The First Morning: An African Myth

by Margery Bernstein, Janet Kobrin, Enid Warner Romanek (Illustrator)

After they cleverly complete the sky king's tasks, a mouse, spider, and fly are given light to take back to earth but it isn't quite what they expected.

Genres: Picture Books

48 pages, Hardcover

First published May 1, 1976

Reviews

[Abigail · Rating 3 out of 5]

Having always lived in a world of perpetual darkness, Mouse, Spider and Fly are the first to volunteer, when Lion calls for someone to travel to the land above the sky, and bring back light for the world. Climbing up a web of spider's construction, the three companions confront the king of this land, who - not wanting to share the light - sets them three seemingly impossible tasks, and, when these are accomplished, still attempts to trick them...

This tale from the Sukuma people of Tanzania - the third such folkloric retelling I have read from Bernstein and Kobrin, following upon How the Sun Made a Promise and Kept It: A Canadian Indian Myth , and The Summer Maker: An Ojibway Indian Myth - explains how the first morning came to be. Like the classic tale type in which fire is won from the gods, this is a story in which light is won for the earth, and is well-told. Enid Warner Romanek's black and white illustrations are simple and bold, with some folk art appeal to them. I know very little about the Sukuma, but I found myself wondering whether her depiction of the King (as seen on the front cover), was at all based on their aesthetic traditions.

[Krista the Krazy Kataloguer · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is an East African myth about how the world acquired light. I must admit, the ending wasn't quite what I'd expected, which made it interesting and different. Not bad, and easy for beginning readers.