• Read African tales in our Reading Room

African tales

Celebrating African heritage

We thought we’d share some of our favourite African tales for you to download and enjoy – young and old. These tales have been extracted from “When Lion Could Fly and Other Tales from Africa”.

African tale - The Elephant and The Rain

Read a tale about how animals, and in particular, a proud arrogant elephant, learnt about the importance of rain.

English version
Afrikaans version

African tale - The Kindly Aardvark - How Elephants Got Their Tusks

Read a tale about how elephants got their tusks and warthogs got shelter due to kind aardvarks.

English version
Afrikaans version

African tale - Why the Giraffe Has a Long Neck

Read a tale about why giraffes effortlessly and elegantly tower over the rest of the animal kingdom.

English version
Afrikaans version

African tale - How Zebras Got Their Stripes

Not all super heroes wear capes; some of them wear stripes… Read about how Zebras got their stripes in our next story.

English version
Afrikaans version

African tale - When Hippo Was Hairy

You know what really sets us apart from hippos? Their stylish fur coat of course. And here’s how they lost them.

English version
Afrikaans version

African tale - Monkey's Heart

This tale, from the Swahili of East Africa, is about a clever monkey who outwitted a shark to keep his heart.

English version
Afrikaans version

African tale - Why Mongoose Eats Snakes

A tale about how mongoose and secretary bird were friends until a devious snake tried to ruin the friendship.

English version
Afrikaans version

African tale - Why Guinea Fowl Calls at Dawn

We bet you thought that lions and cheetah’s were the coolest animals in all the land? And we do agree; they are pretty cool. But they don’t get the sun to rise every morning, do they?”

English version
Afrikaans version

African tale - Why Bat Flies at Night

Most people aren’t a fan of bats. Don’t let that stop you from enjoying the intricate character development and poignant plot of this fascinating little story about why bats fly at night.

English version
Afrikaans version

African tale - Chameleon and the Greedy Spider

Spiders haven’t always been such discreet, ghastly looking little creatures. Had you met one a long, long time ago, you may have called them cute, round, little button-like bugs.

English version
Afrikaans version

African tale - How the Serval Got His Spots

Being kind to a sick puff adder has it’s advantages. This is the story about how serval became one of the most handsome creatures in the bush.

English version
Afrikaans version

African tale - Dung Beetle's Burden

In this story from Ghana, find out how dung beetle was duped by spider into pushing a ball around with him forever. And why spider has to hide all the time.

English version
Afrikaans version

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