A Tanzanian Writer's Comments on "Matengo Folktales"

A few weeks ago, I got to know Corona Cormak, a Tanzanian writer of children's books based in the Czech Republic. We have never met, but have been reading each other's woks.  This week, on her Instagram page, Corona wrote the following comments about my Matengo Folktales.

I will start with a big smile. This book Matengo Folktales by John Mbele @africonexion. Took me way back into those days of story telling. Three stories in this book were so vividly. The Monster in the Rice, The Tale of two women and the Tale of Katigija. The sound of the songs in these stories is what I am still trying to remember. These songs were always sang with everyone when the stories were narrated. This is what is missing in story telling these days. We let our children just listen to the story without them taking part.

However, I am quite shocked with the amount of killing in every story. At least I don't remember the killing part. For example the Tale of two women, I remember this part when the woman was told to lick the wounds. And in Katigija Tale I remember the grandma singing when she brought the food to the child and the Monster in the Rice field, I remember how the children kept on disappearing.

My son was shocked when I told him The tale of Monster in the Rice. He was like, what a story, what a family 🙈🤣
Beautiful written and I like the comment section. This helps one to understand why these stories were what they were.
Now I need someone to sing those songs for me 🥳🤗