Once upon a time there lived a king who always worries about everything: about what to wear, whether it will be sunny, whether there will be an attack on his kingdom, whether his subjects are happy or not. One day he becomes tired of worrying, and decides to do something about it. He tries many things, but realises in the end that every human being on earth has some worry or other,
and he should learn to worry less about the things he cannot command. And so he soon becomes a much happier and more popular person.
Remi Adedeji is an esteemed Nigerian children’s writer, and associate editor for Bookbird in Nigeria. She started writing story books for African children when she discovered that the only books available to African children were alien to African culture.
Many of her stories are Nigerian folktales in which the tortoise features prominently; this new title in the Heinemann Frontline series is no exception.
The volume contains ten short stories based upon ancient folk tales.The reader will learn how the oil palm got its nuts; why the vulture has no hair on his head; why the tortoise’s back is cracked; and how the tortoise married the king’s daughter.