Just posted a folktale about the Chipmunk and how it got its stripes. I was told the story last week as the story of Edun in Yoruba. I asked, what is Edun and was told it's the squirrel-like creature that's got stripes. I thought "that's a chipmunk but we don't have any in West Africa" but apparently, I'm very wrong. It's a pity that all my knowledge of chipmunks came from Alvin and the Chipmunks. Anyway, I digress.
Like with every folktale I hear, I try to identify the moral of the story if there is one. I was initially simply amused that the chipmunk got away with what he did and still got to keep his pretty new stripes. Later on as I was writing the tale, I realized that the other animals reaction to the chipmunks new do was disdain and clearly not envy. So I concluded that the moral is this:
Ill-gotten wealth ends up wasted on superficial things without obvious benefit to anyone.
The ancient Yoruba (from whom this folktale originated) must have believed the chipmunk's stripes to be completely useless. Which makes me wonder..."why does the chipmunk have stripes?". Time to google...
Thursday, June 22, 2006
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2 comments:
Nobody believes me when I say there are chipmunks in Africa!
So there realy are? Or was it just a tale
I never saw a chipmunk in Nigeria. Which doesn't mean they don't exist. I've never seen one is the US either. Wikipedia doesn't mention their existence in Africa but my take on this is - if there's a Yoruba word for chipmunk (edun), then they must have known of its existence.
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