They come from very different parts of Africa, these four stories, and represent four very different African peoples. But each of the stories celebrates in its own way the triumph of common sense over power that seems to deny reason.

In the story, Lion and the Ostrich Chicks, Lion captures six ostrich chicks and claims they are his children. Everyone knows he only wants to eat them. But, who has the courage and the cunning to stand up to Lion? It takes the wisdom of Mongoose to make all come right.

There are those who think that trickster Ananse was never tricked himself. Yet that is not the case. The story Foolish Boy proves that. And in Jackal's Favorite Game, Jackal learns that Hare, who is smaller, can sometimes be wiser, that strength is not always what counts. And in The Son of the Wind, a small boy finds out that you can deal with those whose ways are uncertain, if you follow the rules.

Once again, storyteller-artist Ashley Bryand has created a book that through words and pictures brings us not just the essence of African story-telling, but the essence of universal truth such stories can reveal, while at the same time offering humor and suspense.

From the dust jacket