Izinganekwane (i-zin-kah-neh-kwa-neh)

Zulu Folk Tales

- Passed down by word-of-mouth (oral retelling)- Usually by ‘gogo’, for the young children of the tribe.- A way of preserving history, culture, religion/spirits of those past, and teaching the young,

morals.

Rules:

1) Usually starts ‘Long ago’, followed by a strongly descriptive sense of setting. South Africa, though diverse in habitats, is mainly covered by savannah style ‘veldt’ (‘felt’) – flat, dry and populated with:

Thorny acacia and large baobab (‘bay-oh-bab’) trees.

The ‘Veldt’ Zululand

Zululand is a little greener, with large, rolling hills and forests (full of wildlife!) The Zulus are a proud nation, led at one stage by one of Africa’s proudest and dictatorial chief, King Shaka! (Inkosi inkosikazi – ‘King of Kings’)

2) Choose your characters. Remember that you will be drawing on a bank of ‘stock characters’ (characters who recur from folk tale to folk tale; think of your ‘Wicked Stepmothers’ and ‘Prince Charmings’ from European Folk Tales).

Monkey = a trickster; likes to fool around, but often gets into trouble.Lion = king of the animals; proud, but sometimes a bully/villain.Hare = a trickster.Jackal = sly and cunning; likeable, but definitely out for himself.Crocodile = an out-and-out villain – watch out!Elephant = old and wise, but can be grumpy. Rabbit = a fool; easy to trick.Cattle = a possession of man; a Zulu’s wealth is the number of cattle he owns.Zulu names – Male: Sipho; Jabu; Sibongile; Sizwe; SifisoFemale: Lindiwe; Nandi; Nomsa; Ntombi; Thembi;

3) Move on to the narrative (story) – the interaction between characters, and remember, many African Folk Tales use repetition and will contain some sort of moral. The good guys don’t always win; sometimes a Trickster fools the Hero to teach a lesson of some sort!