THE BLIND HUNTER

Rodanas bases this story of a blind hunter who “sees” better than his sighted companion on a tale from Zimbabwe. When wise Chirobo asks the young hunter Muteye to take him along into the bush, Muteye is skeptical—but it’s old Chirobo who detects the dangerous leopard, warthogs, and rhinos in their path first. Nor is Chirobo fooled when, after seeing what their traps have caught, Muteye surreptitiously switches the thin quail in his for the fat duck in Chirobo’s. Rodanas places her slender, brightly dressed Shona figures in wide South African landscapes, depicts wildlife in a naturalistic way, and creates a visual climax at the end by closing in on Chirobo’s serene, wrinkled visage as he answers Muteye’s shamed question about how one earns forgiveness for unkindness: “By learning to see with the heart.” Library shelves are well-stocked with tales from West Africa; this one, equally suitable for contemplation or discussion, arises from a different, more southerly, tradition. (source note) (Picture book/folktale. 5-9)