African Folk Tale - Kitangatanga of the Sea

Kitangatanga of the Sea is a Swahili folk tale. Stories from Africa were traditionally passed down by word of mouth. Often they were told by the light of the moon around a village fire after the completion of a long day of work. The stories rarely ended with the words we so often heard as children when our parents told us bedtime stories -- "and they all lived happily ever after". Most stories didn't end happily ever after. Usually the stories taught a lesson, and frequently, the selfish person learned that lesson the hard way.