Hello and welcome to super great kids' stories, wise tales from storytellers around the world, which will make you laugh

and sometimes cry. Recommended for ages 5 to 105. I'm Kim and I love stories. Today's story

is Lola Bar and the Eagle.

It's from Sudan in northeast Africa.

And it's told by Hanna Baba, who hosts the Folktales from Sudan podcast.

I've got two reasons to celebrate this week.

I'm going to be telling stories with my friends at the

Stealing Thunder Festival in the UK's Lake District and we'll be celebrating midsummer there

in Swedish style. Did you know that this weekend is the longest day of the year in the northern

part of the world and the day which marks the middle of summer.

In Sweden, midsummer is a very big deal because the long nights of winter last a very long time.

And so, when the long days of summer arrive, people really want to make the most of them. They have picnics with their friends, dance around maypoles, wear crowns of flowers in their hair,

and of course swim in very cold lakes.

And many people stay up all night to watch the sunset and then rise again within just a few hours. What fun.

My second reason to be cheerful is that we have a new storyteller to introduce you to. Her name is

Hannah Baba and she grew up between Sudan, a country in North East Africa and Texas in the US.

Eventually, Hannah's family moved from Sudan to the US and Hannah grew up listening to her

uncle, sharing very old folk tales from Sudan, stories about shape-shifting kings, brave daughters and cunning animals.

And many were song stories.

Hannah learned these stories by heart, and eventually she shared them with her own daughters.

And now she's sharing them with people like you in her podcast, which is called Folktales from Sudan.

You can listen on YouTube, Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

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