Thirty-one brothers and sisters

Front matter

Reading edition

Transcriber’s Note:

New original cover art included with this eBook is granted to the public domain.

Thirty-One Brothers and Sisters

The South African veld, with its gentle rolling hills and soft green meadows watered by many streams, is the background for this unusual story about Nomusa, daughter of a Zulu chief.

Nomusa is warmhearted and generous and affectionate; she loves all her little brothers and sisters and enjoys helping to care for them. But she is strong and brave and daring, too; she feels that girls’ work is dull and boys’ work is much more exciting, and much more fun.

More than anything else, Nomusa yearns to go with the men on the annual elephant hunt. But she knows this is impossible. As her mother says, “Girls never go on elephant hunts!”

After Nomusa’s adventure with a fierce wild boar, her father, Chief Zitu, rewards her bravery. In a final climax, Nomusa realizes that being a girl has its own rewards.

A sympathetic, engrossing story about a primitive civilization of today. Nomusa is a heroine whom girls will envy and boys will admire.

REBA PAEFF MIRSKY

Thirty-One Brothers and Sisters

Illustrations by W. T. Mars

Wilcox AND Follett company CHICAGO

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form without written permission from the publishers, except for brief quotations used in connection with reviews in magazines or newspapers.

MANUFACTURED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

To the late John Dube of Ohlange

and my other Zulu friends

PRESENTED ANNUALLY

For Worthy Contributions

to Children’s Literature

JOHNNY TEXAS by Carol Hoff 1950

ALL-OF-A-KIND FAMILY by Sydney Taylor 1951

THIRTY-ONE BROTHERS AND SISTERS by Reba Paeff Mirsky 1952

Thirty-One Brothers and Sisters