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Magic Cellar

Genres

Animation, Children's

Director

Firdaus Kharas

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Magic Cellar is the first animated series based on African culture. The series marks the first time Africa's children will see themselves reflected in an animated series. The series celebrates Africa's culture and traditions, while promoting reading as exciting and adventurous. The stories are based on African folktales, partially collected from interviews conducted with elders in villages across South Africa. Each episode is broken up into three sections: a brief introduction and set-up; the African story; and a wrap-up with the lessons learnt. Each episode is a self-contained, animated short.

Free on our Ad supported channel KushTVee

South Africa | 2006-2010 | 52 x 11 mins

Director

Firdaus Kharas

Starring

Genres

Animation, Children's

Writers

Karen Briner, John Gatehouse, Brent Quinn

Producers

Mfundi Vundla

Audio Languages

English

Languages

English

Not available in you country

S1 E1

Pula arrives at her grandmother’s house and meets Marcus, Navitha, Josh and Melissa. The children discover the Magic Cellar, where they meet Mr. Zee and Gigi. Mr. Zee tells them the tale of where stories come from. Pula is taken to an underwater palace to the Spirit People. The children are drawn into the wonders of learning through adventure stories read from books.

S1 E2

When the gang are having problems with sharing, Mr Zee tells the story of the elephant who wants to eat all of the tortoise’s food, so the tortoise challenges the elephant to a running race. The winner gets to keep the food. With the help of his friends, the tortoise wins the race. The elephant learns the importance of sharing.

S1 E3

Questions of loyalty threaten our gang so Mr. Zee tells them about a King who gives his bride a magical ring to help her remember him while he is away. But the King’s advisors steal the ring and the Queen’s loyalty is severely tested before the King and Queen are reunited.

S1 E4

The kids are having difficulty compromising with each other and Mr. Zee tells the story of a group of Birds that eat half the farmers’ seeds. The Farmers insist they go away and never come back. Soon, a large group of locusts arrive. Without birds to scare them off, the locusts eat all the crops. A terrible famine hits the land. Through the selfless act of a child, birds return to the land and the farmers learn to compromise by sharing with the birds.

S1 E5

The hare gets caught by the jackal, who wants to eat him for dinner. The hare talks the jackal into letting him get a drink from the river. The jackal sees his reflection in the river and the hare tricks the jackal into believing his reflection is really another jackal. As a result, the hare is able to escape.

S1 E6

When no one owns up to a mistake, Mr. Zee tells the tale of the Baboon who finds that a tailor’s dress has been torn by someone. The Baboon holds a trial and questions a Rat, Jackal, Elephant, Wood, Fire and Water. When everyone insists they are not guilty, the baboon decides to find them all guilty.

S1 E7

Greed becomes a problem among the kids until Mr. Zee tells the old folk tale of a water snake that has a magical red stone, capable of making the owner very rich. X’am, the great Khoi San (tribe) hunter, steals the stone away. The angry water snake drinks all the water in the river. The villagers are suffering by the greediness of the hunter. But the hunter realizes what he has done and returns the stone to the snake and learns not to be selfish.

S1 E8

Being healthy is the subject that leads to the retelling of South Africa’s most famous folk tale that has the impish ‘Devil of Table Mountain’ persuading a Sea Captain to puff on a pipe until he sickens and dies… Leaving the cloud on Table Mountain as a warning against excessive consumption.

S1 E9

A village woman has two daughters. The Chief needs help to be released from a curse and asks for help from the villagers. One daughter takes the short cut and fails … the other takes the proper way and is able to help. In the end, respect and obedience carry great reward.

S1 E10

Concerns about being different leads to the tale of the Lion King who decides to give all the animals something special to make them unique. He gives Eagle feathers so it can fly; Elephant a long nose and strong tusks; Rhino a short, sharp horn; Hyena a silly laugh and Zebra black and white stripes.

S1 E11

When relationships become a bit strained, Mr. Zee promotes mutual respect by telling the gang the folk tale of an old woman who dislikes children catching those that play tricks on her and warning them not to return. But they do return after several months and discover that the old woman has become ill. She asks the children for help. They agree and in exchange, she tells them a story every day.

S1 E12

Misunderstandings among the five friends are examined when Mr. Zee relates the folk tale about the elephant who wants to make friends with a hare but the hare did not want to be friends. The two of them set off to find food together and come across a farmer’s field. The elephant is attacked by the villagers but the hare does not help him. Later, a jackal appears and starts intimidating the Hare. The only way for the hare to escape being eaten by the jackal is by jumping on elephant’s back. They learn the benefits of co-habitating.

