CAUTIONARY TALES
I N T R O D U C T I O N
The stories in this booklet were written by participants in the Hout Bay Hopers programme of the Denis Goldberg House of Hope (DGHOH) The DGHOH is an arts and culture education centre for the children and youth of Hout Bay, Cape Town. (See www goldberghouseofhope co za for further information.) The Hout Bay Hopers is a group of high school learners from Silikamva and Hout Bay High schools who attend weekly sessions at the DGHOH for reading, movie-watching, and related activities.
Most of the stories below were written after exploring what cautionary “rules” and lessons the learners’ parents gave them, watching the Australian “Dumb Ways to Die” video, and exploring some of the European cautionary tales of the past.
In the following session the learners had the choice of illustrating the existing stories, or writing new stories inspired by a set of mysterious images.
We hope you enjoy the stories. And perhaps you will start generating some of your own stories.
THE GIRL WHO NEVER LISTENED
ONOTHANDO MPAMBANI & NATASHA MAKUMBE
Once there was a 12 year old girl named Anelisa Zilwa. She had friends who were older than her. Her friends were party girls. They enjoyed going to every party that was in their neighbourhood. They would drink alcohol, smoke and return home the following day.
One day Anelisa’s three friends, Hluhluwe, Natasha and Anothando, decided to invite her to a party that they were going to go to. She accepted even though she knew her mother would not approve and always warned her about these friends of hers.
Saturday came - the day of the party! Anelisa prepared herself. Later on that day, at 8pm, they left and went to the party, meeting their other friends who were boys. They bought alcohol and smoked. Anelisa was not used to any of the things they were doing. While they were drinking and smoking, Anelisa had a seizure. She couldn’t handle the alcohol
Everyone except Anothando left. Anothando was used to such things happening so she poured water over Anelisa and took her home. When she got home her mother gave Anelisa a hiding and she was grounded for life.
A BOY WHO WAS TRICKED BY CANDY
NOMZAMO NKOMBELEDZI, ONOTHANDO MPAMBANI & LELETHU MYABALALA
Siphesihle was told never to take anything from a stranger or he could be kidnapped One day he was playing outside in the yard when a black Polo Vivo car with black windows pulled up next to his house A man rolled down the windows and called Siphesihle, showing him candy.
Siphesihle rushed to the man to get candy and forgot mom ’ s instructions. He got inside the car, the driver asked him his name and he told the bad man
As Siphesihle was busy eating the candy, all smiles, he did not know his life was in grave danger Siphesihle’s parents realised he was not playing outside any more as it was quiet. They looked for him everywhere but he was not found. Poor Siphesihle was stolen and he cried for his parents, but he was taken far away from his loving parents He wished he had listened to his mom when she warned him, but it was too late.
THE MIRROR
THEMBEKA SINGOZO
Tshepang Mahura, a 14 year old, was playing in front of a mirror one night. Her mother had warned her never to play in front of the mirror, especially at night.
Tshepang did not listen to her mother For the next two nights she played in front of the mirror and pretended to talk to her friend The third night she was playing again in front of the mirror, repeating what she would normally do, pretending to talk to a friend. She stood for a while but then suddenly her reflection started moving. . It wanted to play with her so badly and she was so scared and shocked. She couldn't run to her mother because she had refused to listen to her mother’s instructions. The reflection jumped out and strangled her to death and it then disappeared. Tshepang’s mother found her cold body moments later. She immediately knew what had happened as the mirror was shattered. Sadly, she lost her only daughter.
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GAS EXPLOSION
NOMZAMO KHUZWAYO
One day a girl by the name of Amahle was cooking with a gas stove. Her mother always warned her to be very careful when handling the gas stove
but she never listened to her mother. One day she was alone at home. Amahle put the gas stove on top of a kitchen table carelessly. She then went to her bedroom leaving the gas stove unattended The gas stove fell and immediately burst. The whole house was instantly on fire.
Community members called the firefighters to try and extinguish the fire Amahle’s parents were informed about the accident. They came as soon as they could. The firefighters tried their best but Amahle died Amahle’s parents were very devastated and everyone in the community learnt a lesson -
never to leave their kids with a gas stove. So did the kids - they learnt to be very careful and listen to their parents
A SMALL BOY LEFT ALONE AT HOME
LIKHONA MPAMBANI
Once there was a 7 year old boy who was left alone in the house. His parents went to work and his mother warned him never ever to use a lighter, because he might burn things and end up hurting himself. The boy agreed, but as soon as his mother left, the boy got bored and decided to make fire. He looked for the lighter and lit the fire.
