'Slowly! Slowly!' by T.M. Clark, illustrated by Helene Magisson

Slowly, slowly, you catch a monkey…

Bongani wants to go to school but he is too young. To prove to his family that he is big and strong just like his cousins, he tries to catch a monkey. Slowly, slowly, he must go. Luckily his family is there is to school him in the lessons of patience and compassion.

Adapted as a South African story, this variation of ‘Softly, softly, catchee monkey’ was originally an Ashanti (Ghana) proverb quoted by Lord Robert Baden-Powell, Founder of the Boy Scouts.

'Slowly! Slowly!' by T.M. Clark, illustrated by Helene Magisson