The Tales of Africa Clever Hare and the Rabbit

Living in a jungle

By Blessed Kearns

https://postimg.cc/tnNyQ9qf

https://postimg.cc/z3FS24wR

Deep in the forest, were are a lot of wild animals live, the stars 

shine bright during the night, and moon. When you look up to 

the universe, you can see so many stars, which are so very far, 

and difficult to see with a naked eye, and that is a home for the 

wild animals. This is their home, all different and unique in their 

ways. They were born there and live in the wilderness. and have 

adapted to their world of Animals. The stars are seen especially 

if there no clouds, there is a milky lane which is just stars. It's 

beautiful, they decorate the sky right above us. They appeared 

like they have been scattered, everywhere but making a line, 

presumably that is where the name came from milky lane. and as 

a child growing up, I didn't realise how special, these stars, were.

Some stars even have been given names. E.g. Venus, etc, etc. 

From the European side. In Africa they call them (Inkanyezi.).

It was something which was always nice to see. Growing up with 

so many siblings, has its own up and down# especially if it's a 

big family. There were times we would all sit around the fire,

which was blazing in the kitchen. We all sat on the on the floor,

eagerly waiting for tales to be told, by my grandmother who is 

not with us now, may her soul rest in peace, we surrounded the 

fire, waiting for her tales if not many. 

She seemed to enjoy doing this, these tales involved wild 

animals and monsters. There was so much anticipation, coming 

from us, as we waited until she was ready start. She always had 

so much tales to tell us, our eyes will be glued to her, and what

she would say next. We listened intently to her, it was intriguing. 

Our eyes where wide opened we did not want to miss anything, 

these tales, at times somewhere repeated. nevertheless, we never 

got tired. We enjoyed listening to her, and we wanted more and 

more, each and every day, it was very fascinating.

We slept in the kitchen floor, where we all cramped together

until the next morning when we want to school. She was very 

cautioning not to keep us up very late dure to school days.

One of her tales was a bout a Hare and a Rabbit.

In Africa (Mvundla.) is a Hare In English Language, there also a

Rabbit which it's ( NTeletshe) In an African language. These two 

animals were friends, however the Hare was very clever, than the 

(Nteleshe) Rabbit One day they Hare and Rabbit decided to play 

a game of cooking each other. They both decided to go to the 

woods and collected firewood to make fire. both participated it 

was their game, after all. they made the fire and agreed to work 

together. They helped each other as friends. do, together agreed

on going to get water which was not far then to fill this big pot,

with water from the nearby river.

They knew they had to stick to their plan, not to stay in this pot 

when the water gets very hot, this was paramount, the pot was

filled with cold water very quickly. Then a fire was made. They 

were now ready to play the game, When the water got warmer 

the other party will call the other by name, to be let out. This 

carried on for a while taking turns, one in and one out, that was 

the plan of the game, This carried on, for a while, to a point 

where the water was getting warmer and warmer, get me out! get 

me out! the other would call out, Then the other they would be let 

out. Now the water was starting to get even warner and warmer, 

after all there was fire still burning.

The Hare decided to stay longer, this time, he had mastered a 

plan. He waited a bit longer than he yelled let me out let me out

my friend to the Rabbit, The Rabbit would let the Hare out. Now,

it was the Rabbit turn, he went in, few minutes he could not stay, 

the water was very hot he yelled let me out let me out, he yelled

to the Hare, please let me out on few occasions. But the Hare did 

not. The water was now boiling, and the Rabbit was yelling in 

pain and agony. Let me out let he pleaded vigorously to be let 

out, no luck. Instead the Hare held the lid so tight, until it hurt 

him and had no intentions of letting the Rabbit out, but said,

cook my friend cook repeatedly and the Hare's plan was 

working.

The poor Rabbit called out relentless, but this fell into deaf ears.

When the Hare released there was no noise coming from the pot.

He knew there and there that the Rabbit was dead. He wanted 

move this big pot filled with the Rabbit meat, not only that this 

pot was very hot, and heavy for him. He tried few times, in vain 

then, the pot fell on the floor, scattered the Rabbit meat

everywhere. This time meat and separated from the bones, he

aimed for the Rabbit borne, he picked it up and made a whistle.

He went down to the same stream, where they had fetched water,

he knew most animals come to drink water there. He blew the 

borne which was now a whistle, mumbling, that he had cooked

The Rabbit. When They played a game, of which Rabbit was 

cooked. most of the animals who had come to the river to drink 

water heard, but it was not clear what was by the Hare, he was 

mumbling, they moved closer to try and understand what was 

said. Eventually they understood, they where all angry and they

tried to catch him, but with no luck. The minute the Hare realised 

what was going to happen, he ran as fast as he could,, they could 

not cash him. Therefore they could not bring him to Justice. for

the Animal Kingdom. The Hare and escaped the law.

