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origin of the reason behind the observance or discontinuance of 
certain customs. The paper also looks into the methods of styles of 
delivery. It observes the differences in delivery of fictional and 
non-fictional narratives. The teachings these folktales convey 
were also analyzed. The paper suggests that society should use the 
knowledge from the folktales/folklores in raising their 
children/wards.

INTRODUCTION
 Igbo folktales are confused greatly with Igbo folklore. 
Many scholars are still not at home with the striking differences 
between the two terminologies. Folklore and Folktales are 
oral/written literatures of which had been handed down from 
generation to generation. They are associated with the cultural 
needs of the community being recited on social occasions-
weddings, funerals, work periods, religious occasions, 
masquerade ceremonies etc. Folklore has been described by many 
authors. For instance, while the New Standard Encyclopedia 
Dictionary describes it as “the tradition, beliefs, customs, sayings, 
stories etc that are preserved among the common people, Shiley 
(1970) says “it is normally confined to spoken or written traditions 
of people, to traditional aesthetic expressions”. Folklore based on 
the definition of New Standard Encyclopedia (1978) involves 
traditions, beliefs, customs, sayings, stories etc prescribed among 
the common people. This implies that it deals with different aspect 
of life in a Community of which depends on what people believe 
in. For instance, the Igbo belief that a pregnant mother who eats 
snails (Ejula) would deliver a child that spits salvia in infant stage; 
that the patches on the skin on the back of the tortoise is because of 
his greed when the animals visited heaven and he cunningly ate up 
the food presented to them that he was dropped from heaven and 
got his back broken into pieces which later healed and gave him 
patches at the back. There is also this belief the Igbo's have that the 
reason mosquitoes fly around the ear is that it begged the ear to 

Of Themes and Narrative Styles: Interrogating the Socio-
Cultural Ethos of Igbo Folktales 

Anselm Nnamdi Achebe
Department of Linguistic/lgbo

Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu University, lgbariam
&

Clara Oluchukwu Azichoba
Department of Linguistic/lgbo

Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu University, lgbariam
&

Ruphina Chibugo Orizu
Department of Linguistic/lgbo

Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu University, lgbariam

ABSTRACT
This paper interrogates themes and styles in Igbo proverbs as well 
as the socio-cultural ethos enshrined in them. It also intends to 
look into the two terminologies- Igbo folktales and Igbo folklore 
to further showcase their various uses and differences in a society. 
It will go further to discuss some notable features of themes and 
styles in Igbo folktales. The themes were classified into three 
major themes – oral stories, tortoise stories, and “why” stories. In 
case of the moral stories, the constantly recurring themes are those 
of jealousy among co-wives, exhibition of wickedness and vices 
especially to an adopted child. It also includes treachery, theft, 
greed, cruelty, ingratitude, envy etc. The main purpose of the story 
in each case is to show a character guilty of any of those vices. 
And, for every vice there is a punishment. The second noticeable 
theme is tortoise stories. Most of these stories are concerned with 
the display of cleverness and mischief. Sometimes, the tortoise is 
shown as treacherous, greedy, ungrateful, untrustworthy and 
wicked. Most times, it escapes before it is caught. Then the WHY 
stories are designed to explain some natural phenomenon like the 

COOU JOFOCUS: COOU Journal of Folklore and Cultural Studies, Vol. 4, No. 1, 2024
Anselm Nnamdi Achebe, Clara Oluchukwu Azichoba & Ruphina Chibugo Orizu: 

Of Themes and Narrative Styles: Interrogating the Socio-Cultural Ethos of Igbo Folktales 

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 In stories that have this theme, there is usually a sharp 
contrast between the, good and the bad wives. Most often the 
senior wife led the group of the bad wives.The senior wife 
generally does something wicked such as stealing the other wife's 
child or even killing it. Sometimes, if she cannot steal or kill the 
child, she parades ugly rumours against the junior wife who had 
such a child. The enmity between the wives most often is extended 
to hatred for their children. She may starve them, poison them or 
give something belonging to them to her own children. In all this 
rivalry, the husband cannot influence the course of events. Most 
times, he is not mentioned in the tale, since the purpose is to 
exhibit the rivalry. Achebe, (2012).

