Tales from Africa

by K. P. Kojo

  ‘Right now?’ asked Vikas, hoping he would be able to go to the castle to get some food before keeping watch as he was already quite hungry.

  ‘Yes. I need you to watch this place every minute until I come back tomorrow.’

  King Samir stamped his feet as he walked away from the pond, but soon he could be heard whistling as he climbed the hill towards the castle.

  Vikas settled on the ground between two wide-armed frangipani trees and fixed his eyes on the pond. As the sun rose, the shade from the trees kept him cool and he shaded his eyes at midday when the sun reflected off the pond into his eyes. He sat like that for many hours and nothing happened …

  Actually, he noticed, something had happened. He stood up and walked to the edge of the pond. It was clear! Just the way King Samir liked it.

  Vikas smiled. The king would be happy tomorrow.

  But Vikas’s smile couldn’t fight his hunger. His stomach really started to rumble and he wondered if it was worth staying by the pond right through the night, as it was so, so, so deserted. He leaned back against one of the frangipani trees and closed his eyes – just for a second, he thought. Just for a second.

  There was soon a rustle in the undergrowth, the lovegrass at the edge of the trees moved this way and that. Vikas didn’t hear a thing. He was sound asleep.

  The grass separated and a face peered out. It was the hare. He noticed Vikas sleeping beneath the frangipani and crept close to him to check if the guard was really, really fast asleep. He tore a stalk of grass and tickled Vikas’s nose. The guard grunted but he did not wake up.

  The hare took six quick leaps and dived into the warm, clear water of the pond. He did:

  the backstroke,

  the front crawl,

  the hare flick,

  the butterfly

  and the breaststroke.

  He scrubbed beneath his armpits and under his strong hind legs, then he swam to the far bank of the pond and took out a long pole that he had concealed there.

  Hare pushed the pole into the water and used it to stir mud from the bottom of the pond until the pond’s surface was very, very muddy. He put the pole back and was drying himself in the setting sun when Vikas woke up.

  ‘Hey,’ Vikas shouted when he saw the hare. ‘What are you doing here?’

  Hare, a very cheeky fellow, shouted back, ‘What does it look like I’m doing here?’

  ‘It looks like you’re lying in the sun,’ said Vikas, frowning and getting to his feet as his eyes adjusted to the new light.

  ‘Well then, that’s what I’m doing,’ said Hare. ‘I’m lying under the sun.’

  Vikas ran to the edge of the pond, surprised to find it muddy again – far more muddy than before.

  ‘What happened here?’ he asked Hare.

  ‘What do you mean, my friend?’ said Hare. ‘I’m just lying under the sun. I saw nothing happening here, but you were asleep when I came.’

  Vikas put a hand to his forehead, wondering what he would tell King Samir. ‘Was the water muddy when you came?’ he asked.

  ‘The water’s always muddy when I’m here,’ said Hare, picking up his belongings to leave.

  So Vikas was left by himself watching the water all through the evening, his stomach rumbling with no food. At night, the moon came to sit like a fat, white hog in the middle of the pond, making the surface look clear when the water wasn’t. Bats came swooping over the surface to catch flying insects and at dawn a chorus of different birds:

  kestrels,

  doves,

  fighting terns,

  parakeets,

  warblers,

  impatient quails,

  herons,

  pigeons

  and one albatross

  gathered at the edge of the pond to drink water.

  Down the hill and down below,

  down into the magic pond.

  When I feel a little hot

  that’s where I like to go.

  King Samir arrived with another guard, one of the new ones, carrying food for Vikas, who was so hungry that he started eating mangoes before he told the king what had happened.

  The king flung his towel on to a low branch and rushed to the pond. He almost, almost jumped in the pond, but he noticed that it was muddy and stopped at the edge. Only one toe – the big one on his left foot – got wet.

  ‘Vikas!’ he shouted. ‘Why is my pond still muddy? What happened?’

  ‘My chief, I watched the pool right through the day like you asked. It became clear in the afternoon, but …’ Vikas looked at the ground and scratched his right ear.

