Naomi Mitchison spent many years visiting, then living with, the Bakgatla of Botswana. During that time, she wrote a great deal about the tribal structure, social culture and behaviour of the population. Some of that writing was in the form of these stories collected here, ostensibly for children.
This was her opportunity to describe in simple detail the problems and difficulties in the day-to-day life of ordinary people.
Gathered here are the collections Ketse and the African Chief (1965), Friends and Enemies (1966), The Family at Ditlabeng (1968), Sunrise Tomorrow (1973), Snake! (1976) and The Vegetable War (1980), together with Modise and the Donkeys (1975), The Kid (1975), The Little Sister (1976), The Wild Dogs (1976) The Brave Nurse, For Her Country, and Letsei and Sekgwari (1977), and the longer A Mochudi Family from 1965.