The Moral Value of Yorùbá Moonlight Tales

Abstract

Considerable attention has been given to oral literature in Yorùbá language. Oral literature, as regards children lullaby, children rhymes and moonlight tales are not left out. However, most of the earlier writings on folktales are centred only on the compilation of these oral literatures. However, Isola (1995) and Akinyemi (2004) have made some attempts in explaining the educational significance of these oral literatures. While Isola (1995) looks at children lullaby and children rhymes in relation to the intellectual and social development of the African child, Akinyemi’s focus is on oral literature as it relates to the indigenous education for children. Our focus in this paper is on the moral value of this oral literature to both the youth and the adult. We also opine that moonlight tales, because of their moral values, should be included in the curriculum of both the primary and secondary schools. This paper, which is a deviation from the moonlight stories mentioned in Akinyemi (2004), does not look at the pranks of the tortoise but human beings. Lessons, which the stories pass across, are highlighted.