The Animals Dig a Well

Jul 17, 2026

A traditional Mozambican folktale adapted into an English storybook follows a year of failed rain that brings famine, thirst, and rising death among people and animals. Lion and Elephant gather the animals to decide on digging a well, and the community works until water is finally found. Hare arrives late, drinks and plays, and leaves the well full of mud. The next day the animals discover the damage and suspect Hare of sabotaging the rescue plan.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryStory & Novel

FormatPDF

Pages20

Reading Time31 min

Story Outline

The drought and the crisis

The decision to dig a well

Hare’s arrival and the mud-filled water

The animals’ discovery and blame

The Animals Dig a Well Illustrations by João Carlos Brito An Adaptation of a traditional Mozambican folktale English Story Book The Animals Dig a Well A Traditional Story of the Manyungwes of Mozambic Illustration: João Carlos Brito Adapted By: Traditional Mozambican folktale English Animals dig a well Illustrations: João Carlos Brito An Adaptation of a Traditional Mozambican folktale Copyright © 2015, Little Zebra Books [http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/](http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) You are free to make commercial use of this work. You may adapt and add to this work. You must keep the copyright and credits for authors, illustrators, etc. It happened one year that the rain didn’t fall. The trees dried up and died. The rivers disappeared and the water evaporated. People and animals began dying from hunger and thirst. Lion and Elephant as the chief animals got together to discuss the situation . Lion said,“We’re going to end up dying from thirst. Let’s call everyone together and discuss the idea of digging a well. Elephant agreed and went off to spread the news to all the animals. All the animals except the hare got together to discuss the situation. Lion said,“Look, my brothers and sisters, this year, the rain has not fallen . Everyone is dying from hunger and thirst. Let us now make a plan to dig a well so that we might all be able to drink from it.” All the animals agreed and immediately grabbed hoes, shovels and picks and started digging. They dug and dug. And they dug some more . Finally they hit water. Lion said,“Why did Hare not come to dig this well? He most certainly will not drink from this water!” Later Hare came and saw the well. He said,“Tipite, tipite at the well!” He heard nothing. So he went in, drank some water and splashed around for a while. The next day, when the animals came they saw that their well was a big mess . The water was nothing but mud. They asked,“Who would do such a thing?” Someone said,“I bet it was Hare. When we were digging the well he was nowhere to be found.”

FAQs

Why do Lion and Elephant call the animals together?

Rain fails for a year, causing hunger and thirst that leads to widespread dying. They want to discuss digging a well to save everyone.

What happens when the animals finish digging?

They finally hit water, but Lion questions why Hare did not participate and later the well turns out to be ruined.

How does Hare affect the well?

Hare comes later, enters the well, drinks the water, and splashes around, which results in the water becoming muddy and unusable.

Jul 17, 2026

Upload by Lucas Martin