Folklore consists of legends, music, oral history, proverbs,
jokes, popular beliefs, fairy tales, stories, tall tales and customs. It is
often used in passing messages, education purposes, and for entertainment with the
objective of sensitization. The art of folktales was often passed from
generation to generation.
Folktales have played a critical role in environmental
conservation. Expressions such the haunted forests, dark forests, cursed
forests among the many names given to scare off people were used to discourage
people from visiting the forests and cutting trees. In these haunted forests,
there lived evil creatures. We often hear of monstrous creatures, cursed
animals among others. All these were a way of discouraging people from entering
the forests.
Illegal hunting was also discouraged. In folktales, hunting
in some forests was discouraged. We often hear of remarks like cursed animals
with reference that; if one consumes a cursed meat then he/she is definitely
cursed. As such, people often kept away from hunting some creatures which in
turn ended up conserving them.
Comparison in folktales is also used. The hare is often
regarded as the naughty one, the tortoise as the wise one, the jackal as the
sly one, and the lion as the King of the jungle among others. All this
comparison was to show the balance in nature. These folktales often taught on
diversity in nature and how they depend on each other. An imbalance often lead
to distortion in nature.
It is evident that conservation awareness was practiced times
before, a clear indication that our fore fathers did practice conservation. Let
us borrow a leaf from our wise men, let us also promote conservation.
