Story Seeds

A long time ago, when a bird died on earth, its spirit would leave its body and float up to the clouds where it lived as a cloud person, watching over and caring for the birds and animals on earth. The birds and animals knew about these cloud people. There came a time when…

Long ago, Mother Moon lit up the sky every night. She had a blanket woven from the most beautiful golden thread. Her blanket shone so brightly that there was enough light for all people to see their way through the darkness. Sometimes, Mother Moon wrapped her blanket tightly around herself and came down…

Once upon a time, there was a very greedy man. Although he was very rich, all he ever wanted was more money. One evening, an old traveller came to the greedy man’s door. “I’ve been walking all day,” the old traveller said. “Please let me rest here tonight.” “Hmmm,” said the greedy man….

A long, long time ago, when giants roamed about and chickens talked, a poor woman lived with her daughter, Tselane, in a little house. Since she had nobody to look after Tselane, the woman was forced to leave the child alone when she went to plough her fields each day…

Once upon a time, an old woman lived all alone near the top of a tall mountain above a village. Everybody in the village was afraid of her. They called her “The Witch”. One day a young girl called Phumla went out to collect wild roots and herbs on the slopes of the…

A long time ago, a woman lived with her family in a village in the Kingdom of Zululand. Every Sunday the family went down to the big ocean. The woman made food over a fire while her husband looked for wood washed up by the sea to carve beautiful things: birds, people and…