But he kept them aside as adolescent fantasy and kept on with the business of living his life. But then in faraway France, where he lives with his wife and daughter, he suddenly remembered. His daughter’s fifth birthday was coming and he needed a unique present for her. His daughter not having visited Nigeria before, and with a French wife, he felt presenting his daughter with uniquely Nigerian folk tales would be a nice way to introduce her to her father’s country.
According to Adams; “My book was written as a gift for my daughter’s fifth birthday. I thought, ‘what would I give to this girl that would be memorable?’ So, I picked up one of these stories. “I wrote the stories when I was in secondary school, perfected it when I was at Yabatech and finalised it two years ago. It took me 30 years to publish the stories. I still have lots of stories. I have a pile and I kept travelling with them. I hope I can get myself to bringing out another book. I wrote these collections of stories and I kept them since JSS1; that was in 1986. I think I finished this particular collection in 1989.
Adams confessed that he didn’t want to obey his editor. But he did eventually and the best is the better for the result of that character change.