Theme · 5 stories
Humility
Parables from across Africa that turn on the lesson of humility.
nigeria · Igbo · Yoruba
The Cracked Shell
A tortoise so proud of his wisdom decided to gather all the wisdom of the world into one gourd and hang it where no one else could reach it. What he learned on the climb up the tree changed him forever.
Read the parablenigeria · Yoruba · Igbo
The Palm Tree and the Bamboo
Side by side on the edge of the village stood a proud palm and a humble bamboo. Then the great storm came down from the hills, and only one of them was still standing in the morning.
Read the parablenigeria · Yoruba
The Firefly and the Moon
A small firefly was tired of being small. He climbed to the highest leaf in the forest and shouted at the moon — and the moon, in her kindness, taught him what his little light was actually for.
Read the parableghana · Akan · Ashanti
Anansi and the Pot of Wisdom
Anansi the spider gathered all the wisdom in the world into one clay pot, climbed a tree to hide it, and was undone by a child who simply asked, 'Why don't you carry it on your back?'
Read the parablecameroon · Bamileke · Beti
The Leopard and the Tortoise
The proud leopard mocks the slow tortoise — until a long dry season turns speed into a burden and slowness into the only road that finds water.
Read the parable