Pass on the love of reading! Read this children’s story to a lucky young person.

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This story, told in the Shmidtsdrift tent camp in South Africa, explains how we were betrayed and exploited by the South African Defence Force. We !Xun were like cattle when making bargains with the army. (My Eland’s Heart 2002)

There was once a lion that moved from place to place. One day, he met a herd of cattle and said to them, ‘Listen, if you come and make a garden for me, I will give you presents.’

The cattle came from their place and created a garden for the lion. When their job was done, the Hare arrived and said to the lion’ “You took the cattle from their lace and told them that if they make you a garden, you would give them gifts.”

The Lion replied and said’ “I do not have gifts to give them. There is a garden now with vegetables and mealies. They can harvest this and take it to the market to sell. With that money they can return to their place.’

When the cattle heard this, they went to the garden to harvest the crops. The leader of the cattle walked behind them and when the lion saw him, he waited. When the cattle were not looking, the lion grabbed him and killed him. Frightened, the cattle ran away.’

While they were running and crying, the Hare came to them and said, ‘Listen, that man, the lion, he is not friendly, he is the devil. You made a mistake to trust him.

The cattle returned to their place, still crying.

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Thank you to the Manyeka Arts Trust for allowing FunDza to republish this story. To find out more about the Manyeka Arts Trust, visit: www.manyeka.co.za