Lisa Granger is an author of the book,
Stories Gogo Told Me.
Lisa spent several months hiking around the villages and towns and deserts of Africa.
She asked people who can't read and write to tell her their favorite stories.
One of these stories is called The Hen's Safari.
It is a story told by Sabina Sengere,
From Zimbabwe.
The Hen's Safari.
Hen,
The fattest of the grail chickens,
Was bored.
Her life was always the same,
She sighed.
Scratching at dry red sole,
Pick,
Pick,
Picking at the corn seeds,
Flapping around her little yellow chicks and putting up with the loud,
Bumptious,
Cuckoo-doodle doing of her buzzy old husband,
The grail rooster.
What she needed was an adventure.
Today,
She decided,
I'm going to take myself off on safari.
It's about time I escaped this grail and saw and see the world.
So,
One afternoon,
After she tucked her little chicks up for their nap under a nearby acacia tree,
She evaded the sharp eye of her rooster husband and giving her feathers a quick powdering in the soft,
Rusty dust by the chief's hut.
Then,
Hen set off down the grail path towards the river.
The riverbank,
According to her friend,
The goat,
Was brimming with exotic creatures.
Kingfishers with emerald wings,
Silverfish that could leap over rocks and beetles that could roll dung balls bigger than their own bodies.
This was going to be a day that the grail hen would never forget.
Hen set out full of the joys of Africa.
The sun had turned the afternoon golden with its rays.
The massasa trees gently shaded her with their limey leaves.
And soon,
She could smell the weedy,
Watery,
Willowy wet wafts of the river in the wind.
Hen had never been on safari.
So,
Once she got to the riverbank,
She wasn't quite sure what to do.
Hmm,
I know.
I will have a drink,
She clucked,
Scuttling her plump body down to the water.
It all seemed so peaceful with the river flowing gently by,
Mr.
Kingfisher sitting on a dry branch,
Watching out for fish and the sun gently grimming on the water.
And the only thing that moved in the midday sun was a log gently floating by.
Because she was a village bird,
Hen had no idea that the log floating by was not a log at all,
But a well-disguised and very hungry crocodile who couldn't believe his luck having such a delicious dinner delivered right to his riverbank.
And as Hen happily sipped away at her first safari drink of the day,
The hungry crocodile swam quietly towards the bank,
Then sprang from the water,
Snapping up Hen in one big snap.
Oh,
Brother,
Squealed to Hen,
Her neck sticking out of a big gap on crocodile's brown rotting teeth.
I beg of you,
Brother,
Please don't.
Crocodile was so shocked on hearing Hen refer to him as brother that his mouth flew open,
Leaving Hen to flap out on the riverbank.
Brother,
He said,
Not quite believing that he had his supper go.
How on earth can I be Hen's brother?
As Hen wandered along the riverbank covered in chicken pumps from the shock,
Crocodile had another think.
Not only was his belly rumbling and his mouth salivating from the thought of chicken dinner,
But one of Hen's feathers was still stuck between his teeth,
Making him look extremely silly.
I've been tricked by a stupid town bird,
He grumbled.
This time,
I cannot let her escape.
So creeping up behind her,
He snapped her up in his jaws.
But again,
Hen let out a blood-curdling squawk.
Brother,
Oh,
Brother,
She squealed.
Release me.
Don't eat me.
Hearing those words and not wanting to eat his sister,
Crocodile let her go.
Crocodile was so shocked by his own actions that he decided to go and seek advice from the great river god.
On his way,
He saw his equally scaly friend,
The lizard,
Cooling his slippery white tummy on some moss.
Where are you off to in such a hurry?
Hissed lizard.
Oh,
Lizard,
I am in a terrible tiss,
Said crocodile,
Sliding on to a warm rock.
There was a lovely crow,
Bred Hen,
Who I caught twice,
But I just had to let go because every time her lovely feathered flesh touched my tongue,
She squealed out,
Oh,
Brother,
Of course,
Lizard,
I can't eat my own sister.
So now I'm off to the water spirit to talk it over.
Don't bother,
Said the lazy lizard,
Flicking his tongue languidly to catch a passing dragonfly.
Don't you see,
Dear crocodile?
Duck lives near the water and she lays eggs.
Turtle lives near the water and she lays eggs.
I live in water and I lay eggs.
So do you.
We are all brothers of a type and none of us eats the other.
So we are,
Thought the crocodile,
Slinking back into the cool depths.
Hmm,
I think I will go and catch something else for supper.
Something that doesn't lay eggs.
From that day on,
Crocodiles have been preferred eating mammals,
Such as buffaloes or zebras.
And hens?
Hens have rarely gone on a safari again.
I'm curious about what you think of this story.
Do you like it?
Is there anything that resonates?
Please let me know.
And thank you for listening.
