Hare Tricks Tortoise
Maimouna Jallow
Catherine Groenewald, Katrin Coetzer, Padmanabha and Wiehan de Jager
Once upon a time, there lived Tortoise. He had worked very hard during his entire life.
When he retired from work, he received a big sum of money.
He decided that he would buy a big piece of land with the money, and become a farmer.
News spread all over the village that Tortoise was looking for land to buy.
When Hare heard the news, he had an idea! He rushed to see Tortoise and said: "Mr Tortoise! I can help you find land to buy. Come with me!" Said Hare.
That very same day, Hare took Tortoise to visit a plot. He pointed to a large field and said: "I own all this land!" Hare continued to tell Tortoise.
Tortoise was impressed. After bargaining for a while, they agreed on a price and Tortoise paid for the land.
The next day, Tortoise got up bright and early. He gathered some of his friends together and they went with their tools to visit the farm. They wanted to prepare it for planting.
When they reached, all they could see was water! "Where is your land?" Tortoise's friends asked, unable to contain their laughter.
Tortoise realised that he had been tricked. Hare had sold him a beach, and when the tide came in, all that was left was the sea. There was no farm land.
Tortoise went straight away to tell Elephant what had happened. Elephant was the highest judge in the land. Elephant ordered Lion to go and find Hare and bring him to the court.
When Hare heard Lion coming, he ran out and said: "I am so happy to see you Lion, but I have to run. Wild dogs have invaded our village!"As soon as Hare was out of sight, he ran from house to house, howling like a wild dog.
Lion could hear the howling warthogs coming from all directions. Lion ran away shaking with fear.
Hare too ran away, with all of Tortoise's money!Tortoise was sad, but he had many friends who helped him find another piece of land to farm.
You are free to download, copy, translate or adapt this story and use the illustrations as long as you attribute in the following way:
Hare Tricks Tortoise
Author - Maimouna Jallow and Haji Gora Haji
Illustration - Catherine Groenewald, Katrin Coetzer, Padmanabha and Wiehan de Jager
Language - English
Level - First sentences
© Maimouna Jallow 2015
Creative Commons: Attribution 4.0
Source www.africanstorybook.org