 In the theme of rivalry between wives, the wicked wife is 
always punished; she dies or is disgraced or her children 
accidentally die mysteriously. Many folktales (lgbo) have as their 
main theme children exhibition of wickedness and other vices 
especially to a step-son. The purpose of the story is to show how a 
woman maltreats a child that does not belong to her. All sorts of 
wickedness and maltreatments exhibited in this story are all 
directed to the adopted child by her step mother. Other lgbo 
folktales have as their main theme the exhibition of some vice or 
wickedness such as treachery, theft, greed, cruelty, ingratitude, 
jealousy etc. The main purpose of the story in each case is to show 
a character that is guilty of these vices. For example, the tortoise 
ate up the hunters food and defecates into the pot to cover up, the 
lion killed his fathers rabbit and blamed it on the cat, the fowl ate 
up a farmers corn and was caught by the farmers trap and, finally 
the mouse killed his only son for food and never had a son and so 
on. For every vice, there is a punishment. 

Moral Stories
 In the moral world of the folktale, wickedness does not go 
unpunished. This is why the theme of retribution is found in any 
story in which any wrong has been committed. In the theme of 
vice, the guilty character is exposed and punished. The themes of 

marry him but the ear refused saying that he will not live long, so 
mosquitoes now visits the ear assuring that he is still alive. The 
definitions goes to involve the customs of the people. For instance, 
the Igbo true sons separate themselves from the Osu, ohu and the 
Chimas accusing them of either being bought as slaves, sacrificed 
to idols and other negative vices. Britain has its beliefs system too 
which despise no. 13. They claims that it attracts witches wherever 
they are written.

 Folktale according to Shipley, (1970) is “a story of giants, 
gods, heroes etc which has been handed down from father to son 
for hundreds of years”. It went further to say that the quality that 
determines whether a particular story is a folktale or not would 
seem to be the fact that it is handed down traditionally, whether by 
word of mouth or on the written or printed page. An animal tale or 
creation myth of a Central African tribe, a fairy tale like snow 
white, the ugly duck etc provided they keep being told. Folktales 
like Igbo proverbs enhance the language that is greatly respected. 
They present larger real life stories but are hidden in folklore of 
Igbo people Achebe, (1958).

 However, the thrust of this work is to identify the features 
of themes and styles in Igbo folktales. In other to do this, folktales 
will be classified into three major types- moral stories, tortoise 
stories and why stories. Amongst the moral stories, the constantly 
recurring theme are those of jealousy: co-wives quarrel, wicked 
stepmother, trial by tasks, the beautiful girl and her suitors, etc. 
The theme of jealously is found repeatedly most commonly 
among co-wives. These tales are used for the socialization of the 
young and therefore embody the mores of the society. The murder 
of a woman by a co-wife is recounted in several tales. Co-wives, it 
would appear are constantly on the lookout for any sign that their 
husband is favouring one of them and are quick to react whenever 
they think they can detect such favouritism. A typical example is in 
a polygamous family where one wife usually, the youngest bears a 
male child which others were unable to be get any.

COOU JOFOCUS: COOU Journal of Folklore and Cultural Studies, Vol. 4, No. 1, 2024
Anselm Nnamdi Achebe, Clara Oluchukwu Azichoba & Ruphina Chibugo Orizu: 

Of Themes and Narrative Styles: Interrogating the Socio-Cultural Ethos of Igbo Folktales 

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or one belonging to the humbles perfection The moral in these 
stories is that no one should be deposed. The poor and weak may 
succeed where the rich and strong fail

Tortoise Stories
 The tortoise features prominently in Igbo folktales. Most 
of the tortoise stories are concerned with his display of cleverness. 
For example, he tricked the elephant and brought; him to be killed, 
with the impression that he had drunk boiled water when in the 
actual fact, he had passed the water round showing it to several 
people by which time the water was already cold. He tricked the 
birds and borrowed their feathers to a banquet in heaven and later 
denied them of the meal. He made the elephant and the 
hippopotamus engage in a tug-of-war with both of them thinking 
that they were being pulled by him. It sometimeshappens, 
however, that the tortoise who claims to be too clever is outwitted. 
For instance, he was outwitted by Nwaebuleako in his maternal 
home. He admitted a murder he had committed after seeing the 
person wrongly accused of the murder ride on a horse and given a 
royal reception, by the king whose daughter was killed. He was 
tricked by the pigeon (who had buried a horse head in the middle 
of the road) into thinking that ice were growing in the earth; he 
yam porridge in his hat, and although his head was being burnt he 
could not remove that hat for his greed, and a host of other tales. 
Most other tortoise stories are concerned with the exhibition of 
some vice or mischief. He is shown as treacherous, greedy, 
ungrateful, untrustworthy, or wicked. Unlike the moral stories, the 
tortoise sometimes gets away with wrongdoing. Most times, he 
escapes before he is caught, or when caught, he successfully puts 
the blame on someone else or gives a plausible excuse. When he is 
punished (in accordance with the theme of retribution), the 
punishment is often linked with his anatomy. Like in the case 
earlier mentioned where he borrowed feathers from birds, built up 
wings for itself and went with the birds for a banquet in heaven. 
After tricking them and eaten up the food that was served them, 
they collected back their feathers and he was left to his fate. He 