One of my grandmother tales. There was a time when the clever 

Hare had to come up with another trick, he had girlfriend, he told 

her that he is very popular among the animal Kingdom Therefore 

whatever he wanted it was done, with a click of his finger, the 

girlfriend did not believe, what the Hare was saying. There was 

due drought season, which affect all the everyone even the 

human kind, mostly animals. They were dying with thirsty, 

everywhere it was dry. During that dreadful season there was no

rain, most of all the streams got very dry, the rivers nearby, 

where animals would sometimes drink, it was a dreadful season,

there was no water anywhere. All the animals were very thirsty. 

It was a very bad for the Animals. And humankind.

there was no rain, anywhere, no even patches of water. The sun

was blazing hot it was harsh to the animals. All the animals 

depended on the rain.

The Hare came with a plan had a meeting to discuss about the 

water situation, and to what could be done. All animals were 

involved in this discussion. During that meeting the clever was 

involved, Hare mentioned about a place he saw previously when 

her was hoping around, vising his girlfriend. The mentioned 

place had big potential it might have water, according to Mr. Hare

just needed a bit of digging. They all agreed to travel, to see this 

place which was seen by him. The clever Hare had his own 

agenda, he claimed he knew exactly where this place was. 

But had to travel together to get to this place. All the animals 

agreed on this, they all started early in the morning, which was 

the best time to travel and off they all left. Not long before they 

started this journey. Mr. Hare started to complain of belly- ache, 

all animals where very concerned about Hare condition. They all 

agreed to carry the Hare, all the way until they reached this 

place, after all, every-body was thirty.

They wanted to make sure they will get there in good time. As 

they were losing so many other members, of the animals. The 

sun was blazing hot On their way, some animals were collapsing 

through exhaustion and dehydration. These were a crucial times

everyone was struggling she tells us, There was a this decision

made to carry the Hare though out this ordeal, carrying Hare was 

not going to be a problem. Everybody was tired and thirty, at that 

time. but Hare was very small anywhere., so it was not going to 

be a big issue. After all it was going to be done in turns, if one 

gets tired the other will do the same, of to carrying the Hare 

straight through. 

The Hare to guided them, through the dry forest, to the so-called

place, which he saw, After all Mr. Hare was a very respected 

individual he needed to be treated kindly.

Throughout the whole journey passing through a lot of dry rivers 

the journey continued. The clever Hare made sure he was 

comfortable, to travel this horrible journey. It was hot, there was 

not even a single cloud in the sky, never the less they each and 

every animal carried him, They felt sorry for the Hare, who has 

become unwell They needed him. after all he was the only one 

who knows exactly where the water was, therefore, he was 

needed. desperately.

The Hare was now being carried around, even the Elephant had 

too, have a go of carrying Mr. Hare, Elephant skin was tough as 

nails rough skin, the clever Hare didn't mind, all he wanted a 

free ride. anywhere indeed he was clever Hereafter. He sat 

himself comfortably, holding, their ears to get a better view, and 

made sure he was not going to fall off and becomes a laughing 

stock. 

He found the Elephants ears better as they were very big, this 

journey was long. One by one they carried on, the through the 

dry forest, the leaves had fallen of the trees and there was no 

shed. if one animal mentioned about feeling tired, the other one 

will take over. Hare would get off, hope, hope straight to the 

next. There were times he would say her was feeling better. then

he would hope, hope few kilometers again he would the same

story of not well. Every now and again. this went on for a long 

time, he had a plan.

The Hare had mention previously to his girlfriend that all the 

animals will carry him. But his girlfriend did not believe him, so 

he made a point, that when they reached where the his girlfriend 

was he definitely be riding on one of the animals. he was going 

to play his game his game of not feeling very well so that his 

girlfriend will see him on one of the animals back, and not only 

that sitting comfortably and holding on the other animals' ears 

not to fall, the girlfriend was shocked the journey continued, 

Until They finally reached the destination,, once they found the

this place, there was not much water left it was getting dry. So 

they came with plan to dig a little bit more, so that the water 

would come out, and once the water is out. they have to very 

carefully not to drink all of it.

There was mud left by the sides, after they dug, because of that,

it you went to inside to drink water you will ger the mud. or

mudded feet of somewhere, on your body, there will be mud, this 

will mean you have been drinking this water, where everyone 

worked hard to dig.

They all slept surrounding this place, and took turns to drink. 

