Africa at the Internet Archive: Nabulela

Finishing up this week of stories from southern Africa, here is a book written and illustrated by Fiona Moodie, a South African artist and writer: Nabulela.

The book has a wonderful heroine and a happy ending, and Moodie's illustrations do a great job of dramatizing the story. Here you can see the chief's daughter and her dog: 

Nabulela is the name of the monster that they must defeat:

Moodie has written other children's books, and you might enjoy looking at her book Noko and the Night Monster at the Internet Archive; it's not based on folklore, but it is populated by African animal characters: Noko and the Night Monster. Here are illustrations of Noko the African porcupine, talking with a pangolin and with a hyena:

Moodie's source for the Nabulela monster story was Phyllis Savory's book of Zulu stories, which I profiled in a previous post: Zulu Fireside Tales. 

You can compare the text of the stories and also the illustrations; here is how Sylvia Baxter showed the chief's daughter and the other young women of the village, along with the loyal dog:

So, if you like Moodie's story, then maybe take a look at Savory's book full of Zulu tales; both books are just a click away at the Internet Archive! In fact, there are multiple copies of Moodie's book, so you shouldn't have any trouble finding one to check out digitally. :-)

Nabulela

by Fiona Moodie