folktales by eguriase s. m. okaka

Folktales

By Eguriase S. M. Okaka Types of Prose: Folktales Human beings love telling stories and had been doing so long before the advent of writing. Our forefathers used folktales to entertain themselves and the younger generation after a day’s work. Folktales were also used to keep records of history of their communities and to teach morals to the younger ones. Today, even with the advent of writing, folktales are still serving the same purposes. Many of them have been documented and you can now enjoy them even without your grandparents telling them to you. Every society has its own folktales, African and Non-African. The themes are almost the same and they serve the same purposes. Some have human characters while some have animal characters. Below are examples of African and non-African folktales. Features of Folktales • Didactic: Folktales teach moral lesson to children and adults, Africans and non-Africans. The story of the cunning tortoise below, for example, teaches people not to tell lies and also not to be lazy and cunning, while the story of the Cow’s Head teaches that kindness and hard work are good and are rewarded. • Entertainment: In both African and non-African societies, folktales serve as means of entertainment. Grandparents as well as parents tell their children folktales for entertainment, especially in the evening. In African society, the elders tell their children folktales by moonlight and they relax with these after a hard day work. • Magical: Folktales can be exciting in strange ways. The characters in folktales can do things that seem impossible in real life in the story of the cunning tortoise, for example, the animals dug a well for themselves and in the story of the Cow’s Head, the Cow Head itself, the gift it brought, the gift’s ability to stay one night alone in the woods strange. African Folktale The Cunning Tortoise Once upon a time in a faraway land ruled by animals and referred to as Animal Kingdom, there was scarcity of water. All the animals came to together to decide on what to do. Mr. Lion was their king and he was well respected by all the animals. The animals decided to dig a very deep well so that they could get water from the earth. The king decided that it would not be the work of only the servants and slaves but of the whole Animal Kingdom. It was agreed by all that the digging of the well would be in the evenings after the day’s farm work. Mr. Parrot, the town crier, was appointed to announce to the whole Animal Kingdom the day the work would commence. When the appointed day came, Mr. Parrot informed all the animals. Everyone gathered at the village square where the well was to be dug but Mr. Tortoise was missing. All the animals except Mr. Tortoise worked tirelessly till it was dark. After the day’s work, two animals, Mr. Rat and Mr. Cat, were sent to Mr. Tortoise’s house, to find out if he was really sick, as he said. Mr. Rat secretly climbed into Mr. Tortoise’s roof because he suspected foul play while Mr. Cat went into his house to see him. When Mr. Tortoise saw Mr. Cat, he pretended to be sick. Mr. Cat sympathized with him and left. When Mr. Tortoise felt he had gone far away from the house he started laughing and said, ‘This is a kingdom of fools’. He did not know that Mr. Rat was hiding in the roof of his house. When Mr. Rat heard this, he quietly got down from the roof and went and reported his findings to the king. Mr. Lion called a meeting of the animal kingdom excluding Mr. Tortoise. There they decided to send another delegate to investigate Mr. Rat’s report. It was agreed by all that if Mr. Tortoise was fooling them, he would be denied the opportunity to drink water from the well and would finally be killed since it is a law in the Animal Kingdom that anyone who stole or lied would be killed. Mr. Wall Gecko was chosen this time to go and confirm Mr. Rat’s findings. He sneaked into Mr. Tortoise’s house and found that he was hale and hearty. He reported his findings to the king. The animals decided that Mr. Dog should keep watch over the well so as to prevent Mr. Tortoise from drawing water from it. The third day, after the well was dug, Mr. Tortoise, was thirsty and hungry, walked secretly in the night to the well to draw water. He did not know that Mr. Dog was there. Mr. Dog saw him and started barking and howling. Mr. Tortoise pleaded with him to allow him to draw water in return for some farm produce. Mr. Dog refused and instead took him to the king. He was detained and later killed to serve as a lesson to other animals. Non-African Folktale: An American Folktale Cow’s Head Oksana lived in a small house on the edge of the town with her father, her stepmother and her stepsister. Oksana’s stepmother disliked Oksana, but favored her own daughter, Olena. Soon after father’s remarriage, Oksana found that all the housework was left for her to do while Olena idled her days away. Oksana’s father was timid man and could not bring himself to defy his wife. So Oksana wore Olena’s cast-off clothes, and her hands grew red and chapped from scrubbing in the cold, while Olena attended parties, growing lazy and spoiled. One year, when the winter snows were particular severe, Oksana’s family ran out of money. Oksana’s stepmother began nagging her husband to send Oksana away, because they could not afford to keep two girls. Reluctantly, Oksana’s father agreed. He took Oksana to a cottage deep in the woods and left her there. Oksana was very frightened. The woods were said to be filled with demons and monsters. But Oksana was also practical. She entered the cottage with her bundle and found a fire-place, a lopsided table, and a rusty old pot. Oksana put away the loaf of bread, the knife and the slab of cheese that her father had given her. She folded the blanket and laid it near the fire-place. Then she collected wood built a fire. Oksana knew the bread and cheese would not last her all winter. So she made a snare. Using the thin, flexible branches of the trees, she caught a snow rabbit to eat. She also dug under the deep snow and found some roots and berries for food. By dark, she melted water for drinking and used the rest to make a stew. She ate well, then she lay down near the fire for the night, listening to the wind howling and pretending to herself that she was not frighten of the woods. Then at midnight, there was a knock. Knock! Knock!! Knock!!! It echoed hollowly through the dark cottage. Oksana woke with a stare, her heart pounding in fear. She thought of the monsters. She had under her blanket praying the thing would go away, but it didn’t. The knocking continued. She rose, took a stick and swung the door open. There was nothing there. Her heart pounded fiercely then she looked down. She let out a shriek of terror and leapt back, dropping her stick. It was a demon, an evil spirit. ’Who are you?’ Oksana stuttered, clutching the door with shaking hands. ‘I am Cow’s Head’, it replied. She saw at once that it was so. The head was brown, with curved burns and strange, haunted eyes. ‘I am cold and hungry. May I sleep by your fire? The Cow’s Head asked. Its voice was cold and lifeless. ‘Of course,’ she said. ‘Lift me over the threshold’, demanded the Cow’s Head hollowly. Oksana did as she was bidden. It asked to be placed near the fire. Oksana did so. Thereafter, it asked her food. Oksana thought of her meager food supply. The stew left in the pot was for her breakfast. She fed it to Cow’s Head. Oksana gave it her blanket and slept in a cold corner with only her cloak to keep her warm. When she woke up in the morning, the Cow’s Head was gone. Where it had slept was a large trunk, filled with the beautiful gowns she had ever seen. Under the gowns lay heaps of gold and jewels. Oksana stared blankly at the riches in front of her. Her father’s voice roused her. ‘Daughter I have come.’ She forgot the trunk in her joy. She ran into his arms. He had defied her stepmother to come and bring her back to their home. She took her father in and showed him the trunk. Her father took her home and she was honored in her town for her bravery, and she took won scores of suitors. She married soon after her return from the cottage. Hearing Oksana’s story and seeing the riches she had received, Olena went to the cottage in the forest and spent the night there. But when the Cow’s Head appeared, she was too lazy to serve it. In the morning, all her gowns had turned to rags and her possession to dust. But Oksana lived to ripe old age in happiness. By S. T. Schlosser