, and decided to go to the sangoma. The sangoma made the giant to swallow a very hot metal so that the giant’s voice can be sweet and beautiful like Tselane’s mother.

The following day when the giant went back, his voice was sweet and beautiful and Tselane thought that it was her mother and she opened the door and as quick as lightning the giant threw her into a sack and carried her over his shoulders. The giant was very pleased with himself and was jumping up and down with happiness, he came upon a house where they were having a party and the giant decided to take a break because he was tired and thirsty. He placed his sack down and asked for a beer. While he was drinking, the woman who was the host heard a person singing with a sad voice from the sack and decided to help her. She then sent the giant to fetch water at the stream for more beer in exchange and gave him a calabash with a hole. When the giant got to the stream, he tried to fill the calabash with water but he could not. In the meantime back at the house, the woman and her husband took out Tselane and filled the sack with all the nasty things they could lay their hands on, snakes, bees, lizards, wasps, crickets and frogs. Eventually the giant came back with water and because he was angry, he took his beer and sack and left. When he got home, he asked his son to fetch the sack outside, but the son got stung by a wasp and returned crying into the house. Then the giant sent the wife and she also got bitten by a snake and she also came back crying. By then the giant was fuming with rage and kicked them out of the house, took his sack and locked the door, leaving them outside. He went into the house alone and opened the sack, and guess what?, all the nasty animals, crickets, wasps, bees, snakes and everything that was in the sack came out and started stinging and biting him. He screamed and screamed and tried running out of the door but the door was locked!!. He could not even see where he was going because his eyes were already stung!. Eventually he managed to come out and ran to the river and plunged his head first in the muddy river bank. He got stuck there and turned into a tree.

If you go to the river today, you will notice a tree that has two branches, and that is the greedy giant.

As for Tselane she was taken back to her mother and they lived happily ever after!!!

Cosu, cosu, iyaphela!!