Research work on folktales

Name: Lene Powei Ododomu

Matric no: 20/202ENG/174

Department: B.A English

State: Ondo

LGA: Ese Odo

Course code: ENL207

Course title: Oral literature

Subject: Assignment

                     QUESTION

 Folktales, typology, performer and performance and it's functions in your locality. Using at least ten folktales.

                   Defining Folktales

Telling or listening to a story is a way of entertainment and also passing the time. Stories can either be true or fictional, and they are a form of oral narratives. A narrative is prose that describes an event, people, places or animals. A narrative can also be referred to as a story, a tale, or a folktale. It is a story telling, which is also a form of oral tradition. Various cultures have their own stories passed from generation to generation, mainly through word of mouth. These stories are mostly referred to as folktales (i.e tales narrated to folks or people).

Folktales are stories in the oral tradition, or tales that people tell each other out loud rather than stories in written from. They are closely related to many storytelling traditions, including fables, myths, and fairy tales. They don't belong to anybody, i.e they have no author. They are told by the elders or people who have knowledge about the society. There is use of hyperbole or exaggeration in folktales. Most folktales are didactic in nature and sometimes, they look unbelievable.

         

                     Types of Folktales

Folktales can be classified into three: dilemma tales, moral tales and fairy tales.

Dilemma Tales: They are concluded by placing before the audience a puzzle of chokes, one of which must be taken in order to resolve the the conflict in the tale.

Moral Tales: They are easily distinguished by their overt features of didacticism. As moral laxity is condemned, moral rectitude is upheld very clearly children who are the primary or target audience of folktales are made to feel that if they nod the path of the anti-hero, they will suffer punishment the same way.

Fairy Tales: They are easily distinguished by their mode of characterization. Spirits, apparition and that cannot be found in the animal kingdom known to humans. Animals features greatly in such tales and are given human attributes. 

                    Functions of Folktales

( 1 ) Folktales deliver to children the                    traditional moral code, the taboos               and  totems and emphasize the                   repercussions of breaking them as we         find it in moral tales.

( 2 ) Folktales do expose children to the             traditional African view of life or                  African philosophy. This includes, the           creation of the universe and the                   forces   behind this, such as the                   supreme God and the primordial                  divinities, the spirits and the need for          men to relate to these forces in a                  particular manner.

( 3 ) Folktales promote our culture and                traditions 

( 4 ) They also entertain people

( 5 ) They share common history

            Performer and Performance

The Arogbo Ijaw people of Ondo state are proud of their well- oratorical skills. Their oral art has developed into the complex and sophisticated art form. These oratorical skills are usually channelled into artistic forms. Every homestead has it's performer in the rural countryside. Indeed, everyone is a potential performer and he or she does attempt to meet the standards of the art.

Folktales are complex productions, that the artists do not merely relate stories, rather they perform dramatic works of art before an audience. The terms, "dramatic art" and "performing art' seem more relevant and useful. New perspectives are necessary in approaching this rich and developed art-form . Analysis encompasses all elements of production and performance. They would not be based on written texts but the shadow of the verbal aspects of a complex form.

The Performer:  The performer is to be regarded as a creator of the art from than as a repetitor. Tales may be performed by anyone, however, even mean sometimes tell stories, and children like to tell their friends. The traditional performer is an actress who uses body movements, voice modulation and gestures to identify with the various characters, to become in turn a shy buck or aggressive lion and a self-satisfied jackal. The performer  becomes persuaded by the character's situation and their problems, feels and suggest the changes of their fate, struggles, suffers and rejoice together with them, as it were, he steps over from his worlds in theirs. The narrator treats his or her audience with respect.

The Arogbo Ijaw women of Ondo state often works all day in the fields (fishing ), spends hours preparing food and constructing the walls of her home. She is the single and most important influence in the lives of her young children and she overseas most of the work that is done in her homestead. The name women can also be a highly talented artist. The women is capable of creating a work of the imagination within a short time that is original and colorful, often complex and always rhythmical. Her stage is the center of a roundavel-type home, her audience the immediate members of her family or intimate friends. With her own body and voice, she brings into tension and balance every stylistic  device she commands: music, vocal dramatics with a combination of imagination, intellectual insight and a quest for creativity and originality.

