FOLKTALES: PREDICTIONS OF EVENTS TODAY
Folktales and folksongs are traditional forms of oral literature in the African social community, created by the indigenous people, carved out of their history, beliefs, philosophy and culture; celebrated and preserved for posterity. The traditional African society preserves her customs, norms and mores in oral forms, and the beauty of the African culture portrayed in the artistry of storytelling is only but a tip of the iceberg.
Storytellers created stories and folksongs from cultures and historical experiences, legends and myths, which were often told, sung and danced during rituals, initiations, ceremonies and moonlight games. But the stories of obscure origin still remain the many stories of the “Tortoise and his antics”. The Tortoise folktales, created by traditional storytellers who still remain a mystery to this day, were created allegorically to predict an unequivocal series of events unfolding in the nation today.
These traditional storytellers could be compared to seers like Nostradamus and Nicolaas van Rensburg. Nostradamus, author of the famous “Centuries” predicted in his quatrains; wars, disasters and deaths – 9/11 U.S terrorist attacks, Hurricane Katrina, Iraq war, Princess Diana’s death and even went on to predict his own death, and also cursed the marauders from the French Revolution that he foresaw would desecrate his own burial tomb. Nicolaas van Rensburg predicted the use of electricity, massacre of six million Jews, the Chernobyl disaster, the rise and fall of Russia and the European Union – in the last two instances accurately describing the flags before they were designed.
The traditional storytellers predicted in their numerous tortoise tales major events unfolding in the nation today. Take these two for example:
The Tortoise and the Famine. Once upon a time, a terrible famine (State of the Nation’s Economy) swept through the Animal Kingdom, with even the fittest and strongest struggling to survive a square meal in two days. This famine however did not affect the Skies (United States, UK and other developed nations where most Nigerians would die to go, by road, by sea or even through pipelines). This posed a concern to the other animals, but they could only pray the drought would one day come to an end. But one animal, the tortoise, (that ‘Nigerian’ who wants to survive by hook or by crook) having done his homework, approached the birds when they came on a visit and begged for an invitation to the Skies. Each bird lent the tortoise a feather (Visa) and they flew away into the Skies. When they got there, the tortoise met a ‘Great Feast’ (Greener Pastures) and was desperately reluctant to return home. The feathers were forcefully retrieved and the
tortoise was ‘Thrown Down’ (deported) from the Skies.
This second analysis is more political. How the Tortoise won the Race. Once upon a time in the Animal Kingdom, the animals lived without a ‘king’ (President/Governor), then one day, the animals unanimously agreed to ‘choose’ (Elect) a king from a ‘Race Contest’ (Election). The aspirants; the Lion, Elephant, Rhinoceros, Eagle and the Tortoise (Political Parties – Logos) agreed the race would take place on land. On D-Day (Election Day), the majority rallied round their favourite candidate, the Lion, in full support. When the take-off horn sounded, the Lion took off in full speed, the Elephant and the Rhinoceros galloped, the Eagle hopped, stepped and jumped while the Tortoise crawled confidently from behind. On getting to the finish line (Counting of Votes), the Lion who was in the lead suddenly saw the Tortoise in front (Leading on Votes Counted) and putting more efforts would be useless as the Tortoise had already crossed the line (Been
Declared Winner). The animals felt defrauded and cheated, but they could not say or do anything (Nigerians who would accept any election results). But the Eagle (Law and Justice) led some ‘brave animals’ (Activists and Concerned Citizens) to protest against the race result. After series of investigations and uncovered facts of how the Tortoise fooled the animals (Rigged the Election) by placing another Tortoise at the finish line, the Tortoise and his cohorts were detained. The ‘crown’ (Mandate) was now given the rightfully deserved winner, the Lion. There seems to be true democracy in the Animal Kingdom than in the Human Kingdom.
These Tortoise stories and fables were celebrated by readers and the television audience (Story land, Tales by Moonlight on NTA) but the prophetic themes highlighted in the stories were overlooked. (I hope these ‘storytelling seers’ would forgive us for not heeding to their warnings). Meanwhile, one riddle still remains unsolved: why did these storytellers portray the Tortoise as a crafty and smart animal? Animal Planet listed ten most craftiest/smartest animals in this order:
10.Rat.
9. Octopus
8. Pigeon
7. Squirrel
6. Pig
5. Crow
4. Elephant
3. Orangutan
2. Dolphin
1. Chimpanzee.
The Tortoise was not even in the first twenty. Tortoises are renowned for their long life span; they could live more than a hundred and fifty years.
Conclusively, the storytellers may have sang their swansongs, they left us (This Generation) a momentarily glimpse of the future (The Present) that could have prevented the current challenges facing the nation today.