S1 E13

The importance of promises culminates in the telling of the famous folk-tale where a hunter comes across a lion trapped in a thorn-bush. The lion asks for help but first the hunter gets the lion to promise not to eat him when the lion is free. The lion agrees but then reneges on his promise when he is freed. The children learn about the value in a promise.

S2 E1

The kids concerns about reputations are examined when Mr. Zee relates the ancient legend where the Great Animal Spirit decides that creatures will live forever and asks Chameleon to spread that message. But then the Animal Spirit changes its mind and sends Gecko to let the world know. The Gecko arrives at the village first and Chameleon gets blamed for spreading false rumours.

S2 E2

The difficulty of sharing compels Mr.. Zee to tell a fanciful tale that takes place long ago when animals lived in homes just like humans. Jackal arrives at a home, feeling very hungry. He asks Lion if he could share his food but Lion refuses. Jackal offers him help and service and still Lion refuses to share his food. In the end, Lion goes hungry because he was not willing to share his food.

S2 E3

Honesty is the problem that prompts Mr. Zee to tell the tale of a village that had a herd of magic cattle. The villagers from the next village decide to steal the magic cattle. They also take the twins that look after the cattle. But when the thieves are asleep, the twins and the cattle escape – by calling on their magic to part the river. But, when the thieves try to follow them, the river closes up again.

S2 E4

Not doing your share is the subject that is examined in the tale of the animals working together to dig a well. But, lazy Hare does not want to help and thinks he can drink the water after the other animals have done their work. The animals decide to trick Hare and get him stuck to a root in the well. They free him only when Hare agrees to dig his own well, which is more work than helping the other animals would have been.

S2 E5

Trust is examined with an African folk version similar to Little Red Riding Hood where a trusting Grandmother is feeling very cold. A baboon comes by and tricks the grandmother into warming herself by getting into a pot on top of a fire. Soon, the grandmother wants to get out of the pot but the baboon refuses to help her as he intends to eat her. Fortunately, the grandmother’s sons arrive at the village and save her. The woman learns that not everybody is trustworthy.

S2 E6

Vanity is explored using the tale of the vain Leopard who thinks she is very pretty. A snake challenges her to tell him how many spots she has. Leopard tries very hard to find out how many spots she has and finally asks the snake to count them – which allows the snake to trap the Leopard.

S2 E7

Mr. Zee tells the story of Sikulume’s quest when his seven elder brothers, the strongest men in the village, do not return from the valley of the giants. They had gone there to gather food for the village. Sikulume decides to find his brothers. But the only way for him to succeed is by doing an act of great bravery. He does the brave deed, brings his brothers back and becomes a great Chief. This story shows Pula, Marcus, Navitha, Melissa and Josh how strong the love of family and friends can be.

S2 E8

Melissa gets a new bike for her birthday. She excitedly shows it to her friends they all ask for turn to ride it. Pula goes first and, in her glee, rides on the bike longer than agreed, ignoring her friend’s pleas to stop allow them a turn. Mr. Zee tells a story about a hungry Tortoise whose equally hungry bird friends go out of their way to get him to a lunch with the cloud people. Once at the lunch, the Tortoise rudely forgets about his bird friends and proceeds to finish all the food. Having forgotten that it was his friends that got him to the lunch on the clouds and he is forced to find his own way back to earth, with dire consequences.

S2 E9

Pula is very afraid of her upcoming first visit to the dentist. Gogo’s reassurances offer her little comfort. Unable to sleep from the anxiety she ventures into Magic Cellar. The story Mr Zee tells is about the Springbok who, after a day of visiting, goes back to his house only to find himself too frightened to enter because of a scary voice coming from inside. His friend Elephant, who claims to be more courageous, is equally scared when he hears the voice coming from the house. They both run away in fear - and into Lion. Upon hearing their story Lion insist on confronting the monster and true to his King of the Jungle title, goes into the Springbok’s house only to find a mischievous and harmless intruder. Pula learns that sometimes it is your mind and not the reality that creates fear.

S2 E10

Josh teaches Melissa some soccer moves. Melissa is great student and everyone is happy for her except for Marcus. Whilst they are playing soccer, Josh accidentally hurts Melissa. Marcus waits for Melissa to be by herself and tells her that Josh did it on purpose, which in turn angers her. In the Magic Cellar the children hear about the mischievous Hare who tries to break up a friendship between the Jackal and the Lion. Hare has a gift of mimicry and fools Lion into thinking he is Jackal and vice-versa. Hare’s trickery however does not take him far and Marcus apologizes for his jealousy.

