Kubuka & The Magic Calabash

By Janet Keegans

A Review from Bookchat.co.za:
"This is unexpectedly delightful. It’s a quest story with the need for a magic calabash to bring an end to the drought – but the hero Kubuka is a monkey. He’s as cheeky, mischievous and swollen-headed as all monkeys (or all small boys) and he teams up with a hyena. Together, they venture through a number of African magical testing grounds, for which the author has used fragments of local myths and legendary creatures. The bright bold pictures interweave with the text and add to the mystery as well as the fun. A splendidly African adventure for primary readers."

This book is ideal for kids aged 6 to 12 with good reading skills, and contains many colourful illustrations. Or read it to your kids - each chapter is around 10 pages long - perfect for a bedtime story session.
The story follows the little vervet monkey Kubuka who, after being tossed out of his tribe for misbehaving, makes a startling discovery while foraging inside a huge baobab. Living in the tree is the water spirit Amanzi, who tricks Kubuka into accepting a dangerous mission - to retrieve a magic calabash from Zaka the evil magician. The vessel is the key to Amanzi's freedom and the return of the rains.
On his journey Kubuka encounters friends (a hyena, a mystical black eagle, an aardvark), foes (enchanted baboons, an angry human) and mythical beings (the Umlimo oracle, the eagle goddess Shirichena... The story borrows from real African mythology, and includes accurate bushlore and wildlife behaviour. The reader is transported through wild landscapes to real places such as Lake Kariba, the Matobo Hills and the ancient stone fortress at Great Zimbabwe.
"With lots of laughs and thrills aplenty,'Kubuka and the Magic Calabash' will no doubt soon grow into a legend of its own," said a reviewer.
Many childrens-book connoisseurs of the grownup variety will enjoy this story, too, especially anyone who has been to Africa or who enjoys African wildlife stories and traditions.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Janet Keegans
• Release date: Feb 26, 2012
• ISBN: 9781466094291

Janet Keegans

Janet Keegans was born in the UK, but raised in Africa — first Uganda, then Zimbabwe. Her childhood playground was the African bush, literally at the end of the garden. After a career in advertising, she now lives in Cape Town, but the magic of Africa’s remote wilderness, wildlife and folklore remains close to her heart.

Book preview

What Others are Saying about "Kubuka &The Magic Calabash

Only very rarely has a children's book hooked me like this one did…‘Kubuka and the Magic Calabash’ will enthrall children old and young, thanks to a storyline with as many kinks and curls in it as the tail of the intrepid little monkey that it follows.

Karen Whitty, iAfrica.com

This is a magical book - well written with a great story line and beautifully illustrated.

Dikatso Mametse, Drum Magazine

KUBUKA & THE MAGIC CALABASH

By Janet Keegans

Illustrated by Jacqui Taylor

SmashWords Edition

ISBN: 978-1-4660-9429-1

First published by Random House Struik (Pty) Ltd 2004

Cape Town - London - Sydney - Auckland

Print version ISBN: 1 86872 950 8

Copyright in text: Janet Keegans 2004

Copyright in illustrations: Jacqui Taylor 2004

All rights reserved

Smashwords Edition, License Notes

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

Dedication:

To my son Douglas, and for every other child who grew up in Africa.

Table of Contents

A Word at the Start

Chapter One - The Baobab Tree

Chapter Two - The Rain Spirit’s Story

Chapter Three - Bazi

Chapter Four - Gwenzi the Nyanga

Chapter Five - The Banana Grove

Chapter Six - Gondo of the Stone Hills

Chapter Seven - The Mlimo

Chapter Eight - The Ancient City

Chapter Nine - The Gateway

Chapter Ten - The Key Stone

Chapter Eleven - Zaka’s Cave

Chapter Twelve - Shirichena

Chapter 13 - Escape

Chapter 14 - An Unexpected Meeting

Chapter 15 - The Lions

Chapter 16 - Tall Tales and Bad News

Chapter 17 - Ma Moyo Revisited

Chapter 18 - The Rain-Maker

What Happened After

Notes, Pronunciation and Meanings

About the Author

A Word at the Start

Once upon a time in Africa, there was a great drought in the land ...

The leaves fell from the trees, and the water holes slowly dried up until they were empty pans of cracked earth. The rivers disappeared under their sandy beds, and it was hard for the animals to find food or water.

But deep in the African bush, in the wildest places, there grows an extraordinary tree that can survive any drought. In all the old tribal legends, the baobab tree is a place where spirits live — often ancestral spirits, but sometimes others — as we shall see.

See the Notes page for pronunciations and meanings of some of the names

Chapter One - The Baobab Tree

The baobab tree’s ancient, scarred trunk was as wide as five elephants, while its branches could stretch over a whole herd. There was nothing left alive on earth that had seen this tree as a young sapling, but here it still stood after a thousand years. It was providing, as it had always done, a meal for another living creature. On this particular evening, a young and adventurous vervet monkey had spent the afternoon foraging among the bare branches of this massive tree, helping himself to the cream-of-tartar pods.