  ‘But what?’ asked King Samir.

  ‘My chief, I was very hungry. I … I fell asleep for a couple of minutes. When I woke up, the hare said nothing had happened.’

  ‘The hare? A hare? A hare? You were talking to a hare instead of watching my pond?’

  ‘No, my chief, the hare was sunbathing and he said …’

  ‘A sunbathing hare?’

  ‘Yes, my chief.’

  ‘I don’t want to know what a sunbathing hare said. Do you know what happened to my pond?’

  ‘No.’

  ‘Then go away. Back to the castle. You are not my favourite guard any more.’

  ‘You –’ King Samir turned to the new guard – ‘you can have all this food. It is enough to last you until morning. I want you to watch this pond and let me know what happens to make it muddy.’

  As Vikas had the day before, the new guard settled to watch the pond. Because this guard had lots of food, the time seemed to pass more quickly for him. He wasn’t grateful for the shade of the frangipani, he didn’t notice the sun reflecting off the clear pond at midday and his stomach certainly didn’t rumble.

  But there was soon a rustle in the undergrowth that made him sit up. The lovegrass at the edge of the trees moved this way and that.

  The grass separated and Hare peered out.

  ‘My good man,’ said Hare, ‘how are you today?’

  ‘I’m fine,’ said the new guard, still surprised at the hare’s sudden appearance and his confidence.

  Hare, on the other hand, had come prepared after the surprise of the day before. He produced a gourd from behind him.

  ‘I can see you’ve got some lovely food there, but this …’ Hare tapped the side of the gourd. ‘This is honey from the Ilomiel region, where my parents live. You simply have to taste it. There is no better anywhere in the entire world.’

  The guard frowned, but he stuck his finger in the gourd and put some honey on his tongue.

  The hare jumped up and down. ‘Tell me! Tell me! Tell me! Tell me!’

  ‘It’s good,’ the guard nodded, taking another scoop of honey, then another. Somehow he couldn’t stop himself.

  ‘Here,’ said Hare, holding out the honey. ‘Drink it straight from the gourd.’

  Well, none of the eighteen rivers of Mauritius – big or small – could tell you what was in that honey, but the new guard was asleep and snoring before he had had half of the honey in the gourd.

  Hare sat on the sleeping guard’s stomach, picked up a plate and feasted on the food that King Samir had left for the guard to eat. When he finished, the hare took six quick leaps and dived into the warm, clear water. He did:

  the backstroke,

  the front crawl,

  the hare flick,

  the butterfly …

  He scrubbed beneath his armpits while doing the breaststroke and sang at the top of his voice:

  ‘Good for the King and good for the hare,

  fro-lic-King in some cool valley air;

  I swim and scrub and float and glide-ee

  in the fading glow of sunshine-ee

  ee ee ee ee ee ee ee ee

  what a joyful fee-ee-ling!’

  Hare’s singing didn’t wake the new guard up. He didn’t see Hare take out the pole and stir the water in the pond to make it muddy. He didn’t see Hare sunbathing or notice the moon sitting in the middle of the pond, making i
t look like that water was clean.

  He was fast asleep. He didn’t see the coming of dawn or the chorus of different birds:

  kestrels,

  doves,

  fighting terns,

  parakeets,

  warblers,

  impatient quails,

  herons,

  pigeons

  and one albatross

  that gathered at the edge of the pond and lifted their curved beaks towards the sky as they drank water.

  He only woke up when King Samir picked up the hare’s pole and poked him with it.

  ‘Hey,’ said the king. ‘What happened here? Why is my pond still muddy? Why were you asleep?’

  The guard rubbed a hand across his face and looked around. All the food was gone. He remembered the honey, but he couldn’t find the gourd. He blinked at King Samir and Vikas, who were watching him expectantly.

  ‘The honey,’ he said.

  ‘What honey?’ asked King Samir. ‘I’m asking you what happened here. Why is my pond still muddy?’

  ‘I don’t know,’ said the guard. ‘A hare offered me some very sweet honey, but I don’t …’

  ‘A hare? A hare?’ King Samir was furious. ‘Get out of here. You’re fired! You’ll never work again on this island.’

