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- Herausgeber: Abela Publishing
- Kategorie: Fantasy und Science-Fiction
- Sprache: Englisch
ISSN: 2397-9607 Issue 325In this 325th issue of the Baba Indaba’s Children's Stories series, Baba Indaba narrates the Persian Fairy Tale "THE SON OF THE SOAP SELLER”.THERE once dwelt a poor but worthy man named Abdullah in Meshed, the Holy City, the place of pilgrimage, whose beautiful mosque with the golden dome is the glory of the kingdom of Persia. He barely managed to get a living by the sale of soap.All day long, from sunrise to sunset, he tramped the city, crying out: "O brothers, buy my pure soap. There is none better in the city, as everyone knows.But it was that there were many days when poor Abdullah did not sell enough to buy sufficient bread for himself and his little boy Ahmed.But the days went on and things became blacker and blacker, when one day an adventure befell little Ahmed. On his way to school a dervish, leading a fine lion by a chain, stopped opposite him. Then there came a palanquin borne on the backs of four mules.The party stopped just opposite to Ahmed, and from the palanquin there alighted a lady closely veiled with the dervish and lion at attention close by.For some reason the lion suddenly broke loose, causing mayhem. Then with a roar the lion sprang upon the princess, and bore her to the ground; but ere he could tear her to pieces, Ahmed had sprang forward, seized a piece of iron, one end of which was red hot, from the shop of a blacksmith, and thrust it furiously into the face of the lion. With a cry of pain and rage the lion left the princess and bounded off to the bazaars, where he did great damage.What happened next you ask? Was Ahmed rewarded for his bravery? What happened to the soap seller? Is that where the story ends? 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!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
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THE SON OF THE SOAP SELLER
A Fairy Tale
Baba Indaba Children’s Stories
Published By
Abela Publishing, London
2017
THE SON OF THE SOAP SELLER
Typographical arrangement of this edition
©Abela Publishing 2017
This book may not be reproduced in its current format
in any manner in any media, or transmitted
by any means whatsoever, electronic,
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(including photocopy, file or video recording,
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information storage and retrieval system)
except as permitted by law
without the prior written permission
of the publisher.
Abela Publishing,
London, United Kingdom
2017
Baba Indaba Children’s Stories
ISSN 2397-9607
Issue 325
Email:
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 hailed from the town of Neyshabur. Can you find Neyshabur on a map? What country is it in?
THE SON OF THE SOAP SELLER
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!
HERE once dwelt a poor but worthy man named Abdullah in Meshed, the Holy City, the place of pilgrimage, whose beautiful mosque with the golden dome is the glory of the kingdom of Persia. He barely managed to get a living by the sale of soap.
All day long, from sunrise to sunset, he tramped the city, crying out: "O brothers, buy my pure soap. There is none better in the city, as everyone knows. Even the little babes would say so if they could but speak."
Still, if you looked closely at it, you would never guess it to be soap; it was black and coarse, and more like wood than anything else. If any unlucky pilgrim used it on his face or hands, it would make his skin burn like fire. But this did not often happen, for the people in Persia do not use much soap on themselves, or their clothes, and sand does very well for cleaning cooking pots and pans. So it was that there were many days when poor Abdullah did not sell enough to buy sufficient bread for himself and his little boy Ahmed.
At such times, the father would creep sadly into his wretched mud- built hovel, and bury his face in his hands, so that he might not see his son trying to keep back the tears caused by hunger. The little fellow, however, now ten years of age, would comfort his father by saying:
"Inshallah"—if God wills—"to-morrow you will sell more soap than you have done for weeks past." And the father, looking into the bright, open face of his boy, would take courage, and pray that this might be so.
But the days went on and things became blacker and blacker, when one day an adventure befell little Ahmed. He was on his way to school, and as the sun was very hot, he sought the shelter of the big plane-trees that lined the banks of the stream flowing down the center of the principal street.
