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Once Upon A Time, translated, Is the first edition of folktale series written in Shona language. It has many other editions that are going to follow for the benefit of those who are enthusiasts of this Southern African language. Chishona is a language spoken in the South, in Zimbabwe to be precise, approximately two thirds of Zimbabweans speak this language in the regions of Mashonaland, meaning the land of Shona people and Sindebele, or Ndebele spoken by a third of the population, and is spoken in Matabeleland, meaning the land of the Ndebele people. Once Upon A time, is the typical phrase used to begin any folktale told was begun by the folk tellers in Zimbabwe, and the audience, mainly children would reply, ' Dzepfunde', that means we are here, or we copy, then ended by, Ndoopakafira Sarungano', meaning that's the end of the story. The audience would reply the same as above. The stories in this book are mainly about animals. They depicted human behaviours and by the end of a story none wanted to be the animals that were protagonists, they wanted to be the good characters only. These animal characters play a big pivotal role in shaping culture and behavioural patterns within the African communities. In those olden days, the story tellers were old women, mainly and old men too on occasions. The essence of the stories told by old folks was that they were older in age, and considered wiser. They had a wealth of life experiences to draw some life lessons from. The stories were told at night or early evenings after dinner before going to bed. The children would go as far as another closer village to listen to folk tales if the teller there was famous in story telling. They would then sit on the ground in a circle, and pay very close attention to detail. After the story there would be a question and answer session whereby the story teller would quiz the audience to vert each participant to see if they were listening. These were not mere stories. They had lessons to learn from. They were reprimands, corrections of behaviour and mirrored culture. Par example If there was a child who was stealing sugar, or peanut butter from their home, after the lessons in these stories they would stop. There would even be some serious cases of murder or kidnapping that would be solved and or prevented through some stories. That's how powerful these stories were. They were never ever taken for granted. However, with the emergence of schools, the system of story telling lost it's role and vitality in children's lives. Having said that, not all is lost, it is still very important to create time as a parent, uncle, aunt, or any adult within a family to tell a story or two to our youngsters so they can remember, how they came to be, and more so this will shape where they are going. It is of paramount importance to know that as a people we got a past, no matter how good or bad it might be, it is good to know how we came to be and we can only make our future better. Our identity revolves around those pasts. You got a past, I got a past, and it is good to recognise it. I have told my versions in a way I understood them when my mother used to tell these stories, when I was about five years old. At age seven school had weaned me from having time to listen to them, I now had time to do my homework, study and do extra- curricular activities. Eventually I had a television and a radio in my house competing with my time, and ultimately I had none left for these dear old folk stories. So it is prevalent whenever we get a chance to document these stories so as to pass on the valuable past of our people and heritages. There is absolute power in sharing stories. I did some story telling in Montreal in elementary schools during Black History month in 2002, and the response was amazing. Every student was excited as they listened. Hope you will enjoy this book, Watch out for Paivepo 2 . Tatenda, Siyabonga, in 2 Zimbabwean languages, meaning Thank you.