During the night the Hare would watch each, and every animal,

when realised they were all sleep he would snick inside this 

place and he would drink water. quickly come out, remove the 

mud from his tiny feet and smudge onto another animal, then he 

would pretend to be asleep. When it was the morning when other 

animals woke up they will find mud on other animals, then thy 

will killed them, one by one this carried on for a while, until they 

killed Mpala in the Ndebele Language. in English it is and 

Antelope with long horns; There where other animals who were 

killed prior to Mpala, as they had would have violated their 

agreement, every animal that was found with mud, was killed.

then when the mud was found on Mpala, he was killed. This did 

not sit well with Mr. Hare, she continued

The Hare knew exactly what he had done to Mpala, and the rest 

of the dead animals. But when it came to Mpala this did not sit 

well with him, he tossed and turned during the night and thinking

of what her had done, in the morning he woke and sat a bit far 

away from the group and started to sing Umpala Umpala ufeleni, 

wayengumataka Malumumami, nginathile minah amazana 

wodwa wayengu mantaka Malumami) (Mpala was his uncle 

child and that he the Hare had been drinking the water all along.)

The Animals were puzzled, to what the Hare was sing/saying 

they stated asking each other asking each other, the Hare in the 

beginning was mumbling, the other animals could not figure out 

what was said So many animals have been killed. it transpired 

they did not drink any water but the Hare did as he came clean, 

what he has been doing. All the animals who were killed were all 

innocent souls, did not drinking the water but the Hare. He 

finally came clean. They tried to catch all in vain he hoped away 

straight to the bushes and Mr. Hare vanished.

Hares are distinguished from the rabbits by their larger size, 

longer ears. And longer hind legs. They also tend to live alone or 

pairs in above-ground nests, whereas rabbits often live to 

together in groups of up to 20 in underground tunnels known as 

warrens by Merriam-webster.com Another important 

difference between hares and rabbits is the way their 

young are born: hares are born covered in fur and with 

open eyes, but rabbits are born furless, blind, and 

helpless.

The fact that they can be difficult to tell apart is also 

reflected in particular names: a jackrabbit is really a hare, 

but a swamp hare is really a rabbit. Coney is sometimes 

used to refer to an adult rabbit, and the terms buck, doe, 

and kitten or kit (for male, female, and young rabbits, 

respectively), though correct, are much more closely 

associated with other mammals.

The modern French word for "rabbit," lapin, refers to a 

castrated male rabbit in English. Bunny (meaning simply 

"rabbit" or "a small rabbit") comes from bun, a regional 

word used for both "rabbit" or "squirrel" in England going 

back to at least the 1500s. Easter Bunny comes 

from Easter Hare, a translation from the German of the 

term as well as the tradition—dating back at least as far as 

the late 1600s—in which a bunny brings eggs and gifts to 

children at Easter. Rabbits and eggs were both symbols of 

fertility and springtime that connected the religious and 

the secular at Easter.

https://postimg.cc/rDtPsWPk

On of her tales was about a boy who lived with uncle, on day 

they decided to attend a party of which they were both invited, 

the uncle travelled with his nephew to this party. On the 

the way there saw a place where they could pick utensil for free,

first it was the knives, both picked. within short distance uncle 

encouraged the nephew to throw his knife away, the boy did, as 

they carried on moving they saw another place where they could 

pick forks and they did, then in short while, the uncle 

encouraged the boy to do the same nephew pick a knife and the 

boy did, travelled a bit further the uncle encouraged the boy to 

throw the knife, away as a an obedient child the boy did, as her 

was told. Still on their way to this 

Then the uncle encouraged the boy to throw the spoon away and 

the boy did. Once they got to this party the boy was left with no 

utensils and when the food was saved the boy could not eat as he 

had thrown away everything. the clever uncle had kept his 

utensils. He ate.

Then there is another one Princes got pregnant and was scared to 

tell her parents until she gave birth on her won in the bushes 

every time she would leave the house and go to fed her baby

who would be hungry then, when she got there, she would a song 

specifically for her child, (Smemelwani kwabo ka gence, 

ngamzala ningedwa khwabo ka gence ngibomnwa zinyoni kwabo 

ka gence ziphapha pezulu kwabo kagence, the baby would stop

crying), and will be breastfeed, it was a lullaby sung for her chid, 

during times.

In translation of this song, you are my child, to who I gave birth 

to you,, only birds could see me, they are always flying above

the sky. This baby was left by the bushes, in fear of her parents, 

but later her parents would wonder she was. And became very 

worried of her safety, she later told them about this baby and 

where happy to have a grandchild.

One upon a time there was village, and there lived a very 

handsome Prince, all the girls in this village liked him. He had an 

advantage of picking up any girl he liked, but behind all this 

nobody knew this Prince very well, only that her was rich. 