The Performance:  A folktale performance is the meeting point of two parallel words: the real and the fantastic. When representatives of the fantastic world enter the world of human experience they may act either as helpers in re-establishing  the disrupted harmony (a disorder which was the origin of the harmony and breakers of human relationships.

A work of art is a combination of tensions and resolutions, balance and unbalance, rhythmic coherence and continuous unity. Life is a natural process of such tensions, balances and rhythmic such a combination characterizes the performance.

A folktale is usually traditional narrated in the evening, after the daily chores have been completed, which the family relaxes  and children are gradually getting ready to go to sleep. The time of delivery is an important cultural factors.

                Some Folktales of Ijaw

                 The three Maiden

Once upon a time, there lived three maidens namely; Ebiere, Duba and Tari who embarked on a journey to a kingdom for bride selection by the prince, with Ijaw local canoe where Ebiere was sitting at the front sit.

The maidens got to a village where the villagers came out and admired Ebiere that she is the most beautiful one among them. Ebiere smiled and thanked but this put  her under the watch of hatred  by the two friends. The two friends became jealous and changed her position to the second sit of the canoe and continue their journey.

However, they got to another village and in the same way the villagers came out and admired Ebiere. But this geared the anger of the two friends, so they changed her position to middle sit thinking that she will not be noticed and then continue their journey. 

Also, they got to the third village which is next to the kingdom and the villagers came out and admired Ebiere in same way. To avoid being rejected by the prince in the bride selection, the two friends deceived Ebiere and left her in a lonely forest where nobody live except spirits. She waited thinking that they will return to carry her, but she couldn't get their return.

At night, she will be hearing voices in the lonely forest and looks around but find no one. Then in the morning, she saw a rodent passing and started singing:

Apia apia

(rodent rodent)

 wari mukumo oo

( don't go to your house)

Sese tiye timi egberipoi

(please stop and listen to a story)

Apia apia

(rodent rodent)

wari mukumo oo

( don't go to your house)

Sese tiye timi egberipoi

(please stop and listen to a story)

Duinmara brike ebia

(the maiden sitting at the back is wicked)

Ikulara birike ebia

(the maiden sitting at the front is wicked)

Onee ko ba warimute

(they killed me and left home)

Onee ko ba warimute

(the killed me and left home)

Immediately the rodent heard the song, he stopped and decided to carry her home. They arrived to the kingdom on the day of the bride selection. Then she thanked the rodent and he left.

The wo friends were called to dance before the prince for selection including other maidens, but he rejected them all. Surprisingly, he saw Ebiere standing at the back of the congregation where she supposed not to be noticed. So he ordered one of his guard to bring her before him and put the royal chain on her to mark the choosen one 

Ebiere narrated how she was abandoned by the two friends because of jealous. So they were  sentenced to death by buring them alive in Ogugu forest.

-the performer of the above folktale was grandma and she was given facial expression,  body movement and gestures while singing the song.

        The Tortoise and the Akara Girl

Once upon a time, there lived a girl named Woyin who hawk akara in the village. She likes play and Tortoise knows this habit of her. So one day, he arranged a group of singers and started performing on the road side where Woyin usually pass to sell.

They sing:

Alakara lol gbaran

toro mini

toro mini

Eli nu mo ko ja

toro mini 

toro mini

Alakara lo gbaran

toro mini

toro mini

When Woyin heard the song, she dumb the akara in a corner and started dancing. So Tortoise used the opportunity to steal all the akara that she was selling. 

When Woyin discovered that she has been robbed, she went home crying with empty tray. She narrated the story to her parents, so they decided to follow her to sell. 

In the following day, Woyin and her mother fried two trays of akara and go out to sell with the father and one police man. But when they got to the place where Tortoise and his  musical band plays, the police man and the father be the first persons to dance before Woyin and her mother joined. So Tortoise went and carried everything. 

After they discovered that they have been robbed also, they went home and had a plan of bringing a deaf police. They brought the deaf  police man to the place where Tortoise and his musical band plays. They even came with four trays of akara to attract the unknown thief. So when Tortoise saw them,  he started laughing and energized his musical band to sing more.

