Why Cats Kill Rats African folktale is a folklore story about love, betrayal and murder.

African Folktale Why Cats Kill Rats 

Ansa was King of Calabar for fifty years.  He had a very faithful cat as a housekeeper, and a rat was his house-boy.  The king was an obstinate, headstrong man, but was very fond of the cat, who had been in his store for many years. The rat, who was very poor, fell in love with one of the king's servant girls, but was unable to give her any presents, as he had no money.

At last he thought of the king's store, so in the night-time, being quite small, he had little difficulty, having made a hole in the roof, in getting into the store. He then stole corn and pears, and presented them to his sweetheart.

At the end of the month, when the cat had to render her account of the things in the store to the king, it was found that a lot of corn and pears were missing.

The king was very angry at this, and asked the cat for an explanation. But the cat could not account for the loss, until one of her friends told her that the rat had been stealing the corn and giving it to the girl.  When the cat told the king, he called the girl before him and had her punished. The rat he handed over to the cat to deal with, and dismissed them both from his service.  The cat was so angry at this that she killed and ate the rat, and ever since that time whenever a cat sees a rat she kills and eats it.

More short folklore stories from Africa to make you fall in love with myths and legends again from the motherland.

1. Why the bunny rabbit has wiggly slits for a nose
2. Love Takes No Less Than Everything Marriage Folklore
3. Hunters Attack Cowards Tell the Story
4. One Do Wrong All Get Punished
5. Mighty Little Hedgehog

Zulu is the language of the Zulu people with well over 9 million speakers most of whom are in South Africa. Zulu is one of South Africa's eleven official languages since 1994.

Below are 20 easy Zulu words with their English phonetic pronunciation:

Buya [bu-ja] -Come back

Cela [ne-la]- To wish

iGoli [e-goːli]- Soil

ihembe [e:him:mbe]- Bed

isibili [is:see:billːli]- Bead

Khala [ka-la]- To cry

Khuluma [ku-lu-ma] -To speak

Kulula [gu-lu-la] -It’s easy

Lapha [la-pa] -Here

Lapho [la-po] -There

Lutho [lu-to]- Nothing

Moja! [mo-ts-cha] -Cool

Nini [ni-ni] -When

Phuza [pu-sa] -To drink

Sawubona [Sa-u-bu-o-na] - Hello

Suka [su-ga] -To go away

Thanda [tan-da] - To love

Thi [ti] -To say

Uju [ooːjew]- Jump

Yami [ja-mi] -My

You cannot know the good within yourself if you cannot see it in others - Zulu Proverb

Zulu Beer Strainer and Skimmer is also known as a Isikhetho

Zulu People African Basket Weaving Art

As with most aspects of African culture, the specifics of basket weaving and the woven baskets themselves embody spiritual as well as aesthetic and practical qualities. Although basketry materials, techniques, and uses have varied among tribal cultures and have changed over time, baskets are the oldest handmade vessels used by African peoples and one of the most ancient of art forms. Although basket making has become obsolete in some tribes with the passage of time, nearly every indigenous group throughout Africa has utilized basketry at some point: whether for food preparation and storage, as animal and fishing traps, to transport goods for sacred and ceremonial purposes.

Traditional Zulu Ilala Palm basket weaving technique styles are Imbenge, Isichumo, Isiquabetho, and Ukhamba.
 
Imbenge - A small, saucer-shaped bowl traditionally woven with Ilala palm and grass fibers used as a platter or a lid.

Isichumo - Baskets have a tight firm weave with a bottle-shaped used for carrying liquids.

Isiquabetho - Baskets are large bowl-shaped baskets used for gathering and carrying harvested foods and everyday materials.

Ukhamba - Baskets are decorative and colorful bulb shaped container, made watertight by the tautness of the weave.
 
Isiquabetho - African Zulu baskets are large bowl-shaped baskets used for gathering and carrying harvested foods and everyday materials. Isiquabetho African Zulu basket. 

For many Zulu Ilala Palm basket makers, the finished baskets are living metaphors of Zulu African people’s connection to the earth and to the seasonal cycles of life that influence the rules governing the harvesting and preparation of the organic materials used to make Zulu Ilala Palm baskets. The Ilala Palm grows along the North Eastern Coast of KwaZulu-Natal in Southern Africa. Once cut and dried, the leaf is then prepared for weaving into fine, often watertight baskets. In African cultures, baskets represent functional art with a story that continues to be told.

Proverbs Teach

African proverbs teach us about tough life lessons and when seeds of hardship are planted, the new growth is healthier and more plentiful. African proverbs explain the more challenging the hard times, the more valuable will be the lessons.

African Proverb About Winning Through Adversity

Explore and Understand Africa Through Her Food and Culture

African Proverbs

If you make friends with the boatman in the dry season, you will be the first to cross when the rains come and the tide is high – African Proverb

Smooth seas do not make skillful sailors – African Proverb

Once water has been spilled, it cannot be scooped back up - African Proverb

Smooth Seas Do Not Make Skillful Sailors, learn the lessons your ancestors are communicating with you and take to heart the African Proverbs about winning through adversity.

More African proverbs to learn from

The tree does not fall at the first stroke.

He is rich enough who owes nothing.

The fool who is silent passes for wise.

The only way to keep a secret is to say nothing.

Scratch people where they itch.

None so busy as those who do nothing.

The sheep on the mountain is higher than the bull on the plain.

Bad watch often feeds the wolf.

Together we build awareness that boost harmony, education, and success, below are more links to articles you will find thought provoking.

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3. How many countries does Africa have?
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Money Trail in Africa the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative

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Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative Explanation.

The Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative or EITI collects and validates data on financial management, accountability and transparency by African governments and companies in oil, gas and mining industries. Currently there are 27 African countries not participating in EITI's data collection on financial management, accountability and transparency.

Following the Money Trail

At a conference in London in June 2003, a Statement of Principles to increase transparency of payments and revenues in the extractive sector was agreed, The Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative, or EITI was born. 

EITI, is a voluntary, global effort designed to strengthen accountability and public trust for the revenues paid and received for a country’s oil, gas and mining. EITI is a global coalition of governments, companies and civil society working together to improve openness and accountable management of revenues from natural resources. 

BP plc formerly BP, British Petroleum, is a British multinational oil and gas company headquartered in London, England is an originating member of EITI. Additional current oil companies partnered with EITI are Hess, Chevron, ExxonMobil, Royal Dutch Shell plc, Vale, Tullow oil, Qatar Petroleum, Maersk Oil, Lundin Petroleum AB, Noble Energy, and Dana Petroleum. The EITI stresses the importance of transparency by governments and companies in oil, gas and mining industries and the need to enhance public financial management and accountability. 

EITI Compliant Countries have fully and to the satisfaction of the EITI board completed the four sign-up steps as an EITI Candidate. EITI establishes deadlines for publishing the first EITI Report and undertaking validation of the report. 

The first EITI report must be published within 18 months and begin validation within two and a half years. There are a number of issues with the reporting requirements of EITI. The Africa Progress Report 2013 states “Reporting requirements on licenses and individual contracts need to be more stringent, and state-owned companies should be required to disclose not just the names of companies bidding for concessions and licenses, but also the beneficial ownership of those companies. 

The EITI should also adopt the central principle of Section 1504 of the US Dodd–Frank Act, which requires companies to report on their payments on a project-by-project basis, rather than by providing aggregate national-level reporting a practice that can obscure potential sources of corruption and revenue diversion.”

The Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI ) of Africa  as of November 2014. Countries  not listed are not participating in EITI  data on financial management, accountability and transparency.

Part of the Resource Wars Archive

⚡ Explore Geopolitical Intelligence →

Jim Crow Was Not Born in America
It Came Home

The laws that terrorised Black Americans after slavery had already been perfected — on African, Asian, and Pacific bodies — for generations.

Same blueprint. Different continent.

L

ong before there were “Whites Only” signs in Mississippi, there were “Europeans Only” benches in Nairobi, Dakar, and Jakarta.

Long before a Black child in Alabama was told he could not drink from the same fountain, an Algerian child was told he could not walk on the same sidewalk as a Frenchman — unless he stepped aside and lowered his eyes.

The laws had different names, but they were written from the same instruction manual.

The European Laboratory of Apartheid

Every empire tested its version:

• France – Code de l’indigénat (1887–1946)
  African “subjects” (not citizens) could be jailed without trial, forced into unpaid labour, forbidden to travel at night.
• Britain – Native Land Act (South Africa, 1913)
  87 % of the land reserved for whites. The model for every “reserve” and “homeland” that followed.
• Belgium – Congo’s “native status” laws
  Black people needed permits to enter cities after 9 p.m.
• Portugal, Netherlands, Germany — all had their own versions.

By the time the American South began writing Jim Crow in the 1880s and 1890s, European lawyers and administrators had already spent decades perfecting the legal machinery of racial control overseas.

They brought the blueprints home.

“The segregation of natives in Africa has been so complete and so successful that we have little to learn from America.”
— South African Minister of Native Affairs, 1925

They even said it out loud.

The Same Tricks, Different Accents

Over There	Over Here
French Algeria – could not sit on “European” benches	Mississippi – could not sit at “White” lunch counters
British Kenya – pass laws, curfews for “natives”	Alabama – vagrancy laws, Black curfews
Dutch East Indies – forced labour for “natives”	Georgia – convict leasing of Black prisoners
Belgian Congo – whip as official punishment	Florida – whipping posts for Black “offenders”

The laws were written in different languages, but the intention was translated perfectly.

The End of One Empire, the Birth of Another

When African and Asian colonies finally forced the European empires to pack up in the 1950s and 1960s, the legal architects did not repent.

Many simply retired to Lisbon, Paris, Brussels — or moved to Johannesburg and Salisbury, where apartheid and Rhodesian rule kept the old codes alive a little longer.

And in the American South, the same spirit found new soil.

Jim Crow was not an American original.
It was colonialism coming home to roost.

The chains were forged overseas.
They just changed the accent when they crossed the Atlantic.

African History › Ancestry Connections

Did You Know?

Nearly 40% of African Americans can trace their ancestry to specific ethnic groups in Nigeria, Cameroon, Benin, Togo, and Gabon—regions that were heavily impacted by the transatlantic slave trade.

"The Igbo people of southeastern Nigeria were particularly impacted, with their cultural influences persisting in African American communities today."

Explore African Ancestry ›

Pretty Stranger who killed the King African Folktale.

She may look beautiful, but she will kill you.

Mbotu was a very famous king of Old Town, Calabar. He was frequently at war, and was always successful, as he was a most skillful leader. All the prisoners he took were made slaves. He therefore became very rich, but, on the other hand, he had many enemies.

The people of Itu in particular were very angry with him and wanted to kill him, but they were not strong enough to beat Mbotu in a battle, so they had to resort to sneakiness.

The Itu people had an old woman who was a witch and could turn herself into whatever she pleased, and when she offered to kill Mbotu, the people were very glad, and promised her plenty of money and cloth if she succeeded in ridding them of their worst enemy.

The witch then turned herself into a young and pretty girl, and having armed herself with a very sharp knife, which she concealed in her bosom, she went to Old Town, Calabar, to seek the king.

It happened that when she arrived there was a big play being held in the town, and all the people from the surrounding country had come in to dance and feast.

Oyaikan, the witch, went to the play, and walked about so that everyone could see her. Directly she appeared the people all marveled at her beauty, and said that she was as beautiful as the setting sun.

Word was quickly brought to king Mbotu, who, it was well known, was fond of pretty girls, and he sent for her at once, all the people agreeing that she was quite worthy of being the king's wife.

When she appeared before him he fancied her so much, that he told her he would marry her that very day. Oyaikan was very pleased at this, as she had never expected to get her opportunity so quickly.

She therefore prepared a meal for the king, into which she placed a strong medicine to make the king sleep, and then went down to the river to wash.

When she finished it was getting dark, so she went to the king's compound, carrying her dish on her head, and was at once shown in to the king, who embraced her affectionately.

She then offered him the food, which she said, quite truly, she had prepared with her own hands. The king ate the whole dish, and immediately began to feel very sleepy, as the medicine was strong and took effect quickly.

They retired to the king's chamber, and the king went to sleep at once. About midnight, when all the town was quiet, Oyaikan drew her knife from her bosom and cut the king's head off.

She put the head in a bag and went out very softly, shutting and barring the door behind her.

Then she walked through the town without anyone observing her, and went straight to Itu, where she placed king Mbotu's head before her own king.

When the people heard that the witch was successful and that their enemy was dead, there was great rejoicing, and the king of Itu at once made up his mind to attack Old Town, Calabar.

He therefore got his fighting men together and took them in canoes by the creeks to Old Town, taking care that no one carried word to Calabar that he was coming.

The morning following the murder of Mbotu his people were rather surprised that he did not appear at his usual time, so his head wife knocked at his door. Not receiving any answer she called the household together, and they broke open the door.

When they entered the room they found the king lying dead on his bed covered in blood, but his head was missing. At this a great shout went up, and the whole town mourned.

Although they missed the pretty stranger, they never connected her in their minds with the death of their king, and were quite unsuspicious of any danger, and were unprepared for fighting.

In the middle of the mourning, while they were all dancing, crying, and drinking palm wine, the King of Itu with all his soldiers attacked Old Town, taking them quite by surprise, and as their leader was dead, the Calabar people were very soon defeated, and many killed and taken prisoners.

A beautiful face often hides a sinister secret.

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