OH, IF I COULD BUT SHIVER! - A European Fairy Tale with a moral E-Book

Anon E. Mouse

• Herausgeber: Abela Publishing
• Kategorie: Fantasy und Science-Fiction
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2018

Beschreibung

ISSN: 2397-9607 Issue 407In this 407th issue of the Baba Indaba’s Children's Stories series, Baba Indaba narrates the Fairy Tale "Oh If I Could But Shiver”.A long time ago a father had two sons – the elder was clever and the younger stupid. Sometimes of an evening, tales were told by the fireside which made one shudder, and the listeners exclaimed, "Oh, it makes us shiver!" The younger son could never understand this saying for he had never shivered. Then the time came for the youth to learn a trade.The father confided to the parish sexton[1] who said he could teach him how to shiver and to send him over to his place. Working for the sexton, he faithfully undertook the duties assigned to him. One night he was awoken late into the night and told to go and rung the church bell. On arriving in the belfry he was about to ring the bell when a white figure appeared. The boy called out to the ghostly figure who simply stood and stared. After the incident things began to happen?But what happened next you ask…? Well many things happened, some silly and funny; and some serious. And did I hear tell of a Princess as well? To find the answers to these questions, and others you may have, you will have to download and read this story to find out!INCLUDES LINKS TO DOWNLOAD 8 FREE STORIESBUY ANY OF THE BABA INDABA CHILDREN’S STORIES at https://goo.gl/5ZcmPP33% of the profit from the sale of this book will be donated to charities.Each issue also has a "WHERE IN THE WORLD - LOOK IT UP" section, where young readers are challenged to look up a place on a map somewhere in the world. The place, town or city is relevant to the story. HINT - use Google maps.Baba Indaba is a fictitious Zulu storyteller who narrates children's stories from around the world. Baba Indaba translates as "Father of Stories".TAGSBaba Indaba, Children’s stories, Folklore, Fairy, Folk, Tales, bedtime story, legends, myths, fables, brothers, two boys, stupid, clever, shiver, wish, adventure, princess, marry, prince, husband, wife, ghost, bell, misadventure, hempen maid, gallows, waggoner, beauty, enchanted castle, treasure, black cats, fireside, black dogs, three nights, old man, long white beard, King, wedding, brook, stream, bucket, pour, water[1] A Parish Sexton is an officer of a church, congregation, or synagogue charged with the maintenance of its buildings and/or the surrounding graveyard. In smaller places of worship, this office is often combined with that of verger.

Leseprobe

Oh, if I Could but Shiver!

A Fairy Tale

Baba Indaba Children’s Stories

Published By

Abela Publishing, London

2018

OH, IF I COULD BUT SHIVER!

Typographical arrangement of this edition

©Abela Publishing 2018

This book may not be reproduced in its current format

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by any means whatsoever, electronic,

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(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

2018

Baba Indaba Children’s Stories

ISSN 2397-9607

Issue 407

Email:

[email protected]

Website:

www.AbelaPublishing.com

An Introduction to Baba Indaba

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.

Location of KwaZulu-Natal (shaded in red)

Where in the World? Look it Up!

This next story was told to him by a traveller who heard it in the town of Strasbourg. Can you find Strasbourg on a map? What country is it in?

Oh, if I Could But Shiver!

A Fairy Tale

A story, a story

Let it come, let it go

A story, a story

From long, long ago!

Umntwana Izwa! Children Listen!

Umntwana, these are stories from a long, long time ago and far, far away, from an expanse of land which is bordered by the Baltic Sea and Denmark to the north, the Benelux Countries and France to the west, Austria and the Switzerland to the South and the Czech Republic and Poland to the East. It stretches from Lake Constance and the Alps to the Oder River and the Silesian Lowlands of Poland. In ancient times it was known as Allemagne, today we call this land Germany. Our story goes thus………

ONCE UPON A TIME, a long, long time ago and far, far away, there was a father who had two sons, the elder of whom was forward and clever enough to do almost anything; but the younger was so stupid that he could learn nothing, and when the people saw him they said, "Will thy father still keep thee as a burden to him?" So, if anything was to be done, the elder had at all times to do it; but sometimes the father would call him to fetch something in the dead of night, and perhaps the way led through the churchyard or by a dismal place, and then he used to answer, "No, father, I cannot go there, I am afraid," for he was a coward. Or sometimes of an evening, tales were told by the fireside which made one shudder, and the listeners exclaimed, "Oh, it makes us shiver!" In a corner, meanwhile, sat the younger son, listening, but he could not comprehend what was said, and he thought, "They say continually, 'Oh, it makes us shiver, it makes us shiver!' but perhaps shivering is an art which I cannot understand." One day, however, his father said to him, "Do you hear, you there in the corner? You are growing stout and big; you must learn some trade to get your living by. Do you see how your brother works? But as for you, you are not worth malt and hops."

"Ah, father," answered he, "I would willingly learn something. When shall I begin? I want to know what shivering means, for of that I can understand nothing."

The elder brother laughed when he heard this speech, and thought to himself, "Ah! my brother is such a simpleton that he cannot earn his own living. He who would make a good hedge must learn betimes to bend." But the father sighed and said, "What shivering means you may learn soon enough, but you will never get your bread by that."