But then things took a sharp curve. The fire began to get bigger and he couldn't handle the fire. He ran out screaming “FIRE”. The neighbours were quickly alerted by the boy’s screams for help. They came out of their houses and saw smoke coming out of the boy’s house. Everyone worked together to put the fire out and they did so. The boy's family was informed about the accident and they arrived within minutes. The boy and his family were in trouble, but because the boy was only 7 years old, he wasn't punished. But his family had to take accountability. The boy learnt a lesson to listen to his mother and never ever play with fire or a lighter.
DIWANDI AND HER FRIENDS
VICTORIA BENHARD
There was once a girl called Diwandi She and two of her friends were playing near a construction site. They decided to explore the site even though all of them had been warned by their parents about the dangers of playing near the site Diwandi and her friends sneaked inside the site Unfortunately no one noticed them.
Diwandi decided to wander alone, leaving her friends behind. Inside the site, however, she found her herself stuck in a pit. Diwandi realised she was now in danger as she could not get out of the pit. Her shouting and screaming for help didn’t help. There was too much noise. With the busy machines and loud construction trucks no one heard her.
Time went by and now it was getting dark and her friends started looking for
her, shouting her name, “Diwandi, where are you?’’ But there was no response Consumed by fear, the kids ran to get help from the construction men
They explained what had happened and how their friend was missing inside the construction site. The construction manager called their parents explaining to them the situation at hand.
Everyone started to search for Diwandi. Because the site was so big, there were a lot of places that Diwandi could have found herself trapped inside and the site was not safe for kids. Diwandi had lost hope of being found as she was in the deep pit for hours. Her tears had dried up, and she was cold and hungry. Her mother’s words were ringing in her ears and memories of her mother warning her kept playing in her head. She was consumed by regret. The construction men and the parents relentlessly searched for her.
After hours of searching, Diwandi could hear people shouting her name from a distance. She stood up very fast as she was filled with joy. She shouted back so that people could hear her and come and get her. After she had lost hope, finally help was there. The construction men could hear a faint voice. They followed the voice. Finally they found her. Tears of joy and happiness filled her face as she saw her terrified parents. Diwandi was rescued and she, together with her friends, learnt her lesson to ALWAYS LISTEN TO YOUR PARENT.
THE BUNNIES, THE FROG AND THE YOUNG GIRL
LIKHONA MPAMBANI
Once there was a young girl called Nomhle. As her name suggests, she was very pretty. She also listened to her mother, who told her: “Books Before Boys Because Boys Beget Babies”. Her mother also told her that although the Bible
says that “Abraham begot Isaac, Isaac begot Jacob, and Jacob begot Joseph and his brothers”, it is actually women who Bear the Biggest Burden after anyone Begets a Baby.
So Nomhle put Books Before Boys. And sometimes she felt lonely sitting in her chair studying because many of her friends were not listening to their mothers. As a result they were Breeding like Bunnies. The baby bunnies were very sweet and Nomhle liked to read stories to them. But she continued to put Books Before Boys.
Then one day she noticed that one of the bunnies seemed to be a frog although he was pretending to be a bunny. Nomhle remembered the story about the poor girl who kissed a frog, which immediately turned into a handsome and rich prince! Nomhle’s mother had not told whether it was “Bucks Before Books” or “Books Before Bucks”. The temptation was too great She kissed the frog-bunny and
The frog did not turn into a prince. But Nomhle begot twin green bunnies.
THEGIRL,THECHEWING GUMANDTHECOW
DEBBIE BUDLENDER
Once there was a girl whose teachers told her not to eat chewing gum in class. The girl’s name was Maria.
Maria loved chewing gum and wanted to chew gum every waking minute of every day. So she found ways to hide her chewing from the teachers. For example, Maria was a small girl, so it was easy to hide herself by sitting behind bigger learners in class.
Gradually, because she chewed all the time, Maria started looking more and more like a cow, because cows like to chew every waking minute of every day. Her parents, friends and teachers did not notice her changing looks because they saw her every day, and the change from one day to the next day was very small.
At the end of the year Maria went with her family to spend Christmas with her gogo. She had been looking forward to the annual holiday with Gogo. However, when she arrived Gogo – who had not seen her for the whole year – saw clearly that Maria was now more cow than human Gogo pointed the change out to the rest of the family. They then had to admit that this was true.
