African Folktales: Importance, Commonalities

& Changes
Folktales
Can you recall what your favorite bedtime story was as a child, or who your
most-loved cartoon character was? I certainly do. As far back as I can
remember, Bugs Bunny and Elmer Fudd's silly antics have always made me
laugh. However it wasn't until I was seven years-old when my mother gave me
a book, titled Anansi the Spider: A Tale From The Ashanti, that a character
made me think deeply. I was completely unaware that what I had received
was a folktale, a story that is part of a people's oral tradition and is shared
from parents to their children. Soon I learned that the Ashanti people were
from Ghana, a country in West Africa. My book was an African folktale, a
timeless, anonymous tale circulated orally among African people, meant to
hand down significant knowledge and wisdom from one generation to the
next. In this lesson, we'll look at how African folktales have changed over
time and share many characteristics.

Characteristics of African Folktales

African folktales, also known as myths, are believed to have the power to
hold the community together: the ancestors, the living, and those not yet
born. They serve to
communicate traditions, customs, lessons and morals to the young in
preparation of life's obstacles. Traditionally, adults passed these stories down
by word of mouth to the children while gathered around a village fire, under
moonlight. This practice is known as Tales by Moonlight. In most cases, the
story line goes like this: The protagonist, or main character, is overzealous,
jovial, and kind, but has a major flaw such as greed, pride and naivety. These
shortcomings soon become weaknesses and are exploited by the antagonist,
or main adversary, a trickster, who more often than not leads the protagonist
to his demise.

Along with a clear moral of the story, African folktales also commonly
use personification, which is when an author gives inanimate things, animals,
and nature human characteristics. In African folktales, there are many diverse
types of animals specific to each culture, demonstrating such virtues as
generosity, tolerance, honesty and many others. The last major commonality
among African folktales that we will cover is setting, where the story takes
place. Instead of a particular location, African folktales take place in a very
general location that exposes readers to the climate and various land forms in
Africa, often making reference to the seasons, dry and rainy, and the effect on
vegetation. Now let's take a look at an example of an African folktale.
Example Folktale
A great example of this can be found in the Zimbabwean Ndebele tale, 'When
Hippo Was Hairy.' As the story goes: long, long ago the Hippopotamus had a
very beautiful coat of glossy, chestnut-brown hair, soft ears and a beautiful
bushy tail. His looks made him very vain and conceded. In his vanity, he would
look down upon the appearances of his fellow animals. Unfortunately, one day
the Hare overhead the hippo talking about him like this and decided to teach
the hippo a lesson on humility. The hare devised a plan to destroy the hippo's
beautiful reflection by tricking the hippo into believing that - out of respect for
his beauty - the hare had collected a pile of soft, dry grass just for the hippo to
sleep on under a large umbrella tree. The hippo accepted the gift and laid in
the bed. After a short trip to a nearby village, the hare returned with glowing
embers and threw them onto the hippo's new bed. Soon, the hippo felt so
much burning pain on his skin that he ran into a pool of cool water for relief,
which is where he stayed. Today, still proud and vain at heart, this is why the
hippo has no hair and stays in the water where no one can see him, except for
at night of course.
How African Folktales Have Changed Over
Time
Over time, in order to give a fuller version of the story, many African folktales
have been extended. Though others have become completely modified
renditions. Other forms of literature, such as narratives and fiction, have also
been influenced by these stories. In addition they have been turned into songs
or chants for memorization, and recreated by enslaved Africans who added
patting and rapping, which would later be known as 'pattin' jumba.'

Lesson Summary
Now let's recap. African folktales are timeless and anonymous tales that
are often told to the young, like a bedtime story, in order to hand down
cultural knowledge and wisdom from one generation to the next. Folktales are
also known as myths, and in these the main character often lacks the virtues
needed to live a trouble-free life. Thus these weakness are used against him
by the antagonist, a trickster, to his doom. Among African folktales there are
three main commonalities: a strong moral to the story, personification of
animals and nature, and a very general setting. Over time, changes to the
stories have resulted in their expansion and reinterpretation by some
authors. Though, who could forget a tale about a vain hippopotamus?