  News quickly spread about King Samir’s rage and his offer to pay eight pieces of gold and a bag of rice a month to anyone who could solve the mystery of his muddy pond. The king had started to stink a little because he hadn’t washed in five days. However, nobody went to apply for the job because King Samir had declared that anyone who got the job and failed would have their head cut off.

  On the eleventh day of not washing, when the king had locked himself in a private room to avoid the flies that followed him everywhere, there was a knock on the door.

  It was Vikas, who was still his favourite guard. ‘My chief, I have a tortoise here to see you about the pond guard’s job.’

  King Samir doubled over, laughing his loud, melodious laugh. ‘Vikas, first you tell me about a hare – a sunbathing hare – now you’re bringing a tortoise guard? Is this a joke?’

  ‘No, my chief, I’m serious. She’s right here.’

  King Samir peered round the door and saw a large tortoise to the left of Vikas. The top of her shell was almost as high as the guard’s knee.

  ‘Why, hello!’ said the king. ‘So you want the job?’

  ‘Yes,’ said Tortoise.

  ‘And you know that if you fail you will lose your head, right? I’ve never had tortoise curry before.’

  ‘I’ve never failed before,’ said Tortoise, stretching her neck out of her shell. ‘This neck of mine will never be scarred. I will solve your problem in a day.’

  And off she went!

  First Tortoise got her shell coated in the finest black tar, then she went to the pond and sat exactly where the guards sat under the frangipani. Except …

  she pulled her legs into her shell

  she pulled her tiny tail into her shell

  she pulled her cunning head into her shell

  She looked like a rock.

  Sure enough, just as the sun was moving from its highest, hottest position in the sky, there was a rustle in the undergrowth, the lovegrass at the edge of the trees moved this way and that, the grass separated and Hare peered out.

  He was surprised to see a rock where the guard should have been, and was very suspicious. He walked around the rock and poked it. He tickled it with a stalk of lovegrass, he tried to surprise the rock by shouting, he watched it very closely to see if it would move.

  Nothing happened.

  ‘Well,’ said Hare to himself, ‘the king’s given up and had a rock put here for me to relax on. I will have a great time today and that calls for a song!

  ‘Good for the King and good for the hare,

  fro-lic-King in some cool valley air;

  I swim and scrub and float and glide-ee

  in the fading glow of sunshine-ee

  ee ee ee ee ee ee ee ee

  what a joyful fee-ee-ling!’

  Hare decided to do his six leaps to the pond from the top of the rock, the way he had done from the new guard’s belly.

  He jumped on to the rock, but …

  He couldn’t jump. His jumping foot was stuck! The tar on Tortoise’s back had gripped it fast.

  Tortoise popped her head out. ‘I hope you’re comfortable,’ she said. ‘I’m taking you to the king now.’

  Hare was very surprised and very angry. ‘Hey, no! No, you rascal. Let me go or I’ll have to beat you up. I don’t like to hit a lady, but I will!’

  Tortoise popped out her legs and tail and laughed. ‘You can try.’

  ‘I’m not kidding,’ said Hare. ‘People think all my strength is in my jumping leg, but the other legs are just as strong. Take this!’ He struck the tortoise’s shell with his other hind leg and …

  It got stuck too!

  ‘OK, Tortoise,’ he said. ‘Enough kidding now. If I have to use my front legs, you’ll be sorry. I throw better punches than any boxer.’

  He lifted one paw high and struck. ‘Take this roundhouse punch.’

  The paw got stuck.

  Hare was so annoyed that he struck again with the other paw. ‘And take this.’

  Now all Hare’s limbs were stuck and Tortoise was halfway up the hill to the king’s castle.

  ‘Tortoise,’ warned Hare, ‘let me go now or I’ll have to hurt you.’

  ‘You can’t hurt me,’ said Tortoise. ‘I’m in my shell and I can’t feel any of your blows. I’m in a very safe space.’

  ‘Oh,’ boasted Hare in spite of his situation, ‘you haven’t heard about the power of my head, have you?’