trial by task test the strength, character or endurance of a person. 
The reason for giving the tasks may be sheer wickedness on the 
part of the person setting the task. For instance, wicked mastermay 
set a very difficult task for his slave. Such tasks might range from 
picking a coin that fell into the river, digging a tunnel with 
ordinary hand, or even producing a lost object that had long been 
forgotten. In such cases, an external agency usually intervenes to 
help the character perform the task. The character returns 
victorious to the discomfiture of the wicked person who has set the 
task. This is seen in the theme of a beautiful girl and her suitor i.e 
when several suitors contend for a particularly desirable wife, a 
difficult task is set for them by their would-be in-law. For instance, 
the suitors may be asked to look for a rare object which would 
involve a very long journey. The tasks are given to several 
characters to test their prowess, perseverance, sincerity, or love. 
The idea being that true; love will brave many difficulty to achieve 
his objective Asking suitors to make yam heaps and promising the 
girl to the first person that finishes In some cases, the test can be 
quite suitable like the king who pretended that his daughter had 
died and sent for her suitors to take back the presents they had 
given him in anticipation of marring her The one suitor that 
refused to take back his present was then given the daughter in 
marriage.

 The theme of tasks is often linked with that of the beautiful 
girl and her suitors. It usually involved an only daughter usually 
the king's daughter Most times, it is the father who determines who 
the daughter shall marry but occasionally, the girl herself is able to 
accept or reject suitors. In such a case, the girl may be presented as 
proud person who eventually gets an undesirable person as her 
husband. For example, the beautiful girl who refused to marry 
princes, kings and rich men and eventually married two fishes 
akum and okpo (onanwaobiaraene). The suitors were coming 
from all walks of life and almost invariably, the successful suitor 
was the least expected one like, the youngest of three brothers, 
theweakest of a number of animal character, the poorest character 

COOU JOFOCUS: COOU Journal of Folklore and Cultural Studies, Vol. 4, No. 1, 2024
Anselm Nnamdi Achebe, Clara Oluchukwu Azichoba & Ruphina Chibugo Orizu: 

Of Themes and Narrative Styles: Interrogating the Socio-Cultural Ethos of Igbo Folktales 

53 54



end in a set phrase indicating that it was from such and such a time 
that such and such a phenomenon or custom came into existence 
Achebe (2012)

Features of style
 There are stylistic ways of rendering lgbo folktales. For 
instance, there is a difference in style of delivery between non-
fictional and fictional narratives. The former are delivered as 
historical narrative, with little attempt at dramatization; they 
usually contain little, if any, direct speech, and no songs, and are 
not heightened by audience participation. The stylistic features 
above are peculiar to non-fictional narratives. For the fictional 
narratives, lgbo folktales enjoy introductory and closing formulas. 
The folktales are usually introduced or concluded with 
conventionalized formulas which vary from place to place in lgbo 
land. In parts of Imo State, the tale may be introduced by the 
would be narrator saying twice one of the following words which 
seem to have more sounds than sense:

Chääkpii; chääkpii; Tääkwii; Tääkwii; Ootii; Ufetu, EduulElue.

The audience then responds with one of the following words 
which is also said twice:

Yoo, Hää, Woo; Oyoo; Iyaa.

After this follows an interesting type of 'inverted' repartee 
between the narrator and the audience. The repartee is interesting 
and 'inverted' because rather than the comments of each of the two 
speakers cancelling out each other, they complement each other. 
In actual fact, what happens is that the narrator gives one part of a 
proverb of some such saying, which the audience completes

eventually fell from heaven and crashed to pieces. This is 
attributed to the reason for the nature of his back-shell.

