A long time ago, night did not exist. The sky was a huge yellow picture from which the day never faded away... Sometimes, clouds, rain or snow came to shade the light, but that was not enough to make life less monotonous, less boring... One day, Naîm decided to take his courage in both hands as well as a ladder and his brushes, and to attack this invariably yellow sky...

In those days I was so blue, so marvellously blue, that no one in living memory had ever seen a more beautiful bird. I was prouder than a peacock. So proud that I strutted before all the animals. So proud that one day I even dared to compare myself to the Sun... This album was part of the selection Lire et Faire lire 2015.

Masilo and his wife cultivate their field, but in the evening a beautiful bird commands the field to mix. Masilo and his wife work to no avail, until one day Masilo captures the bird. The bird is allowed to live, and in exchange it gives milk to Masilo's family...

Some children, out playing in the field, find a squash, which, after many adventures, grows, grows, and swallows all the people of the village, except an old lady. The old lady gives birth to a boy who, now grown up, goes in search of the gourd.

Arondo, the daughter of King Redjoua, is of rare beauty. But only he can marry her who promises to fall ill if she falls ill, and to die if she dies. No one dares to ask her to marry him. One day, however, a man named Akenda Mbani (the one who does not travel the same road twice) arrives and wants to marry Arondo.

In West Africa, a gigantic baobab tree stands in the centre of a village in the grip of a terrible drought. Long ago, at the beginning of the world, it fell in love with the earth. By burying its roots deep into the earth, it gave birth to a magical story, which nevertheless took a dramatic turn for the worse for nature, people and animals. At the heart of this story is Amondo, the son of the baobab tree, known as the 'giver'. He is the only one who can give hope to the villagers by freeing the water source from the evil spell cast on it by the sun. But the child's quest can only be completed by passing four difficult tests.

This play plunges us into the wonderful world of original African stories, at a time when the moon, the trees and the animals spoke to men.

Walé is a tailor, and the day we are going to spend with him is going to be full of visits and work: tomorrow is the wedding of Issouf, his friend the upholsterer. Oh, I forgot, there's also the final of the little footballers from the neighbourhood who deserve a brand new shirt for the occasion.

That morning, Moko tells himself that it is time to leave Mei-Li’s land and he gets his raft ready. A man tells him that he must take the route of the great plains to continue his journey. Moko goes to the village to bid farewell to Mei-Li who has made rice cakes for him. One morning a few days after his departure he reaches the famous route where the horizon seems never-ending. As he walks a great gust of wind makes him fall and drop his precious stone. Seeing it on the ground, Moko thinks of Mei-Li and tells himself he must go on for those he has left behind. He goes on while clutching his stone in his hand. Moko’s heart lightens as he thinks that one day his travels will bring him back to those he loves.

Dawn is breaking in the village, Moko and Mei-Li are sound asleep. A rumbling sound suddenly wakes them. They decide to go see what is going on and hide behind a rock to observe. The come across a fisherman who doesn’t seem to be afraid as he embarks for his day of fishing. Mei-Li is so afraid she is shaking and Moko asks her to sing, thinking that might stop the earth’s tremors. As she sings, the ground slowly stops shaking. Moko and Mei-Li head back to the village thinking that the ground must sleep so soundly that every so often it is woken up by the song of people wandering along its back.

Moko and Mei-Li are gathering seashells in between the rocks on the white sand beach to decorate the village’s houses. Moko asks Mei-Li if they can go to other beaches to try to find other shells. Mei-Li likes the idea and goes to ask a fisherman to take them to another beach on his boat. Just beyond the village Moko sees a vast plain that has been flooded with water. He thinks this must have been the great wave, flooding the field with water so that the rice would grow. This is when Mei-Li picks up a magnificent seashell and Moko believes that it must surely be a gift from the ocean. Moko and Mei-Li make their way back home, carrying their gift and happy to have seen wonderful new places. They are certain that the ocean must know an underground passage in which it sends waves every now and then to feed the rivers and the fields.

Moko wonders why the clouds all come and cry on his village at once. Why are they so sad? He asks the old wise man who suggests that he wait until the end of the rainy season to understand. Once the rains have stopped, Moko returns to see the old man. He tells Moko that the answer is in the fields. Moko sees then that the rains have made the crops grow and thinks that the clouds are not crying when it rains, they are offering all of their water to the earth to make it fertile.

Moko believes that there is a creature somewhere whose breath is so strong that it makes the branches of the trees move and the sand dunes shift. He thinks that the clouds run away from the wind out of fear of the creature. He goes off to find this creature. Exhausted by the sun and the heat, it is a soft breeze that eases his rest. He then decides that the creature must in fact be a benevolent one.