People around the village knew about his wealth. He had cows 

loads of them goats and chickens, he never bought any eggs, 

his chickens would, every day in the morning his servant would 

go and pick the fresh eggs 

When he met a girl who he choose to marry the parents of the 

girl where very excited for their daughter marrying a Prince, 

few girls were chosen form the village to escort her and spend 

time with this girl until she was used to living with Prince little 

was known about this Prince,

He also had servants, chefs, people who could look after his 

cows. Then one day, he fell in love with a local girl from the 

village who were not rich. He had seen this girl few times going 

to fetch water, at times in the woods to pick up fire-wood she 

was very pretty. He fell in love and wanted to marry her, one day 

so he did the he knew the traditional ways where the men pay for 

a girl before they lived together. To him wealth was nothing he 

was rich. He asked the elderly for this girl hand in marriage, all 

was organised and he paid her parents what was required, lot of 

cows, goats and chickens and the girl parents were over joyed 

with this, After all their daughter is going to marry a Prince and 

her did. There was a very big ceremony, they all celebrated and 

very happy for the Prince, food was saved even the girls parents 

where very proud of their beautiful daughter, who was marrying 

a Prince from the Village. the village people showed their 

excitement drums beat, traditionally everybody attended. And 

were happy for the newlyweds and Prince was in love. The 

happiness was everywhere.

Behind all this there was a dark secret that nobody knew, besides 

the Prince himself. During the night the he would turn into a 

snake, people did not know. The ceremony was finally over, 

everybody had to return to their villages, there were a lot of 

People who attended this wedding. Afterall it was the well 

known bachelor from the village. 

One day he got so angry and he barracked the door, nobody 

could pass, the girls came with a plan of singing for this Prince.

Ngedlule, ngedlule mkhemkhenyan wami ngiyekhuthathela incansi

ngizokhwendlalela, after few attempts were made, and ever single,

girly managed to escape. Before they could pass he would sing

back Dlula, dlula mlanyana wami uyengithathela incansi 

uzongenlalela. One by one girls would pass they did this in turns, 

but when it came to the women he married he never replied. as she 

tries so many times all where fruitless. (translation of this song 

may I pass, may I pass as I need carpet for you to lie on.

It was getting dark all the other girls where gone, she kept on 

singing until the snake (Prince) let her through, she ran through 

the woods going back to her parents. When she finally got home 

she told them about the situation of the snake, they went broke 

bottles as they were sharp and when the snake arrived it was 

crawling around looking for the girl, but was cut in few pieces 

and thy burnt the snake the turned into a very handsome Prince 

who re-married that girl and lived happily ever after.

Long time ago, there was a family who had a son and daughter,

the daughter was a Princess. this family lived deep in the a 

jungle, it was full of green tress. The was a path which was not 

clear, it was full of snakes, so when they were travelling they had 

to be very careful. The girl had very long hair like Rapunzel. At 

times they would both play in the woods and returning home 

before it was dark, those were the rules given to both by their 

parents.

That particular day The parents were not at home. Both decided 

to go to the forest, they were not that familiar with the forest, but 

decided to explore never the less and they left the village. In this 

forest lived monsters ( Amazimu) in Ndebele Language had big 

sacks and loved to kidnap, children, the forest was very dark 

place, and there was no, lights even road signs, there paths were 

not clear. It was out in the Jungle where the monsters lived.

There was a family who lived close by but it a village, These

parents at times would leave the Princess and her brother alone 

to play.

In this forest there where monsters who lived the in this dark 

forest, and used to hunt for children, They used to carry big to 

put the children in children once, they caught these children, they 

would put them in their sacks. Then straight into this dark forest.

Where nobody would find them, these children, some of them 

would just vanish.

and nobody could not find them or know the whereabouts of all

these children. They called themselves hunting Monsters.

One day the luck was on the Monster side, he managed to catch

the Princes and her brother, and put them both in his sake, then

carried them through the dark forest, to his hiding place once this 

monster reached his hiding place, he unlocked a door and put 

them in this room which had a lock, and carried the key 

everywhere and this room was to remain locked at all times.

They were very scared, but could not scream, This monster was 

giving them food in this little tiny room and they where 

supposed to eat together. The monster had a plan of eating them

at a later stage, was going to invite his friends for a feast.

When they slept the Princes during the night could hear his 

moves, and the noises he was making, sharpening knives She 

informed her brother, but her brother did not believe her,

They came with a plan of tying long hair, then the Princes started to 

sing slightly at the same time pulling her brother toes who she had 

tied her long her s around his big toe. The Monster was sharpening 

his knives. The Princess could hear him do this more frequently. 

Then told her brother, who was sleeping in the same room.

The Princess had magic hair that could sing Nkwayi nkawyi lo,

vukha uzwelokhu sikhannzikanzingiwiwe, vukha uzwelokhu, this 

was a song she sang to alert her brother about what was 

happening. But they were very lucky as they escaped. They ran 

through the forest until they got home safely to their parents.

THE END

BLURB

To my grandmother may she rest in peace