The people from Africa have unique characteristics in their myths; describing their way of life, the animals and plants that surround them. Some African stories include trickster animals and spirits; as this enhances the stories.

Myths are beliefs held by an ethnic group which is passed from generation to generation through stories. These myths mostly explain supernatural events and natural phenomena, they also tell us about the universe and its different components.

Why Turtles Live In Water

Turtles were land creatures. They lived with men and interact with them.

One day, a clever turtle was caught by some hunters. They took him to their village palace and placed the turtle before the Chief; and he asked, “How shall we cook him?”

“You’ll have to kill me first,” said the turtle, “and take me out of this shell.”

“We’ll break your shell with sticks,” they said.

“That’ll never work,” said the turtle, “My shell is hard and it will hurt you. Why don’t you throw me in the water and drown me? That will work faster!”

“Excellent idea,” said the Chief. They took the turtle to the river and threw him into the water to drown him.

They were congratulating themselves on their success in drowning the turtle, when the turtle, who is still in the river, popped up his two little green eyes and the laughing turtle said, “Don’t get those cooking pots out too fast, foolish people! As he swam away he said, “I think I’ll spend most of my time from now on, safely in the water. Humans won’t hesitate to betray me, if I dwell on the land.”

It has been that way ever since!

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