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.