Why Ajao was not buried
Taiwo Ẹhinẹni
Jesse Breytenbach
Ajao, a bat, lay in his house very ill.
There was no one to attend to him.
The neighbours said, "Ajao is dead. We must call his relations to come and bury him."
The neighbours went and called the birds saying, "A relative of yours is dead."
The birds came and saw that it was Ajao.
They said, "This animal is not part of our family."
"All our family have feathers but Ajao has none. So, he is not one of us."
The birds went away.
The neighbours reasoned together.
They agreed, "The birds are right. Ajao has no feathers. So, he is not their relative."
One of them said, "He must be part of the family of rats. He looks like them."
The neighbours went and called the rats saying, "One of your family is dead."
The rats came and saw that it was Ajao.
They said, "This animal is not part of our family."
"Everyone in our family has a tail. Ajao has no tail."
The rats went away.
No relations were found for Ajao and he remained unburied.
You are free to download, copy, translate or adapt this story and use the illustrations as long as you attribute in the following way:
Why Ajao was not buried
Author - Taiwo Ẹhinẹni
Translation - Taiwo Ẹhinẹni
Illustration - Jesse Breytenbach
Language - English
Level - First sentences
© African Storybook Initiative 2016
Creative Commons: Attribution 4.0
Source www.africanstorybook.org