S2 E11

The children are helping Melissa with her school project whilst Marcus is outside practicing soccer. Nearly finished with the project, the children realize they need Marcus’ soccer ball and he refuses. They try to trick him and take the ball from him when he is distracted. In the Magic Cellar the children hear a tale about a stubborn Elephant who refuses to use his might to help break a spell that has been cast over the King. Lion and Snake both fail to convince him to help but Rabbit tricks Elephant into unwittingly breaking the spell. Marcus gets the message that being stubborn is not a good idea among your friends.

S2 E12

Melissa and Marcus insist on interrupting their friends’ game, after taking over the game they build further resentment amongst the others by not wanting to play with them. Mr. Zee makes peace with a story about a kindhearted Tortoise who starts to share his daily lunch with Eagle and over time considers Eagle a friend. However Tortoise’s friend Baboon is not entirely convinced that reason Eagle never invites Tortoise to his nest for lunch is because Tortoise cannot fly. To convince Tortoise, Baboon hatches a plan that takes a Tortoise to Eagle’s nest and it is there that Eagle, who is caught off guard, reveals his true intentions. Both Melissa and Marcus realize that they have been very self-serving.

S2 E13

Pula is invited to a birthday party, but Gogo won’t allow her to go because the party is for much older kids. Pula decides to go to the party and disobey Gogo. Mr. Zee tells a story about a young boy who disobeyed his father’s wishes and went hunting. The young boy encounters a series of dangers and is kidnapped by an Elephant who traps him in a drum, and uses his beautiful singing voice to impress the Queen. The boy goes missing for some time and his mother and father have to desperately search for him. The story convinces Pula that Gogo has legitimate concerns and changes her mind about sneaking out.

S3 E1

Pula completes her homework while Marcus and the other children play soccer. Marcus steals Pula’s homework and leaves her to search for it. Mr. Zee tries to calm the situation as he tells a story about a jealous Leopard who steals a baby calf from his neighbour, the Jackal, and claims that his ill-tempered donkey gave birth to it. Despite Jackal’s protests, Leopard insists that his donkey did indeed give birth to the calf. So the two friends leave it up to a Hare, a Springbok and a Baboon to decide. In the end the Leopard’s trickery does not get him far and the calf is returned to its rightful owner and Marcus returns Pula’s homework.

S3 E2

Josh and Marcus are playing with a cricket ball. It begins to rain and in the rush to get inside the house, the cricket ball goes missing. Josh and the other children accuse Marcus of taking the ball, without any proof. Mr. Zee tells a story about King Aja who wrongfully accuses two guests of stealing his crown. If they do not find it they will be banished forever. They search the entire kingdom unsuccessfully and are to be banished. Just then one makes an interesting discovery. In the end the King’s premature accusations see him apologising to the wrongfully accused. And the other children apologize to the innocent Marcus for their premature accusations.

S3 E3

Marcus and Josh are playing with Pula’s new clay animals, they have a school project to do and decide to take Pula’s animals without asking. Pula is highly upset that her friends wouldn’t even ask her to use her toys and she feels betrayed. Mr. Zee tries to provide some perspective on the situation by telling a story about an Eagle and a Jackal who betray their friend the Lion.

S3 E4

Mr. Zee, Gigi, Navitha and Pula are playing in the Magic Cellar when they notice Navitha is upset. She reveals that Josh borrowed a pencil and didn’t return it. Mr. Zee tells a tale of a naughty Rabbit who takes money from Queen Maya, promising to plant it and harvest a crop of money. After sometime, the Queen enquires after her money, but Kalulu has no crop to show her. With rising suspicion the queen sends a Lion, an Elephant, and finally Tortoise to investigate and the rabbit must ultimately face the consequences.

S3 E5

Navitha spends her whole month’s allowance on her friends. Mr. Zee tells her the story of Kimwaki who inherited a great fortune as well as ample food stock from his father, but neglected it. One day he saw the weaverbirds work hard together taking care of each other and their resources. He worked hard and restored the land. Navitha decides to make wiser / more responsible choices with her allowance.

