The Aesthetic Values and Functions of Hausa Folktales

Citation: Abdullahi UMAR PhD and Rabi Sa’adu MAIBASIRA (2024). The Aesthetic Values and Functions of Hausa Folktales. Yobe Journal of Language, Literature and Culture (YOJOLLAC), Vol. 12, Number 1. Department of African Languages and Linguistics, Yobe State University, Damaturu, Nigeria. ISSN 2449-0660

THE AESTHETIC VALUES AND FUNCTIONS OF HAUSA FOLKTALES

By

Abdullahi UMAR PhD

Rabi Sa’adu MAIBASIRA

Abstract

The paper titled The Aesthetic Values and Functions of Hausa Folktales is conducted to interprete the functions, theme and context of the folktales among Hausa people of Nigeria. The study demonstrated the connection between meaning and context of the use of folktales. It is limited to some folktales that are known among Hausa people of Nigeria. Similarly the study reviewed the socio-cultural life, story telling, nature, types, characteristics, functions and theoretical framework of Hausa folktales. Furthermore, the study is descriptive in nature and purposive sampling technique is employed. Functionalist and psychoanalytic theory were used and examine as a basis for the study. It further employed correlation design and used both primary and secondary data. The research selected and analyzed some folktales among which are Ladidi, the deceitful wife, the wicked step mother, the Ant and the Chicken and the two women. This usually takes place at night after prayers at the homes and family compounds. There is no economic benefit, age or gender barriers for both narrators and audience. The general convention for opening by the narrator is “gata nan gata nan ku” and closing is “kurunkus”.

1.0 Introduction

Human beings of all ages have used different ways of educating, entertaining and communicating their ideals to the upcoming generation with space and time. This, according to Dauji, (2016) they have done through wood and stone, parchment and paper, fire and smoke, folktales and songs, riddles and dance (1). Even when books, newspapers, or computers are available, people use storytelling and folktales to share information and pass down their community's histories, beliefs, and social expectations. Folktales have been passed from generation to generation.

According to Gulumba, (2011) “a folktale is a story narrated usually at night for moral and entertainment purposes” (1). In a related development, Usman, (2013) see folktale “as a narration targeted at children for moral rejuvenation as well as entertainment” (1). Folktales underscore the importance of honesty, fairness, wisdom, and courage as qualities that are essential for creating stable communities and governments everywhere in the world. Some folktales have the potential of breeding indiscipline and immorality in society. However, if well and carefully employed, folktales stand as useful tools of socialization and celebration of communal ethos and pantheons. It is an obvious fact that some stories are better left out because they contain a lot of vices, and some teach ills.

A history of Hausa literature would, no doubt, adopt conventional organizing principles whereby early forms would be seen as the bedrock upon which ‘modern’ literature has developed. Out of the ‘traditional’, oral, indigenous genres developed ‘modern’, written, European-type genres. Oral and written literatures have sometimes been seen to be two separate categories of material. The oral narrative is known as the ‘tatsuniya’ in Hausa language. There is evidence of strict division of labour according to gender and in pre-colonial Hausaland ‘male’ and ‘female’ roles were distinguished. The art of narration itself was sub-divided with different genres distributed along gender lines. It appears that story telling was consigned to women; whiles other forms of narratives such as the ‘Hikaya’and ‘Labari’, perceived by male-dominated societies to be more serious, were the verbal province of the males. The ‘tatsuniya’ tradition is presumed to be a great antiquity with the intriguing similarities between diverse cultures. This has led scholars to examine such continuities in a variety of ways. In the light of the above, this paper, attempts to study Aesthetic Values and Functions of Hausa Folktales of Nigeria.

1.1 Statement of the Problem

Critical works on Hausa folktales are mostly not specific to particular Hausa states or dialects despite the obvious differences in their socio-cultural lives. This study is therefore intended as a contribution. Values and believes still hold sway since they preserve nature, myth, religious belief, rituals, ancient customs and incantation of a community. The importance of folktale today further justifies studying it in this context. The Hausa society, Kano to be specific, like most African societies, has rich oral tradition untapped by scholars. Unfortunately, the elderly people who are the repositories are gradually passing away. There is, therefore, the need to collect and preserve the tradition of the people for posterity due to the effects of globalization. Folktale, in general, was preserved by retelling it to successive generations. This is no longer the case.

