Three Little Eggs
A Swazi Tale from Africa

​Once upon a time, a woman lived with her husband and their two children. The husband was cruel and forced his wife to work from dawn to dusk, beating her for no reason and even burning her with flaming sticks. Finally, the woman had enough. When her husband went to a festival, she mustered her courage, gathered her children, and fled into the mountains.

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There were many villages beyond the hills where she hoped she could find work to support herself and her children. The woman walked and walked, her baby girl on her back and her younger son at her side. She followed a stream, barely a trickle of water in the dry season. When she paused to rest, she noticed a bird's nest in a leafless tree. She picked up the nest, thinking it would be a good toy for her children, and found three small eggs inside even though it was winter. "Be careful not to break the eggs," she told her children, as she gave them the nest to play with.

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The mother continued on her way until night fell. The woman looked around, saw no likely shelter, and became frightened. "What am I to do?" she asked herself, thinking of the wild animal that prowled at night. and how she would protect her children.

A tiny voice answered, "Take the path to the right." The woman was astonished because the voice had come from one of the eggs in the nest.  And to her right was a path, nearly hidden in the underbrush.

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The woman followed the trail and came to a large hut. No one answered her greeting, but she went in and found the house filled with bowls of fresh milk and piles of ripe fruit. The woman fed her children, ate a hearty dinner herself, and then they all fell fast asleep, exhausted from their flight.

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In the morning, the woman arose, roused her children, and resumed their journey through the mountains. When they came to a fork in the road, the woman puzzled over which path to take.

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"Choose the left," a voice said, and it was the second egg that spoke. The woman followed the advice and arrived at a gigantic hut. Inside, the mother saw an ogre, so enormous that its snoring shook the earth. The beast was covered with reddish hair, sported two enormous horns, and had a long tale. All around him lay pots filled with blood. She dared not move, for fear the beast would awake and devour them all.

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At that moment, the woman heard the third egg speak up. "Pick up the round white rock by the door, climb on the roof, and drop it on the monster!"  

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"The rock is too big," she protested softly. "How can I lift it?" 

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"Do as I say." the egg insisted.

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The woman lifted her children onto the roof to keep them safe, then grasped the stone beside the door, and to her surprise, lifted it easily. She climbed on the roof, peered down the smoke hole, and prepared to drop the rock on the monster. Suddenly another ogre entered the hut, dragging the bodies of several people with him.

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The woman stifled a cry, and put down her stone. "I cannot kill them both at once! One will surely catch us and eat us. What shall I do!"

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All three eggs immediately whispered, "Wait until they sleep, then flee!" So the woman kept silent and rocked her children to keep them calm. The second ogre sniffed the air a few times, shrugged his shoulders, cooked the dead people, and ate them. Finally, he fell asleep.

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When the snoring of both monsters shook the hut, the woman crept down from the roof with her children and fled. She ran until she could no longer see the ogre's hut, and then continued through the mountains. The path entered a thicket of bushes and the woman could hardly see anything ahead. Suddenly she rounded a bend and came to a clearing beneath an enormous evergreen tree. The mother stopped with horror. Under a tree slept a huge monster, even larger than the two ogres. The creature had thick, matted hair, the snout of a jackal, enormous horns, and a long tail.

"An ogress!" the woman whispered in terror. There was no way forward, except past the monster, and the woman dared not turn back, fearful of the two ogres in the hut. "What am I to do?" she whispered.

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The eggs spoke in unison. "Take the axe next to the ogres, climb the tree, and drop it on her head!"

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The woman thought a moment, put her children high up in the tree to keep them safe, and then picked up the enormous axe. Shaking with fear, she climbed onto a branch over the ogres and let the axe fall. It hit the monster's head, but the ogress only moaned, merely stunned.

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"Quickly!" the eggs spoke up. "Climb down and use the axe to kill the monster before she wakes up!".

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The woman jumped out of the tree and retrieved the axe. The ogress began to open her eyes, and the poor mother trembled in every bone of her body. She ran towards the monster, striking her with the axe. The beast shrieked, fell over, and died.

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In the next moment, the body of the ogress split open, and out walked hundreds of women, men, and children, with their herds of cattle, pigs, and goats. The people gathered before the woman and bowed.

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"You have freed us from the ogress," the people said. "She swallowed us whole, and we have lived in her belly for many years." Out of gratitude, they asked the woman to be their Queen.

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The woman demurred. "It was not I who saved you, but these three eggs!" she said. pointing to the bird's nest. At that moment the earth trembled, the eggs vanished, and in their place appeared three great princes.

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The eldest of the three men knelt before the woman. "By your courage," he said. "you have freed my brothers and me from an evil spell." Then he asked the woman to marry him. "You are free to do as you wish.," the prince explained, "because your husband from your old village has died." The woman thought a moment and consented. So before she assembled people, the brave woman married the prince. She became Queen of the new land, and he, her consort. And from that day on, the new queen, her husband, and her children lived happily and in peace.