Outa Karel’s Stories, South African Folk-Lore Tales

South African Folk-Lore Tales" in 1914, South Africa had come through a time of great turmoil. There had been years of conflict between the Boer settlers, the Zulus and the British. The arrival of peoples from all over the world seeking gold and diamonds together with the advent of the railroads, was opening up the country and changing society. Sanni was afraid that many of the old traditions and stories would be lost and so set down these few for posterity. She also stated " I greatly regret that (the stories) appear here in what is, to them, a foreign tongue. No one who has not heard them in the Taal - that quaint, expressive language of the people - can have any idea of what they lose through translation, but, having been written in the first instance for English publications, the original medium was out of the question." However, even The Taal (which in South Africa refers to Afrikaans) would not have been the language from whence these tales originated. They came from the oral traditions of the indigenous peoples of South Africa . The storyteller is Outa Karel, an old family retainer and though they are told here in English, there are several words and expressions in the "Taal". There is however an excellent Glossary at the beginning of the book which is read as a separate file for reference.


By : Sanni Metelerkamp (1867 - 1945)

00 - Glossary



01 - The Place and the People



02 - How Jakhals Fed Oom Leeuw



03 - Who was King?



04 - Why the Hyena is Lame



05 - Who was the Thief?



06 - The Sun



07 - The Stars and the Stars’ Road



08 - Why the Hare’s Nose is Slit



09 - How the Jackal got his Stripe



10 - The Animals’ Dam



11 - Saved by his Tail



12 - The Flying Lion



13 - Why the Heron has a Crooked Neck



14 - The Little Red Tortoise



15 - The Ostrich Hunt

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