1.2 Aim and Objectives of the Study

The aim of the study is Aesthetic Values and Functions of Hausa Folktales of Nigeria. It is assumed that by studying the folktales within the context of their use, it will be possible to comprehend their aesthetic values. Briefly, this study has this specific objective:

1. to examine the themes of Hausa folktales through the context of the selected tales;

2.0 Review of Related Literature

Hausa are one of the largest ethnic groups in West Africa. They are a Sahelian people chiefly located in Northern Nigeria and South eastern Niger, but having significant members living in regions of Cameroon, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Chad and Sudan. Predominantly Hausa communities are scattered throughout West Africa and on the traditional Hajj route across the Sahara desert especially around the town of Agadez. Kano, Northern Nigeria, is considered the center of Hausa trade and cultural relations to other people of West Africa. The Hausa are culturally and historically close to the Fulani, Zarma, Kanuri, Gwari and Tuareg as well as other Afro- Asiatic and Nilo-Saharan groups spreading from eastern Mali to southern Libya and cast into Chad and Sudan. Many Hausa have intermixed with other groups such as the Yoruba and Shuwa. By the 12^th century, the Hausa were becoming one of Africa’s major powers, the architecture of the Hausa is perhaps one of the least known but most beautiful of the medieval age; many of their early mosques and palaces are bright and colourful and often include intricate engraving or elaborate symbols designed into the façade. In 1810 the Fulani, another Islamic African ethnic group that spanned across West Africa, invaded the Hausa states, but their cultural similarities however allow for significant integration between the two groups which in modern times are often demarcated as Hausa Fulani rather than as individual groups and many Fulani in the region do not distinguish themselves from the Hausa.

2.1 Storytelling Among the Hausa

The functionalist approach of analyzing folktale place emphasis on the role folktales play in the society in terms of moralizing and transmitting the norms of the society to the young ones.Similar functionalist idea seems to pervade Neil Skinner’s Anthology of Hausa Literature which appeared in 1980; the author categorizes and analyzes Hausa folktales by identifying their cross cultural variant and types (13). Neil Skinner also acknowledges the existence of cryptic samples of orature instanced by songs, riddles and proverbs. Furthermore, oral tradition is one of the major ways through which we can re-establish contact with our traditional past. In the past, oral narratives helped to enhance and sustain individual and social decency, its instructiveness was from within, and it was one of the chief means by which an individual becomes conscious of his moral world, and how it was moulded from childhood. The traditional narratives as a genre contain orderly creative accounts of events presented as if they actually occurred. In Hausa society, such narratives are referred to as “tatsuniyoyi” (singular – tatsuniya) if they were ordinary folktales, ‘almara’ if they are dilemma tales, ‘labaru’ (singular­ – labari”) if they are legends kissoshi (singular – kissa) or hikayoyi (singular – hikaya) if they involve religious elements such as prophets, angels and jinn.

2.2 Nature of Hausa Folktales

Storytelling is a sensory union of image and idea, a process of re-creating the past in terms of present; the storyteller uses realistic images to describe the present and fantasy images to invoke and embody the substance of a culture’s experience of the past. These ancient fantasy images are the culture’s heritage and the storyteller’s bounty: they contain the emotional history of the culture, its most deeply felt yearnings and fears, and they therefore have the capacity to elicit strong emotional responses from members of audiences. During a performance, these envelop contemporary images, the most unstable parts of oral tradition, because they are by their nature always in state of flux and thereby visit the past on the present.

It is a task of the (Hausa) storyteller to forge the fantasy images of the past into masks of the realistic images of the present, enabling the performer to pitch the present to the past, to visualize the present within the context of the past. Flowing through this potent emotional grid is a variety of performance, the body of the performer, the music of her voice, the complex relationship between her and her audience. Images that are not alike are juxtaposed, and then the storyteller reveals to the delight and instruction of the audience.

2.3 Types of Hausa Folktales

As Ben Amos (10) rightly argues any classification of African oral literature follow local classification. We have used here the broad term folktale to cover all prose narratives which are purely fictional and which have relevance for children. The following are the types of Hausa folktales:

1. Explanatory stories

2. Trickster stories

3. False friendship

4. Dilemma stories

5. Cumulative stories

6. Historical stories

7. Magical encounter

2.4 Some Characteristics of Hausa Stories

The dozen tales retold, many fall under the category of origin, and the majority of them involve animal characters. Thus we learn why the lizard moves his head up and down constantly, why the leopard and rat are eternal enemies, why the vulture has a bare neck and head, why man and dog are the best friends and constant hunting companions.

