In Liberia there is a great famine, and Nymo and Hornbill have become very hungry. They are “big friends,” so they decide to go into the interior together to look for food. They find a palm-tree full of ripe nuts. shells Nymo eats only Nymo the pulp of his nuts, and throws calls the away […]
Tag: Africa
Bird stories, Hamerkop (Scopus umbretta)
The Hammerkop Scopus umbretta, if harmed, can wreak vengeance on the perpetrator and his property – the hills around the village could melt, his cattle could be hit by an epidemic, lightning may strike the man or he may die. It also predicts death by lurking in the water and stirring up pictures from the […]
Bird stories, Griffion Vulture (Gyps fulvus)
The Palestines tell tat when the female vulture was ready to lay an egg, her mate would fly off to search for a hadjar al-nasr, a vulture’s stone. This precious rock was to be found only on a select few mountains, and the male vulture sometimes had to fly as far as the islands of […]
Bird stories, Red Bishop (Euplectes orix)
The lioness had a cub and the cow had a calf, and these two grew up together and played together every day. The lion cub was a gentle, well-mannered little creature, but the calf was a disobedient, unruly child, and gave great trouble to his mother. Near the house was a well of fresh water, […]
Bird stories, Grey Heron (Ardea cinerea)
The Bohemians declare that the heron warns men of their danger when lost in the marshes, and endeavours by her cry to lead them to a safe place. It is said in Ireland that small eels pass through the intestines of a, heron uninjured, so that it swallows the same individual several times in succession. […]
Bird stories, Emerald-spotted Dove (Turtur Chalcospilos)
This story originates from the Zulu tribes in South Africa. Now here we have got another bird with a very remarkable and somehow sad history amongst our people. It is a plump beautiful creature. This bird, our people say, is the bird of mourning, a bird of sadness, a bird of sorrow. It is a […]
Bird stories, Egyptian Vulture (Neophron percnopterus)
The nomadic Bedouin of the Sinai Peninsula believed that if the body of an Egyptian Vulture was buried for forty days, then dug up and boiled until all of the flesh had dissolved, a single bone would stick up among the others, signifying that it held great power. All that was required to win the […]
Bird stories, Cape Dove (Oena capensis)
The Cape Dove has the strange name of Tsidzotononina (Unspeakable) among the Tankla or forest tribes, probably because its more common name had become tabooed or sacred through having formed part of the name of one of their chiefs. This seems confirmed by the fact that the other provincial name of this Dove, Katbto, is […]
Bird stories Crested Drongo (Dicrurus forficatus)
Once upon a time, they say, all the birds of the air assembled and agreed to choose one of their number to be king and leader; but the owl, it is said, did not come, for his mate chanced to be sitting just then. So all the birds agreed together that anyone who should see […]
Bird stories, Congo Peacock (Afropavo congensis)
The Congo peafowl was only discovered in 1936 in the rain forests of the eastern Congo and called Hokoe by the natives. The name is derived from its song, “Hokoe, hokoe, hokoe,” sung around 6 a.m. and 8 p.m. It is believed that this bird tells people to wake up or to return home from […]