Rent Nelson Mandela's Favorite African Folktales

Synopsis

'It is my wish that the voice of the storyteller may never die in Africa, that all the children of the world may experience the wonder of books.'—Nelson Mandela, from the Foreword

The vibrant tradition of African folktales—an oral heritage of stories that predates Ovid—is long, varied, and exceptionally rich, but surprisingly has been largely overlooked in the West. Nelson Mandela, the Nobel Laureate for Peace, selected thirty-two African stories for this extraordinary new book, an anthology that will present Africa's oldest folktales to the children of the world. In these stories, we meet a Kenyan lion named Simba and tricksters from Zulu folklore; we hear the voices of the scheming hyena and learn from a Khoi fable how animals acquired their tails and horns. Accompanied by dozens of enchanting, specially commissioned color paintings, these fables—culled from African countries as far-flung as Morocco, Uganda, and Tanzania—present a veritable bible of stories 'universal in their portrayal of humanity, beasts, and the mystical.' Four-color illustrations throughout.

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