The Hausa love to tell trickster stories and several are included, such as how clever frog outwitted arrogant hippopotamus in a water race and how tortoise outwitted millipede to get back his eyes that millipede had stolen. 

2.5 Functions and Relevance of Hausa Folktales

Like other folktales/ stories in Africa, Hausa folktales also serve as an agent through which moral lessons are drawn. For instance, stories about human characters are stories that teach moral lessons and this can be seen in most of the stories. For example, the story of the “Wicked Step mother”, which teaches us to treat other children equally and never to be wicked to others because you don’t know what will happen to your own children or who will take care of you in the future.

3.0 Methodology

The structuralists believe that there is need to divide stories into sections or classification for it to be well understood. Characters are therefore not very important in a tale but the role they play. Prop asserts:

“But their deeds as such evaluate and define from the point of view of their meaning for the hero and for the course of action. Hence, we obtain the same picture as that analyzing motivation. The feeling of a dispatcher be they hostile, neutral or friendly does not influence the course of action”. (7)

The Functionalists are the only scholars who have attempted to show a certain degree of concern on the creativity of skills of traditional art. The application of these approaches illustrate that the Hausa folktales are not mere custom, but active and integrated parts of the social system. Though the approaches adopted for this research have their limitations, nevertheless they are most suitable for the study because the research revolves around the functions and the sociological structures of folktales in Hausa. It is as a result of this detailing and analysis that sociological interpretation of folktales among Hausa people of Kano state is considered.The functionalist theory is used in this study to show how folktale is used as a form of educative, entertainment and value re-orientation of the society.

To analyze African folktales (of Hausa people of Nigeria), these theories as discussed above prove most suitable. These theories not only lay emphasis on the function and structure of folktale to a society, but also consider “the stable and stabilizing nature of both stories and the society in which the stories occur” in other words, folktales functions to stabilize, and ensure the continuity of the society, as the value of the society are transmitted from the elders to the young ones during story telling thus providing a form of socialization.

This study centres on the aesthetic values interpretation of folktales among Hausa people of Nigeria. The work will only concentrate on the aesthetic values interpretations of the selected folktales that are known among the Hausa people of Nigeria. The study restricted itself to tradition of the Hausa people of Nigeria.

4.0 Discussion 

4.1 The Aesthetic Values and Functions of Hausa Folktales

The term aesthetics will treat the nature of Hausa folktale and the beauty embedded in it. Aesthetics encapsulate the value of Hausa stories. The story teller’s choice and use of language, setting, songs, riddles go a long way in determining the seriousness or otherwise of the tales and thematic implications. The Hausa people have a rich oral tradition which tends to define Hausa aesthetics. These artistic expressions include songs, proverbs, riddles and jokes. Sutherland stresses the fact that, folktales have been the cement of society because, they not only express but also codify and reinforce the way people think, feel, believe and behave. Therefore, the Hausa folktale plays an important role in holding the society together and serving as a medium of expression, education, entertainment and enlightenment, which are integral parts of the Hausa society. Okot, (1962) observes that, “as regard to the young, folktale is a form of moral education as well as training in the act of self-expression and orality” (67).

Aesthetics serves an important function in establishing and reinforcing the thematic value of stories. Aesthetics in oral narratives is for the purpose of communicating meaning, thus, the contact between the audience and narrator initiates the first effort by the narrator to achieve aesthetic harmony with the audience. Okpewho (1990) posits that:

“If a storyteller or performer is to establish a rapport with his audience, he must be consistent in his mastery of language and should posses effective voice that can charm the audience” (73).

Therefore, the beauty of folktales lies in their verbal flexibility, the performance of the artist and the participation of the audience which brings out the aesthetic quality in the tale. Folktales encapsulate in their form aesthetic beauty which includes didacticism, serves as a means of keeping the young members of the community out of mischief. Most of the characters have fixed forms in Hausa folktales. For instance, when a storyteller mentions characters like the hare, the thing that immediately runs into the audience’s mind is the game of cunningness.

In essence, folktales create a channel where adult and children come together, develop relationship and share views relating to everyday life. In other places, the folktale is a communicative system in which a social discourse takes place, principally between the people. The stories convey morals and beliefs that gradually occupy the people’s minds and form part of their customs and value thus, inspiring the older generations to transfer them to the younger ones narratively thus, participating via songs, call and response and riddles is aesthetic.

