South African Folklore
When Lion Could Fly: I learned what a kraal was by reading this story – an African village of huts. Without even knowing the story came from the South African unit, you can pick up on hints like the word kraal and take a very educated guess what unit it is from. Coming from the knowledge I do have about lions, the story gives an interested twist to the history of the creature. Once being able to fly, but now since the frog broke his prey’s bones, he must hunt on all fours. This is how I picture the lion in his most majestic stance, hunting for its game to devour, on all fours, not flying.
Lion Who Thought Himself Wiser than His Mother: This one line comes from the mother
lion:
"My son! That Man whose
head is in a line with his shoulders and breast, who has pinching weapons, who
keeps white dogs, who goes about wearing the tuft of a tiger's tail, beware of
him!"
The
way she describes the Man is fascinating. We look at animals by their features,
but hearing a description of a human from an animal sounds quite odd. It is
something I have never really thought much about. What do humans look like to animals?
In
the end, the mother was right, but the Man showed mercy on the younger lion by
letting him go after he had been shot. The Man’s white dogs were about to tear
him apart, but instead of killing the lion, he taught him the lesson of listening
to his wise mother.
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