Children of wax: a folktale from Matabeleland, Zimbabwe

Duration: 6

Year Published: 1988

Format: 16mm

Color: Color

Sound: sound

Description: This animated folktale from the Matabele people of Zimbabwe, Africa is the bittersweet story of five wax children and their flesh-and-blood parents. The industrious, loving children have only one sorrow, that they cannot see the world because the hot sun will melt them. Living in a dark hut, they work and play by night. One son, Ngwabe, determines to venture out during the day. He takes only a few strides when the sun destroys him. That night, his brothers and sisters gather up the ball of wax that was once Ngwabe and fashion it into a bird. As the sun rises the next morning, the bird takes flight to see the world.

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