Song

Narrator- kulun kulufita?

Audience- gauta.

Riddles

Narrator- baba na ɗaka gemu na waje?

Audience- hayaki.

Narrator- na je jeji, jeji na min dariya?

Audience- gonar auduga.

Narrator- na je jeji, jeji na min shinfiɗa?

Audience- ganyen gwaza.

The responses given to the narrator creates aesthetic beauty in the story thus, making it interesting and lively. It’s important after taking them through a number of episodes that move inexorably towards a climax and resolution, as in the story where a friend to the husband of the deceitful wife came visiting and immediately, he started singing. At this point, the audience are kept in suspense expecting to see what would happen next. Also, in the story ‘Ladidi’ saw some visitors she never knew of and ended up in the forest with a hyena. She climbed a tree top and sang loudly so that she could be heard and rescued. The song in the story when the bird was looking for the Ostrich to collect its beak.

Ko kun ga ta wuce nan da bakin aro?

Yar ƙarama ce

Da na sani ƙeya ce

Ni sai kin bani baki na

Onomatopoeia is used in the story above to capture sound and stress happening as can be seen in the story when the tree was about to be cut down and the song the hyena and frog both sang:

Hyena: karye bishiya.

Frog: Koma bishiya

Onomatopoeia enhances plausibility endowing the tales. The songs reflect the mood, characterisation, theme, and the morals. Similarly, there are distinct animals or human spirit stories. Some stories use two or more of these characters and characterisation. In Hausa folktales therefore, there are flexible characters enough, geared towards the need of a particular audience context, thematic concern and performer’s style and taste. In the same vein, themes and situations can also determine the nature of stories, just as historical and occasional stories have defined structure, tone, context, and even audience composition can also define categorization of stories. All stories have their purpose and function as the story becomes obvious.

In essence, folktales among the Hausa are a very useful tool in the socialisation process of the people. It provides the avenue through which societal values are inculcated and reinforced for the development of the community. Folktales among the Hausa are art that also thrives in exploring the various aesthetic qualities that reinforce the theme and add essence to the art and culture of the Hausa. This will be further considered in the subsequent chapter, how the audience, narrator relationship, time, setting and plot add aesthetic beauty and communicate the Hausa culture.

Conclusion

In this research, I have examined ‘The Aesthetic Values and Functions of Hausa Folktales among Hausa People of Nigeria’ as an aspect of African culture and literature. This concept of folktales in the African culture is largely dependent on enactment for its existence. It is a form of oral literature which can have its total impact and realization within the scope of performance.

The importance of oral arts in “Hausa” particularly folktales as explicated in this research cannot be over emphasized. It constitutes one of the important bedrocks upon which the central life of the people depends. Most importantly, these stories often teach lessons which are aimed at inculcating discipline and moral value in the people, particularly children. Also, stories are used as a medium of education, entertainment, amusement and promotion of cultural values of the people.

These folktales serve as a veritable means through which morals, culture, beliefs, values, worldview and consciousness of the Hausas are handed down to the younger generation. They encourage communal living among children.It was also revealed that the Hausa people of Kano State enjoyed their traditional stories especially their folktales.Aesthetically, these folktales also has inbuilt literary qualities such as oxymoron, rhyme, personification, metaphor, imagery, synecdoche, simile among others. Conclusively, the chapter delved into the aesthetic qualities of selected folktales.

Recommendations

The following recommendations are made:

1. Folktales should be introduced and taught at the elementary level of education and more emphasis should bee given to the study of folktales at the tertiary level of education. As a matter of urgency, folktale should be studied as a specific course and not subsumed under the general umbrella of oral literature which is the practice in most Nigerian universities. This will afford students to know the relevance of folktales not just as a medium of entertainment but as an integral part of the Nigerian, nay African culture which can not be undermined.

2. Rather than the detrimental effect of technology on folktales on the contemporary African society, modern technological means should be adopted to preserve folktales and make them available for generations yet unborn.

3. Folktales should continue to be held in high esteem.

4. No doubt, some of the minor languages in Nigeria are gradually going into extinction. As the languages go into extinct, so do their oral literatures including folktales. To correct this ugly trend, oral literature scholars should endeavour to create forums where oral elements of the different cultures in Nigeria are brought to the limelight and celebrated for posterity.

References

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