Folklore: Tales By Moonlight

Tuesday, 21st September

It's a beautiful day this fine morning, I'm so glad to be back. It's been a while since I shared articles on here which I said was to be expected. I'm done with examinations now so I can dedicate my time and effort to the platform and concentrate on writing. It's been such a while and I sure do miss sharing.

What have I got for you today?

Simple, what I've got for you today is a folklore. A folklore, simply put, is the tales, legends or superstitions of an ethnic population. I would like to share with you today one of those tales.

You see, when I was much younger, my Mom did this thing where she would sit my siblings and I down, often in the evening and just tell us legendary tales. Some of these tales could be unbelievable, ridiculous, heartfelt, real, fictional etc. But, we never was sure because my Mom had this way of making everything sound real and true. I would say that's just the effect she has on her kids, the inclination to believe these tales, regardless of its veracity. The thing about folklore is there is always a significance, a lesson to be learned and if you don't understand the moral lesson of the lore then telling the story is as good as pointless.

Mind you, folklore could be told in form of an adage, a poem, a song/chant, an actual story etc I used to look forward to those moments where she'd tell us to listen carefully, as though our lives depended on it (which in hindsight I think it did because those stories kind of shaped our perspective and outlook on life as we know it). Funnily enough, my Mom would always say these stories offhand. Like as though, it was too sacred to be put to paper, but must be committed to memory. It's one of those things you share with your children then, your children share with their children, so on goes the cycle.

Today, I would be sharing this particular lore my mom shared with me some years ago. You might be wondering why I'm sharing it now, I'm only sharing it now because believe it or not, I'm just realising the significance of the lore.

Lest I forget, most times when my Mom would engage in narrating to us various folklore, it's always done shortly after sunset (I'm not really sure if that's like an unspoken rule or just done out of convenience). Because we've gotten used to sitting around and listening to my Mom tell us these tales till the moon glistens and lights up the night sky, we termed the occasion, "Tales by Moonlight" hence, the title of this piece.

The tale centered on the Mother hen and her chicks. For brevity purposes, I would try to summarise the tale. It's been quite a while since I heard the story but what keeps gnawing at me is why did chicks did what they did.

"As depicted in the picture, the Mother hen and her chicks fending for themselves out in the open, unsuspecting of the dangers of the wild. Then came the hawk, everyone knows that hawks are birds of prey which are predatory in nature. The hawk sighted the mother hen and her lovely chicks from a distance high above and decided to prey on the chicks. In one fail swoop, the hawk unleashed its predatory tendency and with its feet, latched unto the chicks and scooped them away from their mother. Realising what has just happened in the blink of an eye, the chicks wailed vehemently! They wailed so loud that the neighbouring animals heard their cries as the Hawk flew away."

I asked my Mom, "why are the chicks wailing? Are the chicks crying because the Hawk has them and they want the Hawk to leave them alone?" (bare in mind that I was a kid at the time)

My Mom answered and said, "You would think that, wouldn't you? But that's not why they're wailing. The chicks aren't crying because the Hawk took them, the chicks are crying because they want the world to hear their voice."

A/N: You see that didn't make sense to me at the time and now, I'm not even sure it still makes sense to me. I'm realising that the chicks probably knew what would happen to them was ultimately inevitable so they just wanted to be heard.

The.Ada signing out!