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ISSN: 2397-9607 Issue 330In this 330th issue of the Baba Indaba’s Children's Stories series, Baba Indaba narrates the Fairy Tale -"THE MAID WITH HAIR OF GOLD”.ONCE upon a time, long, long ago and far, far away, there was once a king so wise and clever that he understood the language of all animals. In this story you shall hear how he gained this power.One day an old woman came to the palace and said, “I wish to speak to his majesty, for I have something of great importance to tell him.” When admitted to his presence she presented him with a curious fish, saying, “Have it cooked for yourself, and when you have eaten it you will understand all that is said by the birds of the air, the animals that walk the earth, and the fishes that live under the waters.”The king was delighted to know that which everyone else was ignorant of, so he rewarded the old woman generously, and told a servant to cook the fish very carefully.“But take care,” said the monarch, “that you do not taste it yourself, for if you do you will be killed.”George, the servant, was astonished at such a threat, and wondered why his master was so anxious that no one else should eat any of the fish. Then examining it curiously he said, “Never in all my life have I seen such an odd-looking fish; it seems more like a reptile.George tasted the fish and then began to hear voices, but where did they come from?One day he hears voices quarrelling over three golden hairs. One hair is dropped and when it hit the ground it fell with such a clang as you had never before heard. What was it made of to make such a sound? Who did it belong to? George sets out on a quest to find out for himself. Did George find what he was seeking or is he still somewhere in the world on his quest for the Maid With The Golden Hair?To find the answers to these questions, and others you may have, you will have to download and read this story to find out!Baba Indaba is a fictitious Zulu storyteller who narrates children's stories from around the world. Baba Indaba translates as "Father of Stories".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.33% of the profit from the sale of this book will be donated to charities.INCLUDES LINKS TO DOWNLOAD 8 FREE STORIES
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Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2017
A Fairy Tale
Baba Indaba Children’s Stories
Published By
Abela Publishing, London
2017
THE MAID WITH HAIR OF GOLD
Typographical arrangement of this edition
©Abela Publishing 2017
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Abela Publishing,
London, United Kingdom
2017
Baba Indaba Children’s Stories
ISSN 2397-9607
Issue 330
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Website:
www.AbelaPublishing.com
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)
This next story was told to him by a traveller whilst travelling through the town of Ruszow. Can you find Ruszow on a map? What country is it in?
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!
ONCE upon a time, long, long ago and far, far
away, there was once a king so wise and clever that he understood the language of all animals. You shall hear how he gained this power.
One day an old woman came to the palace and said, “I wish to speak to his majesty, for I have something of great importance to tell him.” When admitted to his presence she presented him with a curious fish, saying, “Have it cooked for yourself, and when you have eaten it you will understand all that is said by the birds of the air, the animals that walk the earth, and the fishes that live under the waters.”
The king was delighted to know that which everyone else was ignorant of, so he rewarded the old woman generously, and told a servant to cook the fish very carefully.
“But take care,” said the monarch, “that you do not taste it yourself, for if you do you will be killed.”
George, the servant, was astonished at such a
threat, and wondered why his master was so anxious that no one else should eat any of the fish. Then examining it curiously he said, “Never in all my life have I seen such an odd-looking fish; it seems more like a reptile. Now where would be the harm if I did take some? Every cook tastes of the dishes he prepares.”
Never in all my life have I seen such an odd-looking fish
When it was fried he tasted a small piece, and while taking some of the sauce heard a buzzing
in the air and a voice speaking in his ear.
“Let us taste a crumb: let us taste a little,” it said.
He looked round to see where the words came from, but there were only a few flies buzzing about in the kitchen. At the same moment some one out in the yard said in a harsh jerky voice, “Where are we going to settle? Where?”
And another answered, “In the miller’s barley-field; ho! for the miller’s field of barley.”
When George looked towards where this strange
talk came he saw a gander flying at the head of a flock of geese.