Fortunately, Gogo had some cattle. So Maria joined the other cows and bulls eating grass, while her family ate chicken and Christmas cake.
A VAMPIRE GIRL
LELETHU MYABALALA, AMAHLE NJILO & ZINTLE NOLALA
A girl who was named Sima grew up to be a gorgeous girl, but as she grew up her parents noticed something strange: she had some powers. One day her mother was cutting some vegetables and the knife cut her hand. There was blood coming out of the cut. When Sima saw the blood she became restless and her eyes turned green.
Her nails became long and her teeth became very sharp She wanted to kill her mother and drink her blood. She went closer and closer. As she was ready to bite her mother’s neck, her mother screamed and her dad came in and saved the mother. They then kept Sima hidden and locked up
MISSING DOUGHNUTS
LIKHONA MPAMBANI & THANDWA SOLIZWE
There was once a woman called Mary. She owned a doughnut store. he had two children, Anna and Kim. Anna was her stepchild and she treated her differently from how she treated Kim.
One day Mary went to open her store. When she noticed that three boxes of doughnuts were missing. She accused Anna of stealing them since she was working at the store, unlike Kim. Anna defended herself by telling the truth - that she did not steal anything. But Mary did not believe her. Anna was punished even though she did nothing and she went to bed crying.
Doughnuts kept going missing until one day when Mary was opening her store she noticed crumbs on the floor leading to a storeroom. Mary opened the storeoom and she found a stray
dog sleeping with unfinished doughnuts next to it. She was consumed with regret and shame for accusing poor Anna.
THE GHOST WITH THE MIGHTY SWORD
THEMBEKA SINGOZO
A nonchalant Asian girl looked very depressed. She had bags under her eyes, very dark ones, and long hair with a French fringe. Her parents were neglectful parents. One day after school she wandered around in a forest near her house. She found a wooden house and in that house there were a lot of mirrors. With curiosity, she let herself in. She found ancient books. She read the words one by one out loud, not knowing that they were spells. The mirrors began to clash, with ghosts coming out with mighty swords. With no hesitation, they made a circle around her and took her soul and she became the “Ghost with the mighty sword’’.Never did her parents bother looking for her. They did not even notice that she was missing.
One morning as her mother was doing her make-up in front of the mirror, getting ready for work, her daughter appeared from the mirror with her mighty sword and immediately stabbed her mom with the sword between her eyes. She wandered around the house and saw how her father was drowned in tears due to her disappearance. She actually felt bad but whatever had happened, had happened.
She killed every girl who was depressed and drained due to life problems with her mighty sword, because she understood how they felt and what they were going through. To the ghost with the mighty sword it was like setting them free from all the hurt and misery they were feeling.
KNOW YOUR HOUSE
KHAZIMLA TAPILE, SIMAMKELE SOMDAKA & CHULUMANCO DANTYI
The Smiths were a rich family. They bought a house in a nice neighbourhood not knowing its background. The previous owners of the house were serial killers but no one in the neighbourhood knew about their killing history. The previous owners were seen as a loving couple and were adored by the community. But one day they held a rich girl hostage. Her name was Ella She killed herself with one of the rusty knives the couple had as she didn’t want to wait to be killed by the couple Ella became a ghost and she killed the couple one day to get her revenge.
Soon there were rumours that the house was haunted but the community didn’t have enough evidence. The house was put on sale and the Smith family bought the house and moved in with their three kids. The first child was a boy, John, who was 18 years old Emily was a 14 year old and the baby of the family was Bella, a 5 year old. The couple had no idea that the house was haunted and the few weeks they spent after buying the house were very nice. But soon things took a dark turn Ella’s ghost started to haunt the house making the Smith family miserable. They decided to leave the house and move out. The house had no one staying in it as the rumours had turned out to be true
THE HIDDEN TRUTH BEHIND CHINA’S BEAUTY VIEWPOINT
VIOLET KHEMBA
Tembelihle and her friends lived in the United States. She and her friends decided to go on a vacation to China for the holiday.
The following month they all went to China as their papers were finally in order and they could travel. They had a safe journey and they went to China’s beautiful viewpoint not knowing the scary truth behind it. They all went to China’s beautiful viewpoint. However Thembelihle wanted to feel the beauty even more.
So one day she over stayed although she had been warned not to stay until 8pm or she would die of the curse Thembelihle stayed until 8:30pm Within a flash a ghost named the Trina Bhekha came and killed her. She never was seen again. It was like Thembelihle vanished and till this day she has not been found