Kubuka (for that was the monkey’s name) blinked as a small bat flitted past him, twittering. He hadn’t noticed the sun setting, and now it was nearly time to find somewhere to sleep for the night. He dropped the pod on which he had been nibbling. The sweet, dry white lumps inside had had coated his teeth with their creamy substance and shrivelled the inside of his mouth. He desperately needed a drink. What to do? Go to bed thirsty, or try to find water now, before it got too dark for little monkeys to be out alone in the bush?

Kubuka was alone because he had been sent away on his ‘wandering time’, a time that was meant to toughen up troublesome young males. It was also a sort of punishment. Kubuka had been seriously naughty, cheeking the dominant male and even getting into a nasty fight. He would only be allowed back when he was much stronger and wiser - and more respectful.

He felt lonely, thinking of the troop. Then he remembered something the Troop Mother had told him when he was little.

‘Baobabs are wonderful trees’, she had informed him in her listen-to-me voice while, holding one of his arms in the air, she picked at the fur round his tummy for fleas, ‘They give you food, shelter, and drink, too’.

Kubuka frowned, trying to remember what else she had said. Her skinny, wrinkled fingers had been tickling quite unbearably at the time, and he had been trying not to giggle. (Giggling or wriggling while receiving a grooming session from such an important monkey as the Troop Mother was terribly bad manners).

He pictured her face again. Yes — it was coming back to him now. She had said that baobab trees often have a hollow middle, where if you’re lucky, rainwater collects, making a perfect private well for animals like monkeys, who above all things are good climbers. Kubuka turned and walked back along the broad, smooth branch of the tree, climbed the rest of the way up the trunk and peered over a ridge of bark right at the top.

‘AiEeeeeeesh...!’ he yelped, leaping backwards in fright, tumbling down and (luckily for the story of Kubuka), landing on another fat branch just below.

There was something inside the tree! A pair of eyes shining in a dark face! He shivered, his small body curled up in fright, his tail almost in his mouth.. He listened carefully, staring up at the rim where he had perched, all his senses on the alert. Nothing. Could it have been just a couple of of bats down there, perhaps? Kubuka started to feel a little curious. Monkeys are dreadfully inquisitive animals, and poor, thirsty little Kubuka was no exception. Also, he had smelled water.

Cautiously, he crept back, closer and closer, until he could peep once more over the edge. It was quite gloomy down there, but after a moment he realised that he was looking at his own bright-eyed reflection.

He felt a little foolish, but no-one was watching except maybe the bats, and they didn’t count. Kubuka perched casually on the edge and looked down into quite a deep hollow, about four tail-lengths wide. Sure enough, there was water down there - its still, dark surface reflecting the evening sky.

Feeling thirstier than ever, Kubuka examined the sides for a way down. The smooth bark of the baobab was folded and wrinkled on the inside of the hollow trunk; there were rootlike growths here and there to hold on to.

The light was fading fast now, and Kubuka knew he would have to hurry. He hopped over the edge and, using his hands and feet plus his tail, carefully lowered himself down.

The water was surprisingly cool and fresh. He drank thirstily, hanging sideways with his tail firmly wrapped round a handy root. A few mosquitoes rose, whining, from the surface

Then the water swirled and heaved. Kubuka jerked back from the pool and stared. There was something in there! Surely not a fish? Fish don’t live in trees, he was pretty sure of that. Then a deep, gentle voice seemed to bubble up from beneath the water.

‘Thank you for your visit...’ said the voice, ‘but you have drunk my water, and now you owe me a favour’.

Kubuka froze in fright, one drop trembling on his chin. Was he hearing things? An owl spoke softly in the distance. The wind breathed past the bare branches of the tree. It was quite dark inside the hollow. Kubuka decided that things were getting a little too spooky, and he retreated, nervously scrambling back up to the top of the opening.

‘Don’t be afraid,’ said the voice quickly. ‘It is I, Amanzi, Spirit of the Rain.’

Kubuka perched a safe distance from the hollow. He thought that it would be best if he were polite.

‘Greetings, O spirit Amanzi’, replied Kubuka, ‘I am Kubuka of the Tshoko tribe, and I thank you for my drink of water.’

He paused. Then his monkey curiosity got the better of him again.

‘But please tell me,’ he said, ‘if you are a rain spirit, what are you doing inside this baobab tree?’

More bubbling noises started coming up from the well. Kubuka suddenly remembered that if you call a spirit by its name, it can appear if it wants to. That was something else the Troop Mother had told the tribe one moonlit evening, with the elders wedged comfortably in the branches of an enormous ebony tree and the small ones cuddling close.

A splashing sound added itself to the bubbling noises. Kubuka kept his distance, but rose up higher to see into the hollow. A wobbling, silvery shape was coming out of the well!

It was fat and rippling like a huge raindrop. It had long, thin arms, just one leg and its hair resembled a miniature waterfall. It’s round, friendly face turned to look at him with one huge, silvery-blue eye. It rested at the edge of the hollow and sighed with a gurgling sound. The eye blinked at Kubuka, who stared back in disbelief. He could see the moonlight shining through the spirit’s watery form.

‘Why am I in this