The Old Lion and the Jackal - Book 30 in the Baba Indaba Children's Series
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Transcript of The Old Lion and the Jackal - Book 30 in the Baba Indaba Children's Series
THE OLD LION
AND THE JACKAL
A FABLE BY AESOP
NARRATED BY BABA INDABA
PUBLISHED BY
ABELA PUBLISHING, LONDON [2015]
THE OLD LION AND THE JACKAL
Typographical arrangement of this edition ©Abela Publishing 2015
This book may not be reproduced in its current format in any manner in any media, or transmitted
by any means whatsoever, electronic, electrostatic, magnetic tape, or mechanical
(including photocopy, file or video recording, internet web sites, blogs, wikis, or any other
information storage and retrieval system) except as permitted by law
without the prior written permission of the publisher.
ABELA PUBLISHING, London, United Kingdom
2015
ISBN-13: 978-1-910882-30-6
Email: [email protected]
Website: www.AbelaPublishing.com
INTRODUCTION
BABA INDABA (pronounced Baaba Indaaba)
lived in Africa a long-long time ago. Indeed,
this story was first told by Baba Indaba to the
British settlers over 250 years ago in a place on
the South East Coast of Africa called
Zululand, which is now in a country now
called South Africa.
In turn the British settlers wrote these stories
down and they were brought back to England
on sailing ships. From England they were in
turn spread to all corners of the old British
Empire, and then to the world.
In olden times the Zulu’s did not have
computers, or iPhones, or paper, or even pens
and pencils. So, someone was assigned to be
the Wenxoxi Indaba (Wensosi Indaaba) – the
Storyteller. It was his, or her, job to memorise
all the tribe’s history, stories and folklore,
which had been passed down from generation
to generation for thousands of years. So, from
the time he was a young boy, Baba Indaba had
been apprenticed to the tribe’s Wenxoxi
Indaba to learn the stories. Every day the
Wenxoxi Indaba would narrate the stories and
Baba Indaba would have to recite the story
back to the Wenxoxi Indaba, word for word.
In this manner he learned the stories of the
Zulu nation.
In time the Wenxoxi Indaba grew old and
when he could no longer see or hear, Baba
Indaba became the next in a long line of
Wenxoxi Indabas. So fond were the children of
him that they continued to call him Baba
Indaba – the Father of Stories.
When the British arrived in South Africa, he
made it his job to also learn their stories. He
did this by going to work at the docks at the
Point in Port Natal at a place the Zulu people
call Ethekwene (Eh-tek-weh-nee). Here he
spoke to many sailors and ships captains.
Captains of ships that sailed to the far reaches
of the British Empire – Canada, Australia,
India, Mauritius, the Caribbean and beyond.
He became so well known that ship’s crew
would bring him a story every time they
visited Port Natal. If they couldn’t, they
would arrange to have someone bring it to
him. This way his library of stories grew and
grew until he was known far and wide as the
keeper of stories – a true Wenxoxi Indaba of
the world.
Baba Indaba believes the tale he is about to tell
in this little book, and all the others he has
learned, are the common property of
Umntwana (Children) of every nation in the
world - and so they are and have been ever
since men and women began telling stories,
thousands and thousands of years ago.
WHERE IN THE WORLD – LOOK IT UP!
This story was told to Baba Indaba by a sailor from the town of Paralia Ofriniou in the Strymonian Gulf. Can you find Paralia Ofriniou on a map? What country is it in?
THE OLD LION
AND THE JACKAL A story, a story Let it come, let it go A story, a story From long, long ago!
UMNTWANA Izwe! Children LISTEN! Once, a long,
long time ago, ibhubesi eligugileyo (Ee-buh-beh-
see elli-goo-gil-eh-yoh - an old Lion), whose
teeth and claws were so worn that it was not so
easy for him to get food as he had done in his
younger days. This old lion pretended to be sick.
He took care to let all his neighbours know about
it, and then lay down in his cave to wait for
visitors. And when they came to offer him their
sympathy, he pounced and ate them up one by
one.
Impungushe (Im-pung-goo-she – Jackal) came
too, but being a cunning Jackal, he was very
cautious about his visit, for, when he was
younger, the lion had had a fearsome reputation.
Standing at a safe distance from the cave, he
inquired politely after the Lion's health. The Lion
replied that he was very ill indeed, and asked the
Fox to step in for a moment. But Master Jackal
very wisely stayed outside, thanking the Lion
very kindly for the invitation.
"I should be glad to do as you ask," he added,
"but I have noticed that there are many footprints
leading into your cave and none coming out.
Pray tell me, how do your visitors find their way
out again?"
The moral of the story is
Take warning from the misfortunes of others.
Umntwana, here ends my story.
Remember, good words are food,
bad words are poison.
Salagahle umntwana!
(Salla-gah-shle Um-in-twaan-ah
Stay well my children!)
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