The Hare, the Hyena and the Honey Tree
Hare promises Hyena all the honey in the baobab if he will wait quietly below. A Luo fable about patience, trickery and why Hyena still laughs at night.
Why the Tortoise Has a Cracked Shell
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Show notes
This week's fable
A story told by Igbo and Yoruba grandmothers alike. Tortoise wants to join the birds' feast in the sky, so he asks each bird for one feather and builds himself wings. Up there he gives himself a new name, All of You, and eats everything.
- Where it comes from: southern Nigeria, with cousins across West Africa
- Instruments in this episode: hand drum, kalimba, a rattle made of bottle tops
- Talk about it after: why did the birds forgive him, and should they have
- Voices: Parrot, Hornbill, a very annoyed Pigeon
- Running time 17 minutes
Send your own ending as a voice note, we read the best ones next month.
Transcript
Jambo, jambo, and welcome to The Tortoise Had a Plan. I am Baraka, and if you can hear this little drum, it means a story is about to begin. Today we are going to Nigeria, where the birds have been invited to a feast in the sky. A feast in the sky! Every bird is practising its best manners. And who comes crawling up to them, slow and smiling? Tortoise. Tortoise cannot fly, but Tortoise has a plan. He always has a plan. He asks each bird for one feather. Just one. What could possibly go wrong? Listen carefully for Parrot, because Parrot remembers everything, and at the end I will ask you whether the birds should have forgiven him. Sit close, hands on your knees, and let the drum start. You are listening on Witspeak Podcasts, where the animals do the talking.
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