*Items I used for storytelling today, "Why Hippos Don't Eat Fish" (explanation and story below)
It was a great critical thinking exercise and history lesson to talk about African storytelling and, in general, oral storytelling. I explained to children that in today's culture, when we learn about history or tell about history, we often do so with a book. I asked them to brainstorm how you could tell someone a story without paper and the kids all came up with great ideas about oral storytelling, dance and props. They were very interested in the story of "Why the Hippo doesn't eat fish" (an African myth regarding the hippo's diet and habits) and also the story of the Princess and the Frog (shown below in a Youtube video). Some of our classes also watched a few moments of The Lion King on Broadway and listened to some traditional African dance music, which is offered as a free download below! We also explored some African instruments that utilized dried nuts, pods and wood to create unique tribal sounds. Our younger groups also enjoyed a finger play with a grasshopper finger puppet that I did called "There was a little grasshopper". That brought a lot of fun giggles and is easy to recreat at home using just your fingers as the hopping insect!
Hope you enjoy this weeks blog, pictures, videos, and downloads. If you have time, ask your child to retell the story of the Hippo using their words and maybe even props and dance!
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"Why Hippos Don't Eat Fish": An African Myth
The Kikuyu People believe that in the days of long, long ago, when the Good Lord N'gai made his plans for all the creatures upon his earth, he made the hippopotamus as an animal of the forests and plains. But the hippopotamus was greedy and, finding plenty of food all round him and no enemies to worry about, he grew fatter, and fatter and fatter. And the fatter he grew, the more he suffered from the heat of the Equatorial midday sun.
Day after day, when he waddled down to the river for his drink, he gazed with envy at the little fishes that swam in the pool which was cooled by the melted snows from far-away Mount Kenya. "Oh" he would sigh, " how wonderful it would be if I could live, like N'gai's little fishes, in the clear, cool, refreshing water!."
The hippopotamus pondered over his trouble for many days, and eventually decided to approach The Lord of All Creation. "Please, Good Lord N'gai" he cried loudly to the heavens upon one particularly hot day, "allow me to leave the forests and the plains. Let me live instead in the clear, cool waters of your rivers and lakes, for the heat of the fiery sun is killing me!"
"No", replied Lord N'gai, "for my little fishes are very dear to me, and if you were to live in the rivers and lakes, you might try a change of your eating habits, and begin to eat those little fishes. That would never do. No, you must continue to live upon the dry land."
So the hippopotamus stayed sadly in his home in the forests and plains, where the sun continued to beat down mercilessly on his unprotected hide. "This is more that I can bear!" moaned the poor creature. "Please, please, Good Lord N'gai. let me leave the forests and plains, and become a creature of the rivers and lakes, I promise most faithfully that I will not eat your little fishes."
The Great Lord N'gai thought the matter over, while he looked down upon the plains baking in the heat of the tropical sun, and eventually his heart softened. "Very well," he agreed, " I will allow you to live in my rivers and lakes, but how will you prove to me that you are not eating my little fishes?"
"I will lie in the cool of the water by day, and at night time I will browse along the banks of the rivers, and in the vleis," replied the hippopotamus. "I promise that I will not eat your little fishes."
So this is way, to this very day, the hippopotamus comes out of the water as it looks up to heaven and says, "Look N'gai, no fishes!" - and that is why hippos don't eat fish!
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As you can see above, I used a hippo mask for the hippo, a purple sash to represent Lord N'Gai, and a castanet to represent the fish. Later, we tried a tribal dance that also told the story with these items, to a traditional African drum song.
Check out the fun dancing we did in our four's drum circle:
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The children also enjoyed listening to this story from master African storyteller, Djeliba Baba, about "The Princess and The Frog".