To lift the curse on his village, Kumakoue, the little Zulu warrior, has to leave for a great journey. Thanks to his courage, he will become friends with Kombaku, the solitary elephant, and Lilangani, the blue-handed monkey. With the strength of one and the magic of the other, he shall free his village and become a hero, him who is nevertheless not higher than two drums placed one over the other ...

This book also exists in English: The long journey of Kumakoué

With a storm approaching, Moko heads towards a nearby tree to seek shelter. An old man urges him to reconsider and tells him to return to the village, the tree could suddenly burst into flame. On his way back to the village, Moko sees a lightning bolt hit the very same tree, and set it on fire. Frightened, Moko thinks that the old man must be a magician to have predicted such a thing.

During the dry season, the river’s water dries up and what is left turns to mud, making it impossible to swim or to drink. Moko wonders how to find water. An old man carrying a stick tells him he should dig behind some rocks, and there he finds water sprouting from the ground. A hidden spring! Moko is so happy at this discovery, he tells himself that water is so precious that it hides itself in the ground to make sure that there is always some left, even when the river is dry.

On this morning, Moko is rowing relentlessly to bring back the barge as Mei-Li sleeps. Suddenly, he can’t seem to make the oar move at all. He wakes Mei-Li so she can help him row, but it is no use, the barge starts moving in the opposite direction. In the distance they notice a fisherman and try to call out to him, but he is too far and cannot hear them. Beyond a huge boulder they see a forest and start rowing furiously in its direction. Finally ashore, Moko and Mei-Li think that the sea still had another secret in store for them, this new part of Mei-Li’s island.

De la savane jusqu’à la côte, le vent cherche Anila. « Wou ! Wou ! Wou !Qui a vu Anila ? »

Un texte sous forme de randonnée à la découverte de la faune de l’Afrique de l’Ouest, écrit par Kouam Tawa, lauréat du prix Poésie décerné par Lire et Faire Lire.

The storm has passed and Moko’s raft is approaching a new shore. He has never seen this white sand beach and wonders where he might be. Moko wanders off to find inhabitants of this new place. Along his route he passes plants with enormous leaves and at the other end of his path, the beach once again! How is this possible? What is the secret of this strange country? Night falls and Moko falls asleep convinced that he is the first traveller to discover the ocean’s secret island.

Moko wonders why it is that the moon changes shape so often. Seeing that it rises sometime like the sun in the distance, he decides to get closer to see if he can get some answers. Better yet, he could even ask the moon directly. During his long walk, he sees the moon change shape over and over. Sometimes a sliver, like a smile, sometimes a circle of white light, sometimes yellow. He sees the moon travel across the sky without ever looking like it is moving. No matter how far he walks, he realizes that he is getting no closer to the moon. He decides that this whole dance is a performance and that the moon just likes to be watched.

Day after day, Moko has been going to the shore and contemplating the rising sun. On one particular morning, he is accompanied by his friend, the village’s “wise man”. He asks his friend what he might find at the end of the world, he would very much like to go there. The old man tells him that he must leave everything behind and find out; he doesn’t know what lies at the end of the world but that he would very much like to. Moko promises to return and share his discoveries and takes off on a raft. Suddenly he is caught up in a terrible storm and he pleads with the Sea Beast to let him through. The tornado swirls around his raft and lifts him high in the sky then drops him back atop the waves, safe and sound. As the storm fades into the distance, Moko thanks the Sea Beast for keeping him safe and is now convinced that he will finally know what lies on the other side of the ocean.

On an African Atlantic beach, facing the ocean, Loango watches the waves, deeply concentrated. His grandmother Mame Tsaku told him that if he managed to count one thousand and one waves, then his dearest wish would come true.

What if this were true ?

There is no rain in sight and Moko is worried. He decides to go and ask the advice of an old wise man who is said to be part magician, part sorcerer. Further confused by the wise man’s explanations, Moko heads nevertheless for the sand dunes. Far in the distance he sees a strange apparition: a cluster of trees around a small lake. He starts to run towards the apparition but no sooner has he begun his run that he can no longer see his destination. Disappointed, he sits on a rock and rests. A woman carrying a jug full of water on her head walks over to him and explains that he simply has to look in the right direction, and there, in the distance Moko sees the lake once again. He decides to head for it while never losing sight of it this time. On his way back to his village, he drops a trail of leaves to be able to return to the lake, but the wind quickly wipes away all of the leaves. Moko thinks that the desert shared a great secret with him and that it is best to keep it to himself.