African Tales
The Boy who wanted the Moon
That was once a great king in west Africa. He had many wives and many daughters but only one son. The king loved his son so much that he gave the boy everything. At the age of six the prince had his own house. He had exquisite clothes and his arms and ears jingled with gold and silver. The prince was carried around in the chair . He didn’t walk unless he felt like it.
The king made his son the king of all the children in his kingdom. Because there were more children than adults in the kingdom, the son had more subjects than the father. unfortunately all the things his father gave him did not satisfy the prince. The more he had the more he wanted.
Anansi Goes Fishing
In the country of Ashanti, not far from the edge of the great West African forest, there was a man named Anansi,^ who was known to all the people for miles around. Anansi was not a great hunter, or a great worker, or a great warrior. His specialty was being clever. He liked to outwit people. He liked to live well, and to have other people do things for him. But because all the people of the country knew about Anansi and had had trouble with him, he had to keep thinking of new ways to get something for nothing. One day Anansi was sitting in the village when a man named Osansa came along. I have an idea,' Anansi said. 'Why don't we go and set fish traps together? Then we shall sell the fish and be quite rich.' But Osansa knew Anansi's reputation very well, and so he said : 'No, I have as much food as I can eat or sell. I am rich enough.