In the shadows of Mount Kilimanjaro and Mount Kenya rise the dry, grassy plains for East Africa, the home of the largest variety of wild animals in the world. Here, too, the nomadic Masai graze their cattle. "Cattle are in our hearts," they say. "Their smell is sweet to us." They believe all the cattle on earth once belonged to them, and in the past Masai warriors raided neighboring herds to recover their so-called stolen property.
Sonia Bleeker, well-known for her books on American Indians, now describes the life of these African herders from the time a child is born to the poignant ceremony that takes place when a man becomes an elder. As she relates, for example, the way a spokesman is chosen to lead the warriors into battle, or pictures the charmingly independent attitude of a girl during courtship, the character of the Masai comes to vivid life.
Illustrated by Kisa Sasaki, The Masai is a warm, concise account of a proud and self-reliant people, their customs, and their hopes for the future.
—from the dust jacket
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