Where stories first came from

Years ago, when man first began to grow his own food, there was nothing that made him laugh. There were no jokes and no stories. Then, someone in Zululand decided to do something extraordinary.

There once was an old wood-carver who made beautiful carvings of all that he saw – trees, flowers, animals and, of course, people.

His wife, a really frail and old woman, worked in the fields tending to their crops of rice, barley and corn.

They were busy from dawn to dusk but come evening they, along with other people, sat around a fire, not having much to do or say. It was so boring in the evenings that the old woman decided to do something about it.

Hence, she set out to find something that she and others could do when they had finished their work for the day.

The wood-carver’s wife had walked many miles when she met a zebra.

“Where are you going, old woman?” asked the animal.

She replied, “Out to find something fun to do.”

“Why don’t you people tell each other stories? That should be a fun thing to do!”
“What is that? Where can I find them?” asked the woman, eagerly.

“Well, I am not sure of that myself. However, you could ask the sea turtles... I once heard them talk about stories.”

And so the woman went in search of turtles and that naturally brought her to the seashore.

“How can we help you?” asked the friendly green turtles. When the woman told them what she was looking for, they nodded wisely and offered to take her to a kingdom below the ocean where she could find what she wanted.

With great excitement, she climbed on the back of one of the turtles and off they went to the underwater kingdom.

What an incredible sight it was! Rising from the seabed was a golden castle, shimmering and glowing with its own light; beautiful mermaids swam in and out of it. When the old woman and the turtles reached the king’s court, they were welcomed warmly by the king himself.

“What brings you here, my friend?” he asked of the woman. After he heard her out, he sat in silence for a long time. “Very interesting! I am curious to know more about life on land. I would love to visit your land but sadly I can’t!”

“Don’t you worry, Your Highness! I will show you all that is there on land right here at your palace,” said the old lady.

She then asked the turtles to take her back to the shore. At home, she filled a big bag with wooden carvings made by her husband and raced back to the seashore. The turtles once again took her to the underwater castle.

“Look what I have for you, Your Majesty!” said the woman as she showed him the dolls. “These are the things one can see on land!”

The king was overjoyed with her gifts. In return, he gave her a big conch.

 “Keep this to your ear and you will hear stories! Tell them to your children when you sit around a fire at night. You can be sure there will never be a dull moment in your lives again!”

Sure enough, there wasn’t any!