The Why Stories
 The third major type of lgbo folktales is the “WHY” 
stories. They are stories designed to explain either some natural 
phenomenon (especially in the animal world) or the origin of the 
observance or discontinuance of certain customs. The natural 
phenomenon may be connected with human anatomy, animal 
anatomy, animal behavior, animal noises, plants or general 
physical or metaphysical questions. There is a story showing that 
mosquito goes to the ear because the ear rejects marrying the 
mosquito believing that it will not live long because of his nature. 
There is also another story which explains “why” women do not 
grow beard because a certain woman hid the kings ring in her 
beard, she was caught and after sharing clean, tortoise excreta was 
rubbed on her jaw to prevent beards from growing on it. Another 
story explains “why” tortoise got bald head (he put hot porridge in 
his hat) etc.

 Different kinds of animals behaviour are accounted for: 
why does the kite prey on chicks? It does because of a pledge 
broken by the fowl. Why does the hen scratch the ground? It is 
looking for a lost coin. Why doesn't the bat come out in the day 
time? It is ashamed of an act of treachery previously committed. 
Why does the cat eat mice? The first mouse was disloyal to it, etc. 
This offers explanation to general phenomena like the question 
about the origin of death, why the dead don't mix with the living? 
Why the sun appears in the daytime and the moon in the night 
etcetera.

 The “why” stories are not concerned with moral attitudes 
of animals or living things. There are folktales incorporating both 
the moral element and the “why” element. A folktale about the 
tortoise may even incorporate the three major types. There is no 
question of learning a lesson from it. That is why “why” stories 

COOU JOFOCUS: COOU Journal of Folklore and Cultural Studies, Vol. 4, No. 1, 2024
Anselm Nnamdi Achebe, Clara Oluchukwu Azichoba & Ruphina Chibugo Orizu: 

Of Themes and Narrative Styles: Interrogating the Socio-Cultural Ethos of Igbo Folktales 

55 56



Narrator:	 	 There is a tale I have for you.

Audience:	 	 Tale about what?

Narrator	 	 Tale about the tortoise and his wife

Audience: 	 	 Tell the tale again and again so we may   
     know if you are lying

 Another stylistic feature of lgbo folktales is that it 
normally starts with a sentence like-once upon a time, a king 
married four wives...
There was once a village. In this village, people were not allowed 
to kill monkeys …
A young man who was a magician once lived...

Chorus is another stylistic feature which lgbo folktales enjoy. 
Most Igbo folktales are chorused. This is mostly achieved through 
the audience participation. This very essential in lgbo folktales. 
The audience choruses the opening formula, they chorus the songs 
in the tale and at the same time, they provide answers to the 
questions asked in the folktale. They even go to the extent of 
correcting an incompetent narrator. The story is not known by one 
person but the artistry lies on the creative ingenuity of the narrator. 
Pathorne (1969).

 The language of the narrator is another stylistic feature 
that needs to be discussed. The language of the narrator of Igbo 
folktale is direct and intimate. He, as far as possible, talks directly 
to the audience in his own words. He makes little or no use of 
dialogue in his narration. The language of folktale is simple and 
straight forward by the fact that the composition of the audience 
are  mainly children and women who natively are not conversant 
with a complex figurative language, we may also mention that 
ideophones are lavishly employed by the folktale artist's e.g. the 
arrow is shot “fiam”. The lightening flashed, “viam” etc. 

For instance:

Narrator –	 	 Nkịta nyara akpa, 

Audience - 	 	 Nsiagwu n'ohịa.

Narrator - 	 	 Agụ baa n'ọhịa,

Audience - 	 	 Mgbada achịrịume n'aka.

Narrator - 	 	 Mmiri riri ụgbọala,

Audience - 	 	 Anaghị egwu ya egwu.

Translate
Narrator: 	 	 If the dog hangs a bag,

Audience: 	 	 It collects all the faeces in the bush.

Narrator: 	 	 If the lion enters the bush,

Audience:	 	 The antelope will not beat ease.

Narrator:	 	 A river that drowns the eagle,

Audience:	 	 Nobody swims in the river.

At times, in some places, when the narrator indicates that he has a 
story to tell, the audience could ask; a story about what and the 
following dialogue ensures:

Narrator:	 	 O nwere akụkọ m ga - akọrọ ụnụ.

Audience:	 	 Akụkọ maka gịnị?

Narrator:	 	 Akụkọ maka Mbe na Nwunye ya.

