The Wishing Needle

“The Wishing Needle” is adapted from a Ugandan folktale. I first heard this story when I visited my grandmother. I listened to my grandmother’s stories every evening. My grandmother called her chickens by name. She owned about twenty-eight chickens. She woke up very early every day to let them out in the yard and to peck the ground for food. One day, my grandmother’s favorite chicken, Toke, disappeared. We were all saddened by Toke’s disappearance. That evening, as we sat by the fire, looking perplexed, grandmother started to narrate the story of The Wishing Needle.