S3 E6

Pula won’t go swimming with her friends, because she can’t swim and believes she doesn’t belong at the water’s edge. Mr Zee tells her a story of Maddie the hippo who feels she doesn’t belong on dry land and journeys to Papa Rock to ask if she could live in the water. Papa Rock fears that Maddie will scare the fishes. In the end Maddie gets to live in the water but promises to open her mouth at the end of everyday so Papa Rock could see that she hasn’t eaten any of the fishes. Pula decides to try and like the water, even if she can’t swim.

S3 E7

Pula and her friends feel left out, when a schoolmate doesn’t invite them to her party. When Gogo tells them it’s a misunderstanding the children are torn between forgiving her and not forgiving her. Mr. Zee tells them a story about two lush trees who were patrons to a young Springbuck. When the springbuck leaves them to have his own adventures in the world, they vow to never forgive him. The springbuck is injured and the trees have to help. One tree forgives, while the other refuses and grows into a Thorn Tree for not forgiving.

S3 E8

Josh is a friend that never says NO to helping others. Josh’s friends don’t really notice that Josh is sacrificing his time, and his deadlines, to help them. Mr. Zee tells them a story about a poor man who shares whatever little he has with a weaver bird and a hippo. The poor man reaches a village where he is faced with challenges in order to become the next leader. The weaver bird and the hippo do not forget the poor man’s kindness, when he is need, and return the favour. The poor man becomes king. The children decide to be good friends in return.

S3 E9

Josh is bullied at school by bigger boys and Mr Zee teaches him and the children about handling a bully through a story. They learn that there’s no shame in telling the teacher / your parents / an adult. You don’t have to handle this on your own. In the folk tale, Meerkat, is bullied by the elephant and the hippo. So he arranges a tug of war, with each but instead of being at the other end of the rope he tricks them into pulling against each other – picking on someone their own size! Josh realizes the underlying message – that stories are not like real life and his best choice is to tell his teacher.

S3 E10

The children made a model boat out of recycled materials for a school project, but have to decide on who is to present the project to the class. Mr. Zee tells the story about how the animals chose a Leader. The children realise it’s wiser to make a choice based on good values than leaving it to chance.

S3 E11

Melissa made Gigi a clay statue as a surprise, but when she wants to show it to Marcus, she drops it and it breaks in half. Marcus promises not to tell anyone about the surprise, but once in the cellar lets it slip that Melissa made a surprise for Gigi. Mr. Zee tells them a story about Thulani who broke his promise to Princess Mbali, who has her philanthropy suspended as a result.

S3 E12

Pula and Marcus bake a cake to share with the others. When there is an extra piece, Marcus decides to hide the extra piece. Pula calls him on it, she decides to punish him by not sharing with him. Mr. Zee tells them a story where they learn that two wrongs don’t make a right. Zuzu the zebra planted a fig tree but couldn’t reach the figs, when Bonobo the chimp helped, instead of sharing the figs with Zuzu, Bonobo had all the figs for herself! Zuzu’s act of revenge ends in Bonobo accidentally destroying the fig tree and nobody won in the end.

S3 E13

When Pula divides marbles between her friends, Melissa sneaks marbles from Navitha and Josh. When they notice the missing marbles they wrongly accuse Marcus. Mr Zee tells them a story. King Tuscan has the best crop of beans in all the forest and also cared for all the animals as well. He offers his beans as reward for hard work, but Bonobo the chimp steals the beans when all the other animals are working. In the end, they find out who the thief is and Melissa comes clean.

S4 E1

Pula struggles with the task of making five lion masks for her school play, and tricks her friends into doing her work for her. Mr. Zee tells the tale of “Jabu and the Lion” to show the children the repercussions of breaking a promise. In the end, Pula learns that by breaking her promises, it makes it very difficult for people to believe you in future.

S4 E2

Navitha tells her friends that Miss Carrim, their teacher will be leaving them. The kids are devastated by this news. Pula suggests that they go and consult Mr. Zee, who tells them the story about a Hippo who spread the word that the jungle was falling into the river, and started anarchy. King Lion investigates, only to find the rumour is not true… Pula goes to verify with Gogo, only to find out that Miss Carrim is getting married and will only be a way for a short while. The kids learn not to rely on hear-say or rumour.

S4 E3

Marcus and Navitha argue over building either a clubhouse or a fort, they argue so much that neither gets their way. Mr. Zee tells them a story. Ostrich and Jackal find a branch full of morulas and can’t decide how to share it. They decide to take the case to the Baboon Court, where the Baboons trick them out of all their morulas. Marcus and Navitha learn it’s better to compromise so each get some of what they want than to argue and no-one wins in the end.

