THE OLD LION

AND THE JACKAL

A FABLE BY AESOP

NARRATED BY BABA INDABA

PUBLISHED BY

ABELA PUBLISHING, LONDON [2015]

THE OLD LION AND THE JACKAL

Typographical arrangement of this edition ©Abela Publishing 2015

This book may not be reproduced in its current format in any manner in any media, or transmitted

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without the prior written permission of the publisher.

ABELA PUBLISHING, London, United Kingdom

2015

ISBN-13: 978-1-910882-30-6

Email: Books@AbelaPublishing.com

Website: www.AbelaPublishing.com

INTRODUCTION

BABA INDABA (pronounced Baaba Indaaba)

lived in Africa a long-long time ago. Indeed,

this story was first told by Baba Indaba to the

British settlers over 250 years ago in a place on

the South East Coast of Africa called

Zululand, which is now in a country now

called South Africa.

In turn the British settlers wrote these stories

down and they were brought back to England

on sailing ships. From England they were in

turn spread to all corners of the old British

Empire, and then to the world.

In olden times the Zulu’s did not have

computers, or iPhones, or paper, or even pens

and pencils. So, someone was assigned to be

the Wenxoxi Indaba (Wensosi Indaaba) – the

Storyteller. It was his, or her, job to memorise

all the tribe’s history, stories and folklore,

which had been passed down from generation

to generation for thousands of years. So, from

the time he was a young boy, Baba Indaba had

been apprenticed to the tribe’s Wenxoxi

Indaba to learn the stories. Every day the

Wenxoxi Indaba would narrate the stories and

Baba Indaba would have to recite the story

back to the Wenxoxi Indaba, word for word.

In this manner he learned the stories of the

Zulu nation.

In time the Wenxoxi Indaba grew old and

when he could no longer see or hear, Baba

Indaba became the next in a long line of

Wenxoxi Indabas. So fond were the children of

him that they continued to call him Baba

Indaba – the Father of Stories.

When the British arrived in South Africa, he

made it his job to also learn their stories. He

did this by going to work at the docks at the

Point in Port Natal at a place the Zulu people

call Ethekwene (Eh-tek-weh-nee). Here he

spoke to many sailors and ships captains.

Captains of ships that sailed to the far reaches

of the British Empire – Canada, Australia,

India, Mauritius, the Caribbean and beyond.

He became so well known that ship’s crew

would bring him a story every time they

visited Port Natal. If they couldn’t, they

would arrange to have someone bring it to

him. This way his library of stories grew and

grew until he was known far and wide as the

keeper of stories – a true Wenxoxi Indaba of

the world.

Baba Indaba believes the tale he is about to tell

in this little book, and all the others he has

learned, are the common property of

Umntwana (Children) of every nation in the

world - and so they are and have been ever

since men and women began telling stories,

thousands and thousands of years ago.

WHERE IN THE WORLD – LOOK IT UP!

This story was told to Baba Indaba by a sailor from the town of Paralia Ofriniou in the Strymonian Gulf. Can you find Paralia Ofriniou on a map? What country is it in?

THE OLD LION

AND THE JACKAL A story, a story Let it come, let it go A story, a story From long, long ago!

UMNTWANA Izwe! Children LISTEN! Once, a long,

long time ago, ibhubesi eligugileyo (Ee-buh-beh-

see elli-goo-gil-eh-yoh - an old Lion), whose

teeth and claws were so worn that it was not so

easy for him to get food as he had done in his

younger days. This old lion pretended to be sick.

He took care to let all his neighbours know about

it, and then lay down in his cave to wait for

visitors. And when they came to offer him their

sympathy, he pounced and ate them up one by

one.

Impungushe (Im-pung-goo-she – Jackal) came

too, but being a cunning Jackal, he was very

cautious about his visit, for, when he was

younger, the lion had had a fearsome reputation.

Standing at a safe distance from the cave, he

inquired politely after the Lion's health. The Lion

replied that he was very ill indeed, and asked the

Fox to step in for a moment. But Master Jackal

very wisely stayed outside, thanking the Lion

very kindly for the invitation.

"I should be glad to do as you ask," he added,

"but I have noticed that there are many footprints

leading into your cave and none coming out.

Pray tell me, how do your visitors find their way

out again?"

The moral of the story is

Take warning from the misfortunes of others.

Umntwana, here ends my story.

Remember, good words are food,

bad words are poison.

Salagahle umntwana!

(Salla-gah-shle Um-in-twaan-ah

Stay well my children!)

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