King of the Snakes and Other Folklore Stories from Uganda

These are stories that have traveled on tongues through generations of Ugandan villages, told by firelight, passed from grandmother to grandchild. Rosetta Baskerville gathered them from the oral tradition of the Baganda people, some directly from storytellers, others adapted from the collections of Apollo Kaggwa. Here you will find why the bat sleeps through the day, how the parrot got its red tail, and the legendary King of the Snakes. There are clever tricksters, wandering heroes, fairy bees with magic powers, and the origin tales behind famous proverbs. This is not a museum piece but a living tradition, a window into a world where animals speak, the earth itself has memory, and every creature carries a lesson. For readers who have loved the tales of Anansi or Rudyard Kipling's Just So Stories, this collection offers something rarer: the real thing, gathered at the source, preserved with care.