Black Storytellers Alliance leader shares a new story for the New Year

INTERVIEWER: It is the new year. We thought we'd reach out to a master storyteller to give us a story to ponder as we begin the new adventure that is 2023. So we reached out to Nothando Zulu. She's the President of the Black Storytellers Alliance based in North Minneapolis. Here is Nothando.

NOTHANDO ZULU: We've been doing Kwanzaa within the family and with friends and we've talked a lot about using our talents to help our community. And it made me think of my story about Sister Ant, so I'm going to give you a shortened version of the Sister Ant story. She was little, of course, that's what ants are, and she thought she was just too little. And she began to worry about being so little.

She worried so much she couldn't sleep, she couldn't eat. And so she went to some of the bigger animals in her community to ask how she could get to be big like they were. First she asked Brother Dog. She said, Brother Dog, how can I get to be big like you?

And Brother Dog, of course, told her what he knew which was, well, I eat a lot and I run around a lot. That's how I got to be big like I am. And so she tried that. She ran around a lot and she ate a lot, but nu-uh, she didn't get any bigger. The only thing that happened was that her legs ached and her stomach hurt.

So she figured, oh, Brother Dog doesn't know what he's talking about. So then she went and she found Sister Turtle. Now, Sister Turtle told her what she knew. Sister Turtle said, well honey, what I do is I stay in the water most of the time.

That's how I got to be big. From the time I was born, I waited on out into the water and that's how I got to be big. And so Sister Ant, who is a land animal, of course, she went on down to the ocean and before she could even dive in, a big, old wave came up and nearly drowned her.

And she was coughing and sputtering and she said, oh, Sister Turtle doesn't know what she's talking about. Now she really began to worry and to think about what was going on and how she could get to be bigger. And so she couldn't sleep at night and one night she heard Sister Owl.

And she decided, oh, Sister Owl will know what to do. I'll go ask her. She went on outside, found Sister Owl's tree, looked up and said, hey, Sister Owl, it's me, Sister Ant. And Sister Owl said, ooh, how you doing?

Why are you up so late? And she, of course said, I'm up because I can't sleep. Sister Owl, maybe what to do. I'm so small and I want to get bigger.

And I asked Brother Dog and I asked Sister Turtle, and I tried those things but I didn't get any bigger and I really need to get bigger, Sister Owl. Now, Sister Owl said, well, now, why do you need to get bigger? And she, said so when I get in a fight, I can beat up everybody.

Sister Owl said, Now, hold on just a second. Don't you have pinchers to defend yourself if someone attacks you? Yes, yes, yes, yes. Has anybody attacked you?

No, no. Sister Owl said, well then, it seems to me it would make sense to make friends with those who make friends with you and use your pinchers to help yourself if you need to defend yourself. Then Sister Ant said, but see, I need to see far off into the distance. And Sister Owl said, if you stand on your anthill, won't you be able to see all that you need to see?

And Sister Ant said, well, yes. I hadn't really thought about it that way. And about that time, along comes Brother Dog. He is howling. He's so upset.

[HOWLING]

And so they ask him, what's going on? What's the matter? And Brother Dog says, the dog family is hungry. We don't have anything to eat.

I don't know what to do. Sister Ant said, Brother Dog, I thought I heard that the dog family had some land. Brother Dog said, yeah, yeah, yeah, we got some land but it is all covered over with bushes, and tree stumps, and rocks, and just stuff. We can't do anything with it.

Sister Ant said, nu-uh, wait a minute, Brother Dog. Yes you can. What you need to do is get the dog family together and set up a production schedule, and then some of the dogs will clear away the bushes, some will clear away to tree stumps, and some carry away the trash. And then once you get it all cleared away, then you can till that land and you can plant yourself some crops and you all will have food all the time.

And Brother Dog, he stopped his crying and he put a smile on his face. He said, ooh, Sister Ant, you got a lot of organizational skills up there in that little, bitty head of yours. I'm going to go and get that dog family together and we're going to be able to eat.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. And Sister Ant started to feel bigger. You could almost see her chest start to poke out.

She had a smile on her face and Sister Owl looked down and she was about to tell her she was looking good, but before she could get a word out of her mouth, here comes Sister Turtle and she was upset. They had, had a family reunion out in California and Sister Turtle is from Minnesota. And so the thing is they had a wonderful time out there in California. And so Sister the Turtle wanted to replicate that when she got back to Minnesota for all of the turtles that lived in Minnesota.

So she arranged some stuff to happen and it didn't turn out and everybody got upset with her. You know, what's wrong with you? What are you trying to do anyway? Look, we're not out in California.

Oh, it just broke her heart, because all she was really trying to do was just be nice and because they had enjoyed themselves so much. It just broke my heart, she said. Sister Ant said, it's all right, Sister Turtle. Listen, this is what you need to do.

See, out there in California, they can do lots of things. It's always warm out there. But in Minnesota, you got to look around and see what you can do. You sometimes have to just sit by the fire and tell stories.

Or you can go up on the hills and you can ski down, you can lie down, you can go ice fishing. And then in the summertime, you can also go fishing and visit all of the parks. Sister Turtle said, oh, you've got so much knowledge in that little, old bitty of head of yours. Thank you.

And she went on off to arrange something that they could do in Minnesota. Sister Ant, well, she was feeling really proud now and she said to Sister Owl, she said, you know what? I feel bigger already, not in size, but in worth.

Sister Owl said, yes honey, you feel that way because you are able to use your talents and your skills to help your community. She said, all of us have talents and skills that we can use to help our community. And it is when we do that, that we feel really big, we feel worthy, we feel happy.

Sister Ant said, yes indeedy. That's exactly what I feel. I feel like, [VOCALIZING] super ant! The end.

INTERVIEWER: That was Nothando Zulu. She's the President of the Black Storytellers Alliance based in North Minneapolis. And her husband, who's Vusumuzi Zulu, is also a leader in that group.