18 African Fables & Moonlight Stories brings together story-laced narratives across Africa to communicate the continent’s unique heritage. It takes readers back to the old times when the elderly gathered young ones from the household, usually around fires in the cold or during a bright moonlight night and narrate to them stories passed down from generation to generation.
Essentially, much of these stories, as seen in the 18 African Fables & Moonlight Stories, utilize animal characters, each with a distinctive quality that makes them suitable for playing out a role in the story. Featuring animals such as the tortoise, the lion, the leopard, the monkey, the cat, the mouse, the fox, the pig, among others , the book explores the relationship between and among the animal characters; for instance, “why, to this day, cats continue to kill mice” or “why the great elephant lost a race to a common frog.”
Other stories in the book also explain the rationale behind animal behaviour, as in, “why the pig is always digging” or “why the monkey is always crying amen.” Yet still, other stories tell why some animals have the bodily features they have, for example, “why the dog’s nose is wet,” “why the ostrich has a long neck,” and “why the vulture is bald.”
Nonetheless, 18 African Fables & Moonlight stories also shed light on human behaviour and morality and their implications. In “A Tale of Two Wives,” Femi underscores the value of humility and how, despite one’s station in life, one can rise to positions of wealth and power as a result of their humility, while the arrogant lose their power, wealth and other social privileges.
Taken together, the stories are not just entertaining; they carry readers along and inspire thought-provoking lessons, wisdom and morality. In many ways, the book conjures a picture of the old and traditional African society where barriers to social exchanges (specifically those relating to cultural transmission) were minimal and participatory engagements involving the “elite elderly” and the young constituted the main mechanism for heritage preservation.
As the age-old heritage of African fables and stories comes under threat, largely from social media and globalizing forces, 18 African Fables and Moonlight Stories comes off easily as an African cultural bulwark and a reminder of the rich wisdom and heritage that Africa is. It certainly is a book for all ages and a must-have.