When all of them were dancing, Tortoise went and put hand on one of the tray but was arrested by the deaf policeman who did not know what was going on. He was brought to the court and sentenced to death by hanging.

Why the Sun and the Moon live in the Sky Many years ago, the sun and water were great friends, and they both lived on the earth together. The sun very often used to visit the water, but the water never returned the visits.

At last the sun asked the water why he never visited. The water replied that the sun's house was not big enough, and that if he came with all his people, he would drive the sun out of his home.

The water then said, "If you want me to visit you, you will have to build a very large house. But I warn you that it will have to be very large, as my people are numerous and take up a lot of room".

The sun promised to build a very large house, and soon afterwards, he returned home to his wife, the moon, who greeted him with a broad smile.

The sun told the moon what he had promised the water, and the next day, they began building a large house to entertain the water and all his people.

When it was completed, the sun asked the water to come and visit him.

When the water arrived, one of his people called out to the sun, and asked him whether it would be safe for the water to enter, and the sun answered, "Yes, tell my friend to come in."

The water began to flow in, followed by the fish and all the other water animals.

Very soon, the water was knee-deep in the house, so he asked the sun if it was still safe, and the sun again said, "Yes," so more of them came in.

When the water was at the level of a man's head, the water said to the sun, "Do you want more of my people to come?"

Not knowing any better, the sun and the moon both said, "Yes,". More and more of the water's people came in, until the sun and the moon had to sit on top of the roof.

The water once again asked the sun if it was still okay to keep coming in. The sun and moon answered yes, so more and more of the water's people came in.

The water soon overflowed the top of the roof, and the sun and the moon were forced to go up into the sky.

...and they have been there ever since.

                 The Leopard Man

A handsome stranger once came into a certain village and strolled about among the people in mysterious silence. All the maidens admired him and wished that he would choose one of them for his bride. But he said nothing, and at last walked away into the forest and disappeared from sight.

A month later the stranger came again, and this time one of the maidens fell so much in love with him that she resolved to follow him into the forest, as she could not bear to be separated from him.

When the stranger looked back and saw her coming behind him, he stopped, and begged her to return home; but she would not, and exclaimed, "I will never leave you, and wherever you go, I will follow."

"Beautiful maiden, you will regret it," replied the stranger sadly, as he hurried on.

After a while he stopped again, and once more begged her to retrace her steps. But she made the same reply, and again the handsome stranger said in sorrowful tones, "You will regret it, beautiful maiden!"

They went far into the depths of the forest, and at length reached a tree at the foot of which there lay a leopard skin.

Standing under the tree, the stranger began to sing a melancholy song, in which he told her that though he was allowed once a month to wander about in villages and towns like a man, he was in reality a savage leopard and would rend her in pieces as soon as he regained his natural form.

With these words he flung himself upon the ground, and immediately become a snarling leopard and began to pursue the terrified girl.

But fear gave such speed to her feet that he could not overtake her. As he pursued her he sang that he would tear her in small pieces, and she in another song replied that he would never overtake her.

For a great distance they ran, and then the maiden suddenly came to a deep but narrow river, which she could not cross. It seemed as if the leopard would catch her after all. But a tree, which stood on the riverbank, took pity on her and fell across the river, so that she was able to cross.

At last, nearly exhausted, she came to the edge of the forest and reached the village in safety. The leopard, disappointed of its prey, slunk back into the forest, and the handsome stranger was never seen again.

           

             The Man who never Lies

Once upon a time there lived a wise man by the name of Mamad. He never lied. All the people in the land, even the ones who lived twenty days away, knew about him.

The king heard about Mamad and ordered his subjects to bring him to the palace. He looked at the wise man and asked:

" Mamad, is it true, that you have never lied?"

" It's true."

"And you will never lie in your life?"

" I'm sure in that."

"Okay, tell the truth, but be careful! The lie is cunning and it gets on your tongue easily."

Several days passed and the king called Mamad once again. There was a big crowd: the king was about to go hunting. The king held his horse by the mane, his left foot was already on the stirrup. He ordered Mamad:

"Go to my summer palace and tell the queen I will be with her for lunch. Tell her to prepare a big feast. You will have lunch with me then."

Mamad bowed down and went to the queen. Then the king laughed and said:

"We won't go hunting and now Mamad will lie to the queen. Tomorrow we will laugh on his behalf."

