Nabulela: A South African Folk Tale

Magical artwork magnetizes this Nguni folktale. Spoiled by her father's indulgences, a chief's only daughter kindles the jealousies of village girls. While trekking far from home, the girls conspire against Nandi: they push her down a cleft between rocks and leave her there; illustrations show lions stalking above her. However, Nandi lives to tell on them--a dog she once rescued returns the favor--and her enraged father dictates a harsh condition for the girls' forgiveness. They must bring him the skin of Nabulela, the dreaded lake monster. When they succeed, the chief admits his own culpability in favoring Nandi and vows to treat them all equitably. Moodie's (The Boy and the Giants) broad-brushed narrative gains its strength from her art. She conjures up a beautifully elaborated, mythical African landscape, using a slightly naive sense of scale to demonstrate the relative power of the chief, and later the monster, over the villagers. Nandi, arrayed in precisely rendered beads, headbands and bangles, stands out among the villagers; Moodie lavishes the same concern with details upon the thatched houses and the woven straw goods that can be seen through their doorways. These graceful, ambient pictures will stimulate the reader's imagination. Ages 4-8. (Mar.)