Princess Yapatula: The Princess of the Maravi Kingdom

By Bertha Munthali

Princess Yapatula is a story that will inspire children and push them out of their perceived comfort zone, no matter what they are going through as individuals. The book, written for an African child, has life changing lessons which will inspire, motivate and rekindle a childs heart to define early in their life what they personally stand for . Each one of you children was created for a purpose and you are in this life to find out that purpose and gracefully fulfill it. You as an African Child, and of course other children of this world, always remember that you are special and whatever your story is in life so far, you are the next big thing. Every child is a Princess and a Prince, as you grow up, embark on a journey to get to your destiny and find your throne.
Princess Yapatula is a story set in the Maravi Kingdom in southern part of Africa, modern day Malawi and part of Zambia formed the Maravi kingdom. This kingdom had its neighboring Kingdom of the Mutapa or Mwenemutapa. For you to understand more about the kingdoms, I urge you to read the African history on kingdoms and empires.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Partridge Publishing Africa
• Release date: Oct 8, 2014
• ISBN: 9781482802764

Bertha Munthali

Bertha Lilian Munthali is an upcoming Malawian story teller who writes fiction and nonfiction genre stories from an African perspective. She is intrinsically inspired to write stories that touch African people whilst sharing her thinking and imagination. Her writing aims at inspiring, motivating and entertaining others, while celebrating the diverse and rich cultures present on the continent. Yapatula the Princess, set in the pre-colonial Maravi Kingdom (present day Malawi and part of Zambia), is a story for children and teens which bring out the ways of the African people and how their beliefs influence their day to day life and decisions. The story is an enchanted tale of a young Maravi maiden who fights the odds to become the Princess and thereafter next queen to the royal throne of the Maravi kingdom Bertha hopes to inspire an African child through positively transforming the myth that many African children hold about themselves and their culture, history, tradition. Bertha believes that if the African children will embrace their rich African culture and tradition, they will not be lost after all in a world where brainwashing has become order of the day.

Book preview

Copyright © 2014 Bertha Munthali. All rights reserved.

ISBN

978-1-4828-0275-7 (sc)

978-1-4828-0276-4 (e)

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the publisher except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

www.partridgepublishing.com/africa

10/08/2014

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Contents

Preface

Introduction

Chapter 1 Goodbye, Father

Chapter 2 The Monster In The House

Chapter 3 The Enchanted Moments

Chapter 4 The Guardian Angel

Chapter 5 Stepmother’s Evil Plot

Chapter 6 Yapatula Becomes Princess

For an African child, you have a rich culture; embrace it, live it, and step into the next generation guided by the features of your culture.

Preface

Princess Yapatula is a story that will inspire children and push them out of their perceived comfort zone, no matter what they are going through as individuals. The book, written for an African child, has life-changing lessons that will inspire, motivate, and rekindle a child’s heart to define early in their life what they personally stand for. Each one of you, children, was created for a purpose, and you are in this life to find out that purpose and gracefully fulfil it. You, as an African child, and of course, other children of this world, always remember that you are special, and whatever your story is in life so far, you are the next big thing. Every child is a princess and a prince; as you grow up, embark on a journey to get to your destiny and find your throne.

Princess Yapatula is a story set in the Maravi Kingdom in the southern part of Africa. Modern-day Malawi and part of Zambia formed the Maravi Kingdom. This kingdom had its neighbouring kingdom of the Mutapa or Mwene Matapa. For you to understand more about the kingdoms, I urge you to read the African history on kingdoms and empires.

Introduction

Princess Yapatula is a fireplace story passed on in my family through generations. It is one story that inspired me when I was growing up. When my children asked me to read them their bedtime story, the book I was reading from, Disney Princesses, had stories of Snow White, Cinderella, Tinker Bell, and all other famous princesses, but an African princess from their part of the world was missing.

One day my little girls asked me if I had any princess stories when growing up. I told them I grew up in a typical African village with no such famous stories like Disney princesses. My kind of stories were traumatizing and mostly with no happily ever after. They were stories about giant snakes that imprisoned a chief’s son after the young prince had killed one of the daughters of the giant snakes who happened to be a princess in the snake world. I heard of stories of a flying drum that a little boy used to save her sister from a lion that had turned itself into human and married his sister. We were told of stories about half humans who ate human flesh, stories of our gods and their wrath whenever our ancestors displeased them. I still remember a remarkably sad story about Chimwemwe, a little boy who the monkeys snatched from his mother in the thicket bush and had raised him as a wild animal, etc. I remember I could go to bed traumatized by the folk