Audience: 	 	 Kọọkọọkọkwasị , anyị na-egentị ka anyị  
   mara ihe ị ga-ekwu ma ọbụntụka ị na-atụ,  
   ma ọ bụ asị ka ị na-asị.

COOU JOFOCUS: COOU Journal of Folklore and Cultural Studies, Vol. 4, No. 1, 2024
Anselm Nnamdi Achebe, Clara Oluchukwu Azichoba & Ruphina Chibugo Orizu: 

Of Themes and Narrative Styles: Interrogating the Socio-Cultural Ethos of Igbo Folktales 

57 58



 The folktale has themes like – greed, disobedience to an 
instruction, and lust for things of the world. One could simply 
notice the evil consequences of the traits. The girl lost her beauty 
and was left with the ugliness of the demon.

 Another good lesson will be learnt from another tales of 
“How the tortoise got bumpy shell”. Achebe told this story to 
represent the invasion of colonizers into the Igbo society. He saw 
the colonizers as representing tortoise while the Igbo people were 
the welcoming birds. On a further analysis of the folktale, there are 
other teachings like

(i) Greed begets evil consequences
(ii) The dangers associated with borrowing
(iii) The dangers of welcoming unknown people.

Conclusion
 From the above analysis, it is clear that folk-tales are very 
simple stories in which only thesimplest device is employed in the 
plot, theme and even the style. The language too issimple and 
contains a lot of expressions. In general, the emphasis is on the 
story, themes, and the moral lessons they teach. There are also 
stylistic ways of rendering these tales. Although, this paper limited 
its analysis on the theme and styles, most of these features are to be 
found in varying degrees in lgbo novels. Finally, every folktale has 
a lesson it conveys to the society which when adhered to strictly 
helps to clear some of the societal ills. It should be encouraged as 
one of the means of bringing up the youths.

metaphoric language is made less use of. A good story-teller also 
makes use of simile as another linguistics device which helps him 
to achieve his objective. They also develop a different manner of 
speaking for each protagonist so as to make his tale lively and 
entertaining. Finnegan (1970).

 Mimicry is also another stylistic feature of lgbo folktale. 
For instance, while imitating the tortoise, the narrator talks in a 
nasal twang, because the tortoise talks in that way. Sometimes also 
in the song, the narrator employs the first person pronoun i e 
singing as though, he was the character involved. In one lgbo tale, 
it makes serious use of repetition of words, phrases or even 
sentence, for example gagagakata.

Further Teachings
Folktales try to teach lessons about right and wrong which are 
called morals. This often involves fight between good and evil. 
Some noticeable lessons folktale teaches include- sincerity, 
honesty, acceptance, harmony and patience. The moral lessons 
include the importance of good prevailing over evil, the value of 
hardwork and honesty and consequences of corruption.

 A very good instance is the popular folktale OBAREDO. 
She was instructed by her parents before embarking on their trip to 
remain within the confines of their home and eat just yam and snail 
when hungry. The parents asked her to roast the yam first before 
roasting the snail as the snail would eventually quench the fire. 
Unfortunately, the girl being greedy, having a strong lust for meat, 
roasted the snail first and fire went off. Still hungry, she set out of 
her home, in disobedience to her parents, to get matchstick from 
neighbours.
On her way, she encounters a demon that steals her beauty and 
leaves her with his own ugliness.
 

COOU JOFOCUS: COOU Journal of Folklore and Cultural Studies, Vol. 4, No. 1, 2024
Anselm Nnamdi Achebe, Clara Oluchukwu Azichoba & Ruphina Chibugo Orizu: 

Of Themes and Narrative Styles: Interrogating the Socio-Cultural Ethos of Igbo Folktales 

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References
Achebe, C. (1958). Things Fall Apart. Heineman Ltd

Achebe, N. (2012). Some Features of Themes and Styles in Igbo 
Folktales in Ọja: An International Journal of Igbo. African 
And Asian Studies. NnamdiAzikiwe University, Awka

Dathorne, O.R. (1969). African Poetry for  Schools and Colleges. 
Canada Macmillan and Company Limited.

Finnegan, R. (1970). Oral Literature in Africa. Great Britain, 
Oxford Press.

Shipley, J.T. (1970). Dictionary of World Literary Terms. London: 
George Atten and Unwin Ltd.

Standard Educational Corporation (1978).New Standard 
Encyclopedia.

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