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| Tales by Moonlight by Eziagulu Chukwunonso |
As a kid in Nigeria, every Sunday night my siblings, cousin and I would gather around the TV in the living room (on the floor, to simulate the experience as was on TV) in anticipation of Tales by Moonlight, which was shown on a TV station called NTA (Nigerian Television Authority). Tales by Moonlight was this amazing kids show where the "Aunty" (an older lady) would tell folktales (taken from the different ethnic groups in Nigeria) to a group of girls and boys gathered around her on the floor listening to her wonderful tales. It was set in a village, and as the name suggests, the tales were told at night. It would start off with one of my favourite lines:
Aunty: Story, Story
Children: Story
Aunty: Once Upon a Time
Children: Time, Time
And then the "aunty" would begin her story, and we would all be magically transported to the story world, where actors would re-enact these wonderful tales. Being folktales, there were many animal roles - Mr. Tortoise always made an appearance - and by the end of the story we would learn the "moral of the story".
I did do a bit of searching and it turns out that in 2002 a Tales of Moonlight book was published. Originally by Michigan State University Press, and then later by Heinemann Educational Books in Nigeria. On the Heinemann website the book is described as:" a collection of interesting stories taken from prominent folklore of the country's different ethnic groups. It was adapted from the populat episodes of Tales by Moonlight, a popular drama series of the Nigerian Television Authority".
According to Amazon it's out of print and sadly I couldn't find any videos to share it here. Sorry! But if you grew up in Nigeria, do you remember Tales by Moonlight? And if you grew up in another African country, did you have similar TV shows on folktales?
