"The Magical Lion" is a fable told in South Africa over a hundred years ago. It is the story of a lion who wanted to become human, but found that being human led to all kinds of difficulties and was much more trouble than it was worth. The fable is a part of the rich oral heritage of preindustrial Africa. It is told by Tahira, a traditional storyteller who still preserves this ancient literature today. The story is dramatized using objects from the...