But the wise Mamad went to the palace and said:

"Maybe you should prepare a big feast for lunch tomorrow, and maybe you shouldn't. Maybe the king will come by noon, and maybe he won't."

"Tell me will he come, or won't he?" - asked the queen.

"I don't know weather he put his right foot on the stirrup, or he put his left foot on the ground after I left."

Everybody waited for the king. He came the next day and said to the queen:

"The wise Mamad, who never lies, lied to you yesterday."

But the queen told him about the words of Mamad. And the king realized, that the wise man never lies, and says only that, which he saw with his own eyes.

        The Grasshopper and the Toad

Grasshopper and Toad appeared to be good friends. People always saw them together. Yet they had never dined at each other's houses. One day Toad said to Grasshopper, "Dear friend, tomorrow come and dine at my house. My wife and I will prepare a special meal. We will eat it together."

The next day Grasshopper arrived at Toad's house. Before sitting down to eat, Toad washed his forelegs, and invited Grasshopper to do the same. Grasshopper did so, and it made a loud noise.

"Friend Grasshopper, can't you leave your chirping behind. I cannot eat with such a noise," said Toad.

Grasshopper tried to eat without rubbing his forelegs together, but it was impossible. Each time he gave a chirp, Toad complained and asked him to be quiet. Grasshopper was angry and could not eat. Finally, he said to Toad: "I invite you to my house for dinner, tomorrow."

The next day, Toad arrived at Grasshopper's home. As soon as the meal was ready, Grasshopper washed his forelegs, and invited Toad to do the same. Toad did so, and then hopped toward the food.

"You had better go back and wash again," said Grasshopper. "All that hopping in the dirt has made your forelegs dirty again."

Toad hopped back to the water jar, washed again, then hopped back to the table, and was ready to reach out for some food from one of the platters when Grasshopper stopped him: "Please dorit put your dirty paws into the food. Go and wash them again."

Toad was furious. "You just don't want me to eat with you!" he cried. "You know very well that I must use my paws and forelegs in hopping about. I cannot help it if they get a bit dirty between the water jar and the table."

Grasshopper responded, "You are the one who started it yesterday. You know I cannot rub my forelegs together without making a noise."

From then on, they were no longer friends.

Moral: If you wish to have true friendship with someone, learn to accept each other's faults, as well as each other's good qualities.

Why the Warthog Goes about on His Knees

"Oh, Gogo," little Sipho asked one evening, "could you tell us the story of clever Jackal again?" Sipho, whose nickname was Mpungushe "jackal," never tired of hearing tales of his beloved namesake.

"Hawu, Sipho," moaned several of his siblings, "Not again, little Jackal! You will wear out our ears with stories of Mpungushe!"

Gogo laughed her deep, round laugh. Soon each of her grandchildren were laughing along with her.

"I, too, love the stories of the Jackal!" Gogo looked at Sipho. "But we do not want to cause your brothers and sisters to become deaf. I think there is another tale that I can tell you of an animal who tried to be as clever as Jackal!"

Kwasuka sukela . . .

Wart hog had made himself a lovely, spacious home in an old termite mound that an aardvark* had cleared out. He had built it up and made a wide entrance. He thought it was the most magnificant home in Africa and would often stand at the entrance of his dwelling with his snout in the air as the giraffe, wildebeest** and zebra passed to the watering hole. "Hah," he thought to himself, "no one has such a fine home!"

One day as he looked out from the entrance of his cave he was horrified to see a huge lion stealthily stalking toward him. He started to back away, but because he had made the entrance to his place so grand, the lion would have no difficulty in following Wart Hog right in. "Ahhhh," panicked Wart Hog, "Bhubesi will eat me in my own lounge! What will I do?"

Wart Hog decided to use an old trick he'd heard Jackal bragging about. Wart Hog pretended to be supporting the roof of his hole with his strong back, pushing up with his tusks. "Help!" he cried to the lion, "I am going to be crushed! The roof is caving in! Flee, oh, mighty Bhubesi, before you are crushed along with me!"

