Before the farms, before the forts, before the flags — there was the sea, and a giant at the
end of the world.
For five centuries the European peoples of Southern Africa — Portuguese sailors, Dutch and
Boer farmers, British and German settlers, Scottish missionaries — filled the southern night
with stories. Here they are gathered at last in one volume: twenty-three tales, faithfully
retold from the oldest sources, spanning the whole subcontinent from the Cape of Storms to
the Zambezi.
Meet Adamastor, the grieving giant imprisoned in the rock of the Cape. Ride with Wolraad
Woltemade into the killing surf, and with Dick King and Ndongeni through a hundred flooded
rivers. Shudder at the Flying Dutchman, the ghosts of the Castle of Good Hope, and the
lights that still move on Spioenkop. Hunt the Kruger Millions and the Lost City of the
Kalahari. Watch the desert eat a champagne town at Kolmanskop — and stop, if you dare, for
the hitchhiker on the Uniondale road.
Each tale opens with its origins and closes with a note for the curious, honestly separating
record from rumour. Written to be read aloud — to children by torchlight, and to
grandparents who will recognise the stories of their own childhood — this is a rescue
effort, a fireside, and a family treasury in one.
A tale told is a tale saved. Begin tonight.