What I am reading now

I am reading a book on Urban legends. Quite a fascinating and extremely amusing look at some of the urban legends out there. According to the definition urban legends are a story (mostly untrue) with a grain embedded in them somewhere. They are called urban legends merely to distinguish themselves from traditional folklore from more ancient times.

With the explosion of the Internet and the easy accessibility to it, these stories are becoming more popular and frequent. They prey on people's gullibility and ignorance of the truth, and if taken seriously, some can actually be harmful and deadly. They seem to prey on our fears of spiders, aliens, serial killers and twist them into a story, which at face value can be seen as almost true. You can actually start doubting yourself in some cases. One of the most famous concerns a woman who was killed by a nest of spiders nesting in her beehive hairstyle. Now, at face value you would say how ridiculous is that! but when you start to think that there are poisonous spiders out there and...... you get the picture!!

South Africa is rich with such legends and thanks to the variety of different cultures, there are many urban legends. Below is one of my favourites, which plays on the fear that African people have of the Tokoloshe a funny little creature who gets up to mischief and mayhem, and who inspires fear and respect among the people. Below is a story which is a more humorous version of the usual Tokoloshe story.

Legends of the Tokoloshe
People from the district of Ohrigstad say they chased a man from their village after finding evidence that he kept a Tokoloshe. The witch then approached a white farmer and suggested that he fire all the black labourers on the estate as he could do their work alone. This the farmer promptly did, but his curiosity was aroused. One night he visited the fields, and found a large number of small creatures tilling the land, with his new employee acting as the supervisor. - Weekly Mail & Guardian, 27 January 1995.