Now Lion is no fool. He recognized Jackal's old ploy straight away ("Do you remember that story, children?"), and he wasn't going to be caught out again. He roared so fiercely that Wart hog dropped to his knees, trembling. Wart hog begged for mercy. Luckily for him Lion was not too hungry. So he pardoned the wart hog and left, saying, "Stay on your kness, you foolish beast!"

Lion laughed to himself and shook his shaggy head as he walked away. Imagine, slow-witted Wart hog trying to copy Jackal's trick! Wart hog took Lion's order to heart. That is why, to this day, you will see Wart hog feeding on his knees, in a very undignified position, with his bottom up in the air and his snout snuffling in the dust.

Why the Cheetah's Cheeks are Stained

Long ago a wicked and lazy hunter was sitting under a tree. He was thinking that it was too hot to be bothered with the arduous task of stalking prey through the bushes. Below him in the clearing on the grassy veld there were fat springbok grazing. But this hunter couldn't be bothered, so lazy was he! He gazed at the herd, wishing that he could have the meat without the work, when suddenly he noticed a movement off to the left of the buck. It was a female cheetah seeking food. Keeping downwind of the herd, she moved closer and closer to them. She singled out a springbok who had foolishly wandered away from the rest. Suddenly she gathered her long legs under her and sprang forward. With great speed she came upon the springbok and brought it down. Startled, the rest of the herd raced away as the cheetah quickly killed her prey.

The hunter watched as the cheetah dragged her prize to some shade on the edge of the clearing. There three beautiful cheetah cubs were waiting there for her. The lazy hunter was filled with envy for the cubs and wished that he could have such a good hunter provide for him. Imagine dining on delicious meat every day without having to do the actual hunting! Then he had a wicked idea. He decided that he would steal one of the cheetah cubs and train it to hunt for him. He decided to wait until the mother cheetah went to the waterhole late in the afternoon to make his move. He smiled to himself.

When the sun began to set, the cheetah left her cubs concealed in a bush and set off to the waterhole. Quickly the hunter grabbed his spear and trotted down to the bushes where the cubs were hidden. There he found the three cubs, still to young to be frightened of him or to run away. He first chose one, then decided upon another, and then changed his mind again. Finally he stole them all, thinking to himself that three cheetahs would undoubtedly be better than one.

When their mother returned half-an-hour later and found her babies gone, she was broken-hearted. The poor mother cheetah cried and cried until her tears made dark stains down her cheeks. She wept all night and into the next day. She cried so loudly that she was heard by an old man who came to see what the noise was all about.

Now this old man was wise and knew the ways of the animals. When he discovered what the wicked hunter had done, he became very angry. The lazy hunter was not only a thief, he had broken the traditions of the tribe. Everyone knew that a hunter must use only his own strength and skill. Any other way of hunting was surely a dishonour.

The old man returned to the village and told the elders what has happened. The villagers became angry. They found the lazy hunter and drove him away from the village. The old man took the three cheetah cubs back to their grateful mother. But the long weeping of the mother cheetah stained her face forever. Today the cheetah wears the tearstains on its face as a reminder to the hunters that it is not honourable to hunt in any other way than that which is traditional.

                        Lion and Jackal

The Lion and the Jackal agreed to hunt on shares, for the purpose of laying in a stock of meat for the winter months for their families.

As the Lion was by far the more expert hunter of the two, the Jackal suggested that he (himself) should be employed in transporting the game to their dens, and that Mrs. Jackal and the little Jackals should prepare and dry the meat, adding that they would take care that Mrs. Lion and her family should not want.

This was agreed to by the Lion, and the hunt commenced.

After a very successful hunt, which lasted for some time, the Lion returned to see his family, and also to enjoy, as he thought, a plentiful supply of his spoil; when, to his utter surprise, he found Mrs. Lion and all the young Lions on the point of death from sheer hunger, and in a mangy state. The Jackal, it appeared, had only given them a few entrails of the game, and in such limited quantities as barely to keep them alive; always telling them that they (i. e., the Lion and himself) had been most unsuccessful in their hunting; while his own family was reveling in abundance, and each member of it was sleek and fat.

This was too much for the Lion to bear. He immediately started off in a terrible fury, vowing certain death to the Jackal and all his family, wherever he should meet them. The Jackal was more or less prepared for a storm, and had taken the precaution to remove all his belongings to the top of a krantz (i. e., a cliff), accessible only by a most difficult and circuitous path, which he alone knew.