  ‘Show me,’ said Tortoise, laughing.

  And, of course, Hare did. So he arrived at the castle unable to move any part of his body.

  The cook released Hare from Tortoise’s shell with hot water and tied him up next to the hot coals, ready to make curry with his flesh.

  Tortoise told King Samir how she had caught Hare and the song he sang before he got stuck:

  ‘Good for the King and good for the hare,

  fro-lic-King in some cool valley air;

  I swim and scrub and float and glide-ee

  in the fading glow of sunshine-ee

  ee ee ee ee ee ee ee ee

  what a joyful fee-ee-ling!’

  The king found the story and the song hilarious. He thought it wouldn’t be so bad if other people used the pond as he only used it in the mornings. He laughed his loud, melodious laugh and commanded that Hare be pardoned. He also asked Vikas to announce that the pond could be used in the afternoons by anyone on the island.

  Hare ran straight back to the woods, but there still remains a black patch behind his neck from being so close to the cook’s hot coals.

  As for Tortoise, she walks even more slowly now, weighed down by all the gold from King Samir.

  With Puffin Classics, the adventure isn’t

  over when you reach the final page.

  Want to discover more about the people

  and places that inspired these stories?

  Read on …

  CONTENTS

  DID YOU KNOW?

  SOME THINGS TO THINK ABOUT …

  MANCALA

  MAKE A GLASS XYLOPHONE

  FUL SUDANI – PEANUT SOUP

  GLOSSARY

  DID YOU KNOW?

  Africa is amazing! It’s the second biggest continent, with the second biggest population, in the world. It also has the longest river – the River Nile flows for over 6,400 kilometres. It has the biggest desert – the Sahara is almost as large as the United States of America, and has sand dunes that are over 180 metres high. People from the continent speak thousands of languages and almost every person speaks at least two languages. Scholars think the first human beings came from Africa, and Egypt is the oldest civilization in the world.

  The equator runs through the middle of Africa, and it is t
he only continent to stretch from the northern temperate zone of the world to the southern temperate zone. This means that it has an enormous variety of climates and habitats, from equatorial rainforests to subarctic conditions on some of its mountain peaks. It is the hottest continent on earth.

  Africa is home to thousands of species of animal. Lions and cheetahs are among the hunters of the grasslands, where there are huge herds of antelopes and gnus. Giraffes and zebras also live there, as do herds of elephants and rhinos. Hippos and crocodiles are found in tropical rivers, lakes and swamps, and monkeys, chimpanzees and gorillas live in the forests. You can also see flamingos and ostriches – and there are even penguins in South Africa! Unfortunately trophy hunting and destruction of habitats by migrant European farmers and tourists have reduced the numbers of species you can see nowadays.

  There are also many different trees, including various palm trees. Along the Mediterranean coast you find olive trees, cedars and cork oaks, and papyrus reeds grow along the River Nile. The rainforests of west and central Africa have hundreds of different trees, including mahogany, kola, ebony and iroko. The fruits of the ebony are known as jackalberries. The tweneboa is a softwood, used to make furniture, musical instruments and other items. Large scale harvesting for use in commercial furniture manufacturing in the USA and Europe has led to a huge reduction in the number of tweneboa trees. It’s now on a list of threatened species, but countries like Ghana are planting new tweneboa forests – although it can take over ten years for a tree to be fully grown! In most of Africa – especially eastern and southern Africa – there are euphorbia bushes, which are also called milk-bushes because of the white sap that appears when they are cut. There are also myrrh trees, and plants such as giant groundsels and lobelias. The great grasslands contain trees that are resistant to drought and fire, including baobab and acacia trees. Elephant grass grows in tall clumps like bamboo. It attracts moths that can damage maize crops, so farmers plant it near their fields to protect the maize. But, as with animals, commercial farming has destroyed many native African plants. Forests were cleared for farming, and hunters started fires to drive game out of grasslands. Overgrazing means that some grasslands have turned into deserts. Efforts are now being made to reverse some of these problems, but it is a long and difficult task.