Tales by moonlight

February 19th, 2022.

Tales by moonlight.

I heard a sermon by Priscilla Shireron YouTube, she said she has a journal where she writes every big hit of each of her children, whenever they do something that stands out, she writes it down for future references. I laughed at the stories she shared. You can listen to it here.

This made me think back tonight, and I remembered some of the Nigerian moonlight stories my mother told me. They were always so enchanting, and I would often beg her to keep telling them, long into the night.

As a child, I loved spending evenings listening to my mother's stories. She would often tell me tales from her homeland of Nigeria, and I was always entranced by her descriptions of the moonlit nights.

These days, I often think back to those stories and marvel at how my mother was able to weave such magical tales. She always seemed so wise, and I can only imagine how much more I would have learned if I'd had the chance to spend more time with her.

There's something special about the way the moonlight casts a soft glow, and it seems to add an extra layer of enchantment to any story told under its light. I can imagine why my mother loved telling them so much — they were a chance for her to share her own culture and heritage with me, in a way that was both personal and magical.

Tonight, I was thinking about those stories and how they made me feel. I will share some of these stories.

One of them is about a spoilt brat who learned the importance of humility.

Once there was a girl who was a spoilt brat. She was born into a wealthy family and everything she ever wanted was given to her. She never had to work for anything and because she was spoiled, she grew up to be a rude and ungrateful young woman. She would often lash out at those who worked for her and treat them like dirt.

One day, something happened that changed her life forever. A terrible storm hit her town and the power went out. She was stuck in her house, cold and afraid, with no way to get warm or too light a fire. Suddenly, she realised how lucky she was to have people who worked for her, people who were willing to risk their own safety to help her. She also realised how ungrateful she had been, and how she had taken all of the people who loved her for granted.

From that day on, she vowed to be a better person.

Another is about tortoises who outsmarted crocodiles.

There once was a tortoise who outsmarted a crocodile by swimming away from the crocodile's territory. The tortoise became known as the smartest tortoise in the land, and everyone began to praise him for his remarkable feat. The tortoise's mother began to demand that her son bring her back a crocodile as a pet. The tortoise agreed to try, but knew it would be difficult to swim back through the crocodile's territory. One day, when the tortoise was swimming past the crocodile's territory, he saw the crocodile asleep on the bank. The tortoise quickly swam past and made his way back to his mother with the crocodile as a pet.

But more than anything, there were love stories.

Ruth and Dan were high school lovers. They had their ups and downs, but they ended up getting married after high school. They were happy for a while, but then things started to change. Ruth started to feel like she was being smothered by Dan, and he started to become paranoid and jealous.

One day, Ruth came home from work and found Dan packing his bags. He told her he was moving out, and that he was never coming back. Ruth was heartbroken, but she knew she had to act smart. They decide to tell each other their most intimate secrets. They share stories about their past, their present, and their future. As they talk, they start to see that they still have a lot of love for each other. They might not be perfect, but they're perfect for each other.

As I think back on all these stories, I look forward to telling them to my own kids and even others as well.

My mother is an amazing storyteller, and I'm grateful that I was able to experience her tales first-hand.