When the Lion saw him on the krantz, the Jackal immediately greeted him by calling out,

Good morning, Uncle Lion."

"How dare you call me uncle, you impudent scoundrel," roared out the Lion, in a voice of thunder," after the way in which you have behaved to my family?"

"Oh, Uncle! How shall I explain matters? That beast of a wife of mine!" Whack, whack was heard, as he beat with a stick on dry hide, which was a mere pretence for Mrs. Jackal's back; while that lady was preinstructed to scream whenever he operated on the hide, which she did with a vengeance, joined by the little Jackals, who set up a most doleful chorus. "That wretch!" said the Jackal. "It is all her doing. I shall kill her straight off," and away he again belabored the hide, while his wife and children uttered such a dismal howl that the Lion begged of him to leave off flogging his wife. After cooling down a little, he invited Uncle Lion to come up and have something to eat. The Lion, after several ineffectual attempts to scale the precipice, had to give it up.

The Jackal, always ready for emergencies, suggested that a reim should be lowered to haul up his uncle. This was agreed to, and when the Lion was drawn about halfway up by the whole family of Jackals, the reim was cleverly cut, and down went the Lion with a tremendous crash which hurt him very much. Upon this, the Jackal again performed upon the hide with tremendous force, for their daring to give him such a rotten reim, and Mrs. Jackal and the little ones responded with some fearful screams and yells. He then called loudly out to his wife for a strong buffalo reim which would support any weight. This again was lowered and fastened to the Lion, when all bands pulled away at their uncle; and, just when he had reached so far that he could look over the precipice into the pots to see all the fat meat cooking, and all the biltongs hanging out to dry, the reim was again cut, and the poor Lion fell with such force that he was fairly stunned for some time. After the Lion had recovered his senses, the Jackal, in a most sympathizing tone, suggested that he was afraid that it was of no use to attempt to haul him up onto the precipice, and recommended, instead, that a nice fat piece of eland's breast be roasted and dropped into the Lion's mouth. The Lion, half famished with hunger, and much bruised, readily accepted the offer, and sat eagerly awaiting the fat morsel.

In the mean time, the Jackal had a round stone made red-hot, and wrapped a quantity of inside fat, or suet, round it, to make it appear like a ball of fat. When the Lion saw it held out, he opened his capacious mouth to the utmost extent, and the wily Jackal cleverly dropped the hot ball right into it, which ran through the poor old beast, killing him on the spot.

It need hardly be told that there was great rejoicing on the precipice that night.

             The Red and Blue Coat

Once there were two boys who were great friends, and they were determined to remain that way forever. When they grew up and got married, they built their houses facing one another. There was a small path that formed a border between their farms.

One day, a trickster from the village decided to play a trick on them. He dressed himself in a two-color coat that was divided down the middle. So, one side of the coat was red, and the other side was blue.

The trickster wore this coat and walked along the narrow path between the houses of the two friends. They were each working opposite each other in their fields. The trickster made enough noise as he passed them to make sure that each of them would look up and see him passing.

At the end of the day, one friend said to the other, "Wasn't that a beautiful red coat that man was wearing today?"

"No", the other replied. "It was a blue coat."

"I saw the man clearly as he walked between us!" said the first, "His coat was red."

"You are wrong!" said the other man, "I saw it too, and it was blue."

"I know what I saw!" insisted the first man. "The coat was red!"

"You don't know anything," the second man replied angrily. "It was blue!"

They kept arguing about this over and over, insulted each other, and eventually, they began to beat each other and roll around on the ground.

Just then, the trickster returned and faced the two men, who were punching and kicking each other and shouting, "Our friendship is OVER!"

The trickster walked directly in front of them, and showed them his coat. He laughed at their silly fight. The two friends saw this his coat was red on one side and blue on the other.

The two friends stopped fighting and screamed at the trickster saying, "We have lived side by side like brothers all our lives, and it is all your fault that we are fighting. You have started a war between us."

"Don't blame me for the battle," replied the trickster. "I did not make you fight. Both of you are wrong, and both of you are right. Yes, what each one saw was true. You are fighting because you only looked at my coat from your own point of view."