S4 E4

Melissa is the most talented of all at painting, the children wonder where talents come from and why some people are good at some things and not at others. Mr Zee tells them a story, and they learn that they all have different talents, and that makes them special in their own way. The old story shows how a Meerkat gets a pot of talents to share with the world, but is selfish and wants to keep it all to himself. In his quest to hide it so no-one can find it, he inadvertently drops it and the talents spread themselves to all the animals in the bush.

S4 E5

Marcus is rude to everyone because he’s having a bad day, culminating in him hurting Josh’s feelings. Mr. Zee reads a story about Moji a friendly genet, who was a bit insensitive at times. Moji mocked her friends in good fun, but one day she gets into trouble and her friends have to help her using the very qualities she mocked. Marcus sees his mistake and apologises to Josh.

S4 E6

Pula breaks her arm on the day of her school’s big spelling competition. She believes she is an unbeatable and when she can’t defend her title she is upset. Mr. Zee tells her a story and she learns that no-one is good at everything or unbeatable. The story centers on a Lion who is a braggart who likes to scare and frighten the other animals, because he believes no creature in the jungle is stronger than him. The warthog challenges him that there is a creature stronger than him, it is revealed that the creature is Hunger. In the end, Lion has to admit that no animal is invincible.

S4 E7

Navitha and Pula have been chosen to play for the school soccer team. Melissa is hurt that she is not in the team and Mr. Zee decides to read them a story to cheer Melissa up. There was a chief who had two daughters, Inzelo was the best hunter in the village, the other, Lindiwe, was a very talented musician who played the harp. When the skies refused to rain, Inzelo had to go and battle the clouds but failed. When Lindiwe plays her music though, the clouds are moved to tears and it rains. Melissa learns to honour the talents she has rather than pine over the ones she doesn’t have.

S4 E8

Disappointed at having lost their first 5-on-a-side basketball game, Josh, Navitha, Melissa and Pula decide they should all play more like Marcus who was all over the ball. But Mr. Zee tells a story to explain the importance of working together as a team to achieve a goal. Vulture saw a gigantic forest fire coming toward a valley with only one entrance. The animals have to work together to beat the fire and save their home.

S4 E9

During practice, Pula gives up on the idea of athletics day and wishes school would disappear so that she didn’t have to compete. Mr. Zee tells a story about Jackal and Rabbit, who wished ‘Bush Camp’ would disappear, and it did! Jubilant, Jackal and Rabbit celebrate as they decided on all the fun things they could do now that Bush Camp had disappeared. But they soon realize that by wishing Bush Camp away, they had also wished away all their friends and so had no one to play with.

S4 E10

Navitha, Melissa, Josh and Marcus are playing, but a sad Pula doesn’t take part. They don’t notice that she’s upset as they go to the cellar for a story. Mr Zee is concerned and reads them a story. Thandi is tricked into believing an old tree is magic, by the chief’s mean daughters. When she goes to it, she meets an old woman from the tree. Thandi helps the old woman and she embellishes her with gifts due to her kindness. They learn that kindness means being attentive to your friends needs.

S4 E11

Melissa has a fear of getting her vaccinations. Mr. Zee offers a story to explain that courage is not the lack of fear but the control of fear. Vulture has an irrational fear of heights, and never leaves the lowest branch of the Morula Tree. But when his best friend gets caught in the crevice of a rock on top of a mountain, Vulture decides to face his fear, flies up and rescues his friend. Vulture is so happy that to this day he makes his home on Mountain tops. With the support of her friends, Pula decides that she will face her fear too.

S4 E12

Josh is bullied at school by bigger boys and Mr Zee teaches him and the children about handling a bully through a story. They learn that there’s no shame in telling the teacher / your parents / an adult. You don’t have to handle this on your own. In the folk tale, Meerkat, is bullied by the elephant and the hippo. So he arranges a tug of war, with each but instead of being at the other end of the rope he tricks them into pulling against each other – picking on someone their own size! Josh realizes the underlying message – that stories are not like real life and his best choice is to tell his teacher.

S4 E13

Pula and Melissa are at the tail-end of a run of the chicken pox, and when they can’t play outside their friends are disappointed. Mr. Zee offers a story in consolation. Giraffe (stiff neck), Vulture (broken wing) and Elephant (knotted trunk) go on a quest together to find the “Healing Rock” so that their ailments might be cured. On their journey they have to help each other with their remaining gifts and virtues to overcome obstacles. In the end they find the Healing Rock and they are all healed. The children learn that one has to support one’s friends when they are feeling sick.

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