Fairytales from South Africa

ProMosaik Children was founded by Milena Aziza Rampoldi in Istanbul. The editor-in-chief, Maria Traoré, publishes children’s books to promote intercultural dialogue. African folktales are a rich oral tradition used for entertainment, storytelling, and teaching moral lessons. They rarely end with the phrase “they lived happily ever after”; instead, they often feature trickster animals, explain natural phenomena, and teach lessons about behaviour.South African animal fairy tales and folklore feature rich traditions from communities like the San, Khoekhoe, and Bantu. They star clever tricksters like the jackal and hare, powerful but foolish lions and elephants, and wise little tortoises who explain how the natural world came to be. Many fairy tales pursue a pedagogic objective. To mention a couple of examples: The jackal is the cunning, fast-talking survivor who loves outwitting bigger predators, while the tortoise is slow but wins thanks to endurance and hidden wisdom. The lion has the typical proud of a ruler and is often duped by animals which are smaller than him. ProMosaik is convinced that through fairy tales like the ones included in this book children can learn intercultural competence and communication by looking at different communities and their tales.Fairy tales from all over the world are very important to affirm cultural pluralism and to learn cultural geography and moral lessons from other communities around the globe. This permits the creation of a society where racism and discrimination are completely overcome by intercultural competence developed from childhood in multicultural environments.