Where the Leopard Passes a Book of African Folk Tales

As a child, I adored this book and its companions (The Long Grass Whispers, The Singing Chamaeleon, The Hunter's Cave) because of the delightful animal characters and the humour and wisdom in the stories. They gave me a lot of insights into Africa too, long before I went and spent half my life there. The stories were collected and polished by Geraldine Elliot in the countries that are now called Malawi and Zimbabwe, where African parents told them as moral lessons in their childrens' education. Sheila Hawkins' amusing drawings help kids visualise the less familiar animals. The stories portray a world in which all the animals, and humans too, more or less get on together. None of the animals are 'cutesy' characters, they are villagers concerned about their families and homes and crops and their status in the community. Greed and vanity are usually punished in the end, might is not always right, and even small humble people like Rabbit or Tortoise can use their wits to prevail against powerful ones like Elephant or Leopard. That is a comforting thought for a small person growing up in a world of giants. I am now trying to collect these books again for the children of a dear friend. I thoroughly recommend them to readers of any age.