Where are tales born? Maybe the easiest answer is "in the human heart." Yet, in Africa, people believe they are created by the savannah, the wilderness, the forest, and even the sky plagued with stars night after night. Every person lives his or her life as he or she listens to a tale or tells a tale to others. Therefore, the life of the storyteller becomes sometimes a fight against an impending disgrace, as it happens to Krutongo and his wife; sometimes it becomes the effort to remain impassive at all times so nothing affects him, as it happens to Kotendimire; sometimes the storyteller would like to be generous with the needs of all those around him or her, as in the case of Prince Hatim Tai; some other times, finally, he or she would like to cling to an almost impossible love, as in the case of four-faced Fahima…
