Yoruba Folktale

A long time ago in the village of Ipetumodu, there lived a poor woman. This woman was so poor that she did not have any soup for her eba. The eba is a starchy paste made from cassava flour and it is rather unappetizing to eat all by itself. Across the street from this poor woman lived another woman who cooked egusi soup every day. One day, as the poor woman was sitting down to her only meal for th...

The water goddess gave Tortoise a magic Igbako and warned him not to reveal the magic of the Igbako to anyone outside his immediate family. The Tortoise family feasted for the entire day on the food that appeared. They ate until they could eat no more. By this time, Tortoise was thinking of the fame the igbako could bring him, he needed to show off his magic to the entire animal kingdom. So Tortoi...

Back in the days when Tortoise could talk and the animals ruled the forest, famines were frequent and those animals who could not survive the drought would wither and die. There was one such period when the tortoise had become lean. He had survived as long as he could on his wit but he soon began to suffer like all the other animals as every available source of food disappeared. The water goddess...

A Famous hunter and wrestler named Akiti boasted that he was stronger than any other man or animal. He had easily overcome a giant, a leopard, a lion, a wolf, and a boa-constrictor, and as nobody else opposed his claim, he called himself “the King of the forest.” Wherever he went, he sang his triumphant wrestling song, and everyone feared  and respected him. But he had forgotten the Elephant, who...

Welcome to Africa folktale according to the southwest region of Nigeria on Africa business radio. I will tell you the story of the Yorùbá Talking Drum called Gángan and how Ayangalu was saved because of the message of the drum .

Welcome to Africa folktale according to the southwest region of Nigeria on Africa business radio. I will tell you the story of the monster who had fire

Welcome to Africa folktale according to the southwest region of Nigeria on Africa business radio. I will tell you the story of a king who was captured by the enemy and how the mice saved him

Enle o, welcome to Africa folktale according to the southwest region of Nigeria on Africa business radio. I will tell you the story about why the three brothers who were on a journey and their encounter with the mysterious old woman and her pot of porridge

Enle o, welcome to Africa folktale according to the southwest region of Nigeria on Africa business radio. I will tell you the story about why the monster that had a fire

Enle o, welcome to Africa folktale according to the southwest region of Nigeria on Africa business radio. I will tell you the story about why the mosquito disturbs the ear.

Enle o, welcome to Africa folktale according to the southwest region of Nigeria on Africa business radio. I will tell you the story about the iya ile and Iyawo's baby.

Do you know tribal marks in Yoruba land is a used as a sign of victory and celebration? Welcome to African Folktale on Africa Business Radio according to the southwest region of Nigeria. The story for today is about tribal marks and how they originated

Welcome to African Folktale on Africa Business Radio according to the southwest region of Nigeria. The story for today is about a hardworking man called Kii Gbo Kii Gba who was stubborn.

She was warned by the husband not to divulge the information to anyone, or he risked dying. That was how they continued their life in that village. One day, the hunter went to the farm with one of his children with the animal-woman and the rest of them stayed home with their mother and with the senior wife and her children. There was a quarrel between the two wives and the senior wife then used th...

Welcome to another folktale from the southwest region of Nigeria. We have all asked this question at one point in our life "Why do Monkeys Look like Humans'' science has always given us an answer but I will tell you what our forefathers told us about this.

Welcome to Yoruba folktale, today I will tell you a story about the Yoruba Kingdom was created. The story is about Oranmiyan and his grandchildren

There was a brave warrior named Ayorinde Aje who fought battles alongside Oderinlo, Ogunmola, Ogbori-efon and other Ibadan warriors, went to war in Ogbagi, a town in Akoko, in present Ondo State. During the war, no one was able to face the powerful war masquerade of the town which was Oloolu. Ayorinde Aje was the only one who challenged and defeated the masquerade. He then took the Oloolu bearer c...

The devotees of the deity Oya consider it taboo to eat the buffalo. This deity is believed to be the mother of all buffalos. A hunter once went into the bush to hunt and as he was laying in an ambush for animals on a tree he saw a buffalo next to a termite’s nest. As he was getting ready to shoot the buffalo, he saw that the buffalo turned into a beautiful woman, who put clothes on and hid its ski...

She got home and started counting her money when her husband asked from inside the room. “Aaye mi, Ni bo ni Igba ewa re wa? Mo n wa oju mi o? (Aaye dear, where is your calabash of beans, am searching for my eyes?” Aaye gladly and innocently informed the husband that she had sold the calabash together with her beans for large sum. Aigboran screamed on top of his voice and started weeping profusely....

A long time ago, there was a man called “Aigboran”. He got married to a very beautiful woman whom he cherished and worshipped like a god. Everybody in the village of “Ojutaye” knew that Aigboran’s wife was the most beautiful woman in the village. Instead of the man to be happy about his luck, he was very much disturbed about the beauty of his wife that he started monitoring her around the village....

Hello everyone, Welcome to the African Folktale according to the Yoruba Tribe in the South-West Region of Nigeria. This week, I will be telling you a story about a brave woman called Moremi Moremi Ajasoro was an illustrious and brave woman who lived in Ile-Ife in the old age. Although she hailed from Offa, through marriage, she was related to the royal family and her husband, King Oramiyan was a d...

Ijapa (Tortoise) is content with the respect he commands from the animal community. Everyone appreciates his cunning ways and wisdom. “Everyone, except that annoying arrogant Monkey”, he thought. Ijapa was upset because Monkey had not responded in public to the traditional greeting, "Maywe not be blamed for that for which we are not responsible." The appropriate response is “Amin.” Instead, Monkey...

Olómúroro was a greedy monster who preyed on little children. He was not a good-looking creature but children did not seem scared of him because he sang so sweetly. He would approach the children with songs and then take their food away.

Many people do not know that in the Yoruba language, the original Yoruba word for wife is ‘aya’ and not the commonly used ‘Iyawo’. During the early years of the Yoruba people, the word Iyