AFRICAN STORYTELLING- Create Your Own Fable

WRITE YOUR OWN FABLE

If you understand the beginning well, the end will not trouble you.

-Ashanti Proverb

Do you know what a proverb is? 

A proverb is a phrase or saying that highlights a basic truth or way of life.  Proverbs can inform people how they should live their lives and the types of choices they should make.  Sometimes, to make the life lesson easier to learn, people write stories known as fables to make the proverb easier for listeners to accept. Fables are folktales with a moral attached to them.  It is sometimes easier for some people to learn a lesson if they do not know they are learning it. 

The most popular fables are those of Aesop. Aesop's Fables or the Aesopica is a collection of fables credited to Aesop, a slave and story-teller believed to have lived in ancient Greece between 620 and 560 BCE.1 Click here to read some of Aesop's fables so that you can better understand what fables look like. 

After reading a few of Aesop's fables and getting an idea of what fables look like, take a look at the list of African proverbs below. Using one of the African proverbs and the list of story characteristics below that, each one of you will write a fable that you will share with the class when we return from the break.

AFRICAN PROVERBS

Ashanti of Ghana

One falsehood spoils a thousand truths..
Ashanti of Ghana

The ruin of a nation begins in the homes of its people.
Ashanti of Ghana

There is no medicine to cure hatred.
Ashanti of Ghana

Two men in a burning house must not stop to argue.
Ashanti of Ghana

He who is guilty is the one that has much to say.
Bahumaba

Sticks in a bundle are unbreakable.
Buganda

Water always finds a way out.
Cameroon

Do not step on the dog's tail, and he will not bite you.
Congo

Love is like a baby: it needs to be treated tenderly.
Congo

The friends of our friends are our friends.
Congo

No matter how long the night, the day is sure to come.
Congo

To love someone who does not love you, is like shaking a tree to make the dew drops fall.
Cote D'Ivorie

When your neighbour is wrong you point a finger, but when you are wrong you hide.
Ethiopia

Smooth seas do not make skillful sailors.
Ethiopia

He who learns, teaches.

Ethiopia

Woman without man is like a field without seed.
Ethiopia

Unless you call out, who will open the door?
Ethiopia

The fool speaks, the wise man listens.
Ethiopia

A cat may go to a monastery, but she still remains a cat.
Ethiopia

The fool is thirsty in the midst of water.
Gola

One camel does not make fun of the other camel's hump.
Guinea

A good deed is something one returns.
Guinea

Knowledge is like a garden: if it is not cultivated, it cannot be harvested.
Nigeria

If you have one finger pointing at somebody, you have three pointing towards yourself.
Nigeria

You don't need pain killers for another man's headache.
Senegal

Equality is not easy, but superiority is painful.
Serere

It is better to be loved than feared.
Sierra Leone

Do not tell the man who is carrying you that he stinks.
Somali

The most dangerous thing a man needs is woman.
Sudan

The wind does not break a tree that bend

STORY CHARACTERISTICS

Introduce Character(s)

• Girl
• Boy
• Man
• Woman
• Animal
• Idea
• Machine
• Thing
• Plant

Environment

• Farm
• Village
• City
• Otherworld
• Mountains
• Forest
• Arctic
• Jungle
• Ocean
• Desert

Time

• Ancient Times
• Modern/Present Times
• Future

Problem

• Caught Stealing
• Told a Lie
• Saw or heard something they shouldn’t/a secret
• Lost something
• Been captured
• Under a spelll or curse
• Goes to forbidden place
• Has an enemy
• Is undervalued
• Is unrecognized
• Causes jealousy/envy
• Forgets something
• Broke something
• Does not like something
• Needs something
• Needs to escape or hide
• Needs to rescue someone/something
• Needs to prove their courage/worth

Inner Traits That Cause Original Trouble

• Is greedy
•  Dangerously curious
• Doesn’t follow advice
• Is lazy
• Is cowardly
• Is pessimistic
• Is blindly in love
• Is enraged and seeks revenge
• Is clumsy
• Is untrained
• Lacks confidence
• Is foolish
• Is mean

Inner Traits that Aid Solution

• Is brave
• Is resourceful
• Is imaginative
• Is kind
• Is generous
• Is clever
• Is loyal
• Is strong
• Is optimistic

Solution to Problem

• Has helper
• Is magical
• Is non-magical
• Is rescued
• Is transformed
• Discovers skill
• Finds magic
• Helps self
• Exercises cleverness
• Uses inner traits
• Journey is undertaken to obtain a solution

Conclusion

• Returns to original setting
• Becomes new in some way
• Is rewarded somehow
• Is wiser
• Is transformed into something else
• Comes with a gift or treasure

• Lives well
• Passes luck or reward onto others
• Has a positive impact on the world
• Offers wisdom to other

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1http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aesop%27s_Fables

AFRICAN STORYTELLING - South African Gumboots Dancing

NOTE: The text below has been reprinted from WWW.WORLDARTSWEST.ORG/PLM/GUIDE

Gumboot dance developed from traditional African roots, to become a part of urban South African working-class culture. The practice began with rural laborers who came to work at the gold mines of Witwatersrand in South Africa. They brought with them strong traditions of rhythm, song, and dance. Facing oppression and hardship at the mines, including punishment if they talked to each other while working, they were forced to adapt and create new forms of communication and entertainment. The fact that many ethnic groups and languages existed side by side also contributed to developing their associations through the shared language of rhythm and music.

In the mines they worked for three months at a time, doing long, hard, repetitive toil. In the total dark- ness of the mines, many workers were chained to their workstations and forbidden to speak with one another. Hundreds of workers were killed every year in accidents and many were beaten and abused by the foremen. The conditions of the mines were deplorable, where mine floors often flooded due to poor drainage, causing skin problems and disease. Rather than spending money to properly drain the shafts, the bosses issued rubber gumboots to the workers. The minersʼ uniform thus consisted of jeans or over- alls, bandannas to absorb their sweat, hard hats, and gumboots.

The mine executives tried to divide workers from each other even when they were not working, for fear of solidarity and uprising. Their overcrowded living quarters were segregated along ethnic or tribal lines. At the same time, they were forbidden to carry on their traditions, or wear traditional dress, in an attempt to virtually erase their ethnic identity. Faced with this repressive regime, workers adapted traditional dances and rhythms to the only instruments available - their boots and bodies.
Inside the mines, the workers used the gumboots to communicate with each other, by slapping their boots, stamping their feet, and rattling their ankle chains. As the form also devel- oped into a popular social activity, songs dealing with working-class life, drink- ing, love, family, low wages and mean bosses were sung to accompany the move-ments.

Some employers eventually became aware of this emerging dance form, and the more tolerant ones allowed the best dancers to form troupes. These troupes were used to entertain visitors and spread good PR by representing their company. It was not unusual for these performersʼ songs, sung in the workersʼ native languages, to openly mock their bosses and criticize wages and conditions, while the bosses listened on, blissfully ignorant of the content.

Gumboot dance is now a popular art form performed worldwide to entertain and pass on elements of South African history to new generations and other cultures. Like many folkloric art forms, it is adapted to the modern contexts in which it is performed.
The following is a translation of a song that is sung with Gumboot dance. The rich harmonies are char- acteristic of much South African music:

MAHLALELA
HEE MAHLALELA HAMBUʼ UYO SEBENZA HEE MAHLALELA HAMBHʼ UYO SEBENZA
HEE HEE HE MAHLALELEA HAMBHʼ UYO SEBENZA HE MAHLALELA HAMBHʼ UYO SEBENZA
ENGLISH TRANSLATION:
LOAFER GO AND WORK
MAHLALELA HAMBHA UYO SEBENZA
...    LOAFER ...    GO ...    YES ...    WORK

Click here for an introduction to Gumboot Dancing and click here to see an example of a more advanced routine. Wanna learn more about Gumboot Dancing? Click here for a more in depth history about this rich cultural dance style or here for a clip from Gumboots the Musical