Five African Folk Tales for Readers Theater includes the following Swahili tales:The Story of the FoolsThe Magic Date TreesThe Trapper, the Lion and the HareA Bag of GoldThe Lion of MandaFolk tales from Africa were traditionally passed down by word of mouth. Often they were told by the light of the moon around a village fire after the completion of a long day of work. The stories rarely ended with the words we so often heard as children when our parents told us bedtime stories -- "and they all lived happily ever after". Most stories didn't end happily ever after. Usually the stories taught a lesson, and frequently, the selfish person learned that lesson the hard way.