The Significance of Folktales, Myths, and Legends in Effort to Revive the Present Social Moral Decadence in Nigeria today

Introduction:

Folktales, myths, and legends are special modes of oral literature for transmission of culture, norms and values of society. In this paper, it will be of prime importance to explain briefly their conceptual meanings, and then expound their significance in helping to revive our nation from social moral decadence.

Folktales:

The folktale, strictly defined, is a short narrative in prose of unknown authorship which has been transmitted orally; many of these tales eventually achieve written form. The term, however, is often extended to include stories invented by a known author—such as “The Three Bears” by Robert Southey (1774–1843) and Parson Mason L. Weems’ story of George Washington and the cherry tree —which have been picked up and repeatedly narrated by word of mouth as well as in written form. Folktales are found among peoples everywhere in the world. They include myths, fables, tales of heroes and fairy tales.  Another type of folk tale, the set “joke”—that is, the comic (often bawdy) anecdote—is the most abundant and persistent of all; new jokes, or new versions of old jokes, continue to be a staple of social exchange, wherever people congregate in a relaxed mood.

Myths: 

In classical Greek, “mythos” signified any story or plot, whether true or invented. In its central modern significance, however, a myth is one story in a mythology—a system of hereditary stories of ancient origin which were once believed to be true by a particular cultural group, and which served to explain (in terms of the intentions and actions of deities and other supernatural beings) why the world is as it is and things happen as they do, to provide a rationale for social customs and observances, and to establish the sanctions for the rules by which people conduct their lives.  If the protagonist is a human being rather than a supernatural being, the traditional story is usually called not a myth but a legend. If the hereditary story concerns supernatural beings who are not gods, and the story is not part of a systematic mythology, it is usually classified as a folktale.

Legends:

Legend is a genre of folklore that consists of a narrative featuring human actions perceived or believed both by teller and listeners to have taken place within human history. Narratives in this genre may demonstrate human values, and possess certain qualities that give the tale verisimilitude. Legend, for its active and passive participants, includes no happenings that are outside the realm of "possibility," but may include miracles. Legends may be transformed over time, in order to keep them fresh, vital, and realistic. Many legends operate within the realm of uncertainty, never being entirely believed by the participants, but also never being resolutely doubted.

Significance of folktales, myths, and legends in reviving our nation from social moral decadence.

Folktales, myths and legends are very significant in oral traditions. They feature supernatural beings and people to illustrate the origin of a particular nation, and the cause of human existence. In most cases, animals are deployed to show human virtues and vices, in which the good behaved figures are praised and elevated while the wicked are punished in order to bring reform of moral degradation. This is, of course, one of the most significant contributions of such oral narratives in society.

In our world of reality, there are absolutely some mistakes we make, and reading of these forms of oral literature would help to curb our human errors. For instance, when one reads “The Foolish Friend”, (from the Panchatantra book),  a folktale, one would know that it is quite dangerous for someone to choose a fool to be his friend. This is because, in the story, the King entrusted his foolish friend, empowered him with a sword thinking that his friend would save him from some danger, instead, in the course of saving the King from swarming bees, the foolish friend murdered him with the sword. This wicked and foolish friend was blamed by everyone who heard about what happened to the King. This story is structured in a way that we ought to be bold to say that evil is evil, and shun it. If our political leaders would stop to empower foolish youths with guns, Nigeria would be a better place to live, a place where terrorism is banned. Also, in the working sectors, the story is emphasising the danger in employing inexperienced and unqualified applicants who are capable of messing everything up.

Also, the story of “Hansel and Gretel”, entails how the moral decadence in our country could be minimized. This story is about two children of a poor commoner, who are kidnapped, and fed by a witch with the intention of putting them on an oven for food. As the witch was checking her oven to make sure that the oven is very hot, Hansel pushed her in, and the two children escaped. Nigeria has obviously become a place of fear and insecurity, where kidnapping cases seem to be the order of the day. With this story and many others, we would know that folktales and other related oral traditions like myths and legends are designed to revive existing nations with the aim of bringing justice to the right man, and punishment to the wicked. Thus, none of the types of oral literature praises evil. Thus they are very important in teaching good morals to everyone in the society.

The stories of folktales, myths and legends help in showing how society views itself and also conveys their notions of justice, rights and social obligations of its citizens. Foolishness, kidnapping, laziness, greed and selfishness are therefore portrayed as negatively as possible with the offending characters such as the (Witch, the Foolish Friend, and Alatangana, see below) always suffering for their stupid and unwise behaviour. On the other hand, goodness, honesty and unity are depicted as important virtues which the heroes and heroines of folk tales always use to prevail over their problems.

Furthermore, oral literature is very significant as it helps to shape the moral conducts of individuals in the society. Our society is structured in such a way that a man must see the parents of a lady he wants to marry. But at this present era, some people elope with their lovers and move to where their parents would not know. This act of elopement is a sign of moral decadence, which some mythology, legends and/or folklores are designed to bring a change of attitude. This assertion of elopement is strongly condemned, and punishment is given to whoever that commits such a felony. For instance, there is one African myth that tried to explain why we have different languages in the world. The story has it that Sa, the god caused this confusion of tongues because Alatangana eloped secretly with Sa's daughter without his consent. And so the children of Alatangana became, some white and others dark. In this story, we see that no offender goes unpunished.

More so, stealing and inordinate ambition of acquiring wealth, hoarding public funds are some of the social moral decadences that have eaten deep into the fabric of most Nigerians. But the lessons to learn are there in oral narratives for every one. The exploits of Anansi, West Africa’s great trickster-god, are described in hundreds of folktales. Usually in the form of a spider, his stories mainly deal with his attempts at fooling humans into stealing or doing something immoral that would benefit him in some way. These attempts normally fail miserably, teaching the listeners various life lessons. One tale tells of his attempt to hoard the entire world’s wisdom into a pot for himself, but at last he ended up losing all that he had stolen. This story of Anansi ought to resonate in the hearts of Nigerians who have diverse means of cheating, exploitation, bribery and corruption, because there is no gain in doing such things.

Conclusion:

We claim that folktales, myths and legends are aspects of oral literature designed to teach human beings some lessons that could help to revive our nation from moral decadence. Such stories are told with emphasis on the punishment of the wicked, those whose lifestyles are morally decayed, and on bringing justice to the good man. If Nigeria will abide in the principles of such stories of folktales, myths, and legends, thus setting not kidnappers free, and vetting punishment to whoever else that does wrong depending on the level of offence committed, there will be relatively peace and order in the country.