African Animal Folktales

African Animal Folktales: Looking for an African Animal Folktales to read to your child old? If yes, today we have looked at some interesting African stories with moral lessons for your child.

African Animal Folktales

1. The Sky is Falling

One evening the planetary winds started blowing, causing a lot of havoc in the animal kingdom. Upon hearing the howling wind, the hare who was looking for some food run to his house. In his mind, his house was the safest place in the world, a well-covered hole under a huge mango tree. Before relocating to this new house, the hare often lived in shallow holes where he often had to relocate due to constant attacks by its predators. On this specific evening when the winds started to blow the hare was sure he would be safe.

As he was lying on his bed he suddenly heard a loud bang on his roof. He panicked a little but he assured himself that all was okay. The loud bang continued for some time and he tried to cover his ears I but the sound got loud. The bang became so loud until his house shock, the hare was so terrified that he run out so fast and he started shouting “the sky is falling, the sky is falling”

As he was running shouting he met a group of animals including the giraffe, antelope, fox, and zebra. The giraffe asked him: “Why are you running? “

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Immediately the hare responded and says “the sky is falling, look the sky is falling”

The hare points at the direction of his house and since the winds were howling loudly the animal could not see clearly. Without a valid reason, the animals decided to believe the hare and they all started running shouting: “the sky is falling, the sky is falling, the sky is falling!”

As they run in confusion the met their king, the lion. The lion asked them, why are you all running and they all respond “the sky is falling”. The lion pauses for a moment and looks up and although it was a bit dark and tree swaying in the wind, he could see the clouded sky. The lion asked the animal who told you the sky is falling, and they all looked at the hare.

In defense of his fears the hare told the lion, ‘the sky was falling on the roof of my house, come and see”. So all the animals followed the hare and when they got to the mango tree lots of mangoes have fallen on the ground. In fact, three big mangoes have blocked the entrance of hare’s hole. When the animals saw the mangoes they all laughed at the hare, the lion looked at the hare and told him that the loud bangs he was hearing were as a result of the impact of the falling mangoes. The strong winds made the mangoes to fall off more rapidly than normal. Upon hearing this, the hare was embarrassed for having caused great panic. He apologized to the animals and the lion advised the animals to investigate something before decided to act.

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1. 2. The three sheep and the leopard

One once upon a time in Mazii forest all the animals lived together in harmony. No animal was allowed to hunt the other, the carnivores were encouraged to hunt in other forests around Mazzi forest.

One day, a naughty Leopard defied the king’s order and he started scheming how he would eat three beautiful sheep that lived next to river Sonu. For a long time, he had observed their every move and discovered they were so united. The three sheep were so united that they grazed, went to the river, and slept together. The leopard knew there is no way he would attack all the three at once. It was so clear to him he would be defeated and later reported to the king.

The leopard devised a plan that would make separate one of the sheep from the rest. From the frequent observation of the sheep, he realized that one of the sheep which was black preferred to graze at the area near the fence where they were a variety of plants. The other two white sheep opted to graze in the open field where the grass was shorter and a little bit hard. To get an opportunity to separate the black sheep from his colleagues, one night when it was very dark the leopard went and cut all the grass near the fence. He took away the cut grass and climbed a very tall tree near the sheep’s compound.

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The next day when the sheep went to graze they realized that the area around the fence was cleared. None of the sheep knew what had happened, the black was a little upset but they opted to look for another grazing field where they would happily graze. They walked for some distance but finally, they found one. It was a fertile field with beautiful grass and around the fence were a variety of plants. The black sheep were so excited and that day they grazed and went home together. The leopard followed their every step and as they were approaching their house he intercepted them and he requested to talk to the black sheep. Since the sheep had no reason to feel threatened the black sheep agreed to talk to him. The leopard said to the black sheep “it’s not fair to you, I know who is eating your portions, I actually saw him graze the grass near the fence yesterday night”. The sheep was amazed but he ignored the leopard and decided to walk away. As he was about to leave, the leopard whispers “tomorrow you will not find any grass near the fence in your new grazing area”,

That night the black sheep was a little bit uncomfortable, the white sheep inquired what was wrong but he said nothing. The next morning when they went to graze they found the same spot where the black sheep fed had been cleared. The black sheep was very upset. This time he agreed to eat the grass in open area because there was no option. As they went home again the leopard talked to the black sheep and he convinced him that he knew who was grazing the grass around the fence. The sheep didn’t believe him, so as walked away but the leopard still whispers “tonight come and I will reveal the truth”

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That night while the other two white sheep were sleeping, the black sheep quietly left the house. The leopard was waiting for him, and together they walked to find the suspect. As walked near a thicket the leopard pounced on the sheep and killed him. He carried him on the top of the tree where he was living.

The next day when the other sheep woke up they searched for their friend without success. They reported the matter to the king who sent some animals to investigate the movement of the leopard. The remains of the black sheep were found on the tree where the leopard lived. That day the leopard was punished and banished to an enclosed area where he would live an as outcast. The king encouraged the other animals to work together and not allow anyone to separate them because united they remain strong but divided they fall.