Dandelion: Mandela Money and the Big Five

By Lynda Harrison

By using the five South African Rand currency banknotes, with Nelson Mandela, 'Madiba', on one side, and one of the 'Big Five' wildlife animals on the other, this poetic narrative brings to life each animal. Dandelion highlights the beauty and magnificence of each one, as well as the tragedies of poaching, hunting, and habitat loss that they face today.
"Yes, through our banknotes I will describe,
Our Madiba on one side, the other, our 'Five'."

"So sad then you're orphaned and left all alone,
No one to say: 'My, but how you have grown!'
The mother you had was all you had known.
They killed her. They killed her just for her horn."

"Oh African Elephant, how we adore you,
You are so special, our tremendous number 'Two',
But what is it that you see from your field of view?
Is it the sunset with rich reds and yellows of hue?
Or is it those who take your tusks and then say adieu?"

• Language: English
• Publisher: Partridge Publishing Africa
• Release date: Jan 24, 2016
• ISBN: 9781482860498

Lynda Harrison

The author is an animal lover, especially of wild animals, and is working towards highlighting the plights facing these animals today. Many of the wild animals are endangered or threatened and more needs to be done to protect them, before it is too late.

Book preview

Copyright © 2016 Lynda Harrison. All rights reserved.

ISBN

978-1-4828-6050-4 (sc)

978-1-4828-6049-8 (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

01/21/2016

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Contents

Dedications

Acknowledgements

Greetings & Welcome

African Rhino

African Elephant

African Lion

African Buffalo

African Leopard

Epilogue

About the Author

Dedications

To Mom,

thanks - for everything.

Acknowledgements

Newton Wetter,

Rebecca Carter

and

Grace Yap

Greetings & Welcome

Greetings to you friends! I look forward to your company,

I welcome you to join me on this epic journey,

Or ‘kusafiri’, which means ‘to travel’ in Swahili,

You may even join me in our semi-desert, the Kalahari.

Every good story requires an enticing hook,

So we’ll set the ball rolling with the name of this book,

Then you won’t have very far to look,

To know where the idea for the title I took.

In the language of French, a tooth is a ‘dent’,

And no doubt many of you a pretty penny have spent

At the dentist for fixing teeth salient,

And there we have it, our book title is evident.

‘Dent-de-lion’! That is it! We could also infer,

That the Latin origin does concur,

‘Dens leonis’ would to ‘tooth of the lion’ refer,

Or just plain ‘lion’s tooth’ if you prefer.

So how does Lion, with such extraordinary prowess,

Relate to a plant with pretty yellow flowers?

I could with smartness attempt to impress,

But in fact, the answer is easy to guess.

Yes, of course, it is very easy to conclude,

That the plant-naming people did collude,

And define this plant by agreeing to allude

To the resemblance of its leaves that protrude.

Yes, the leaves of the plant! But enough prattle,

No more jagged-toothed leaves of which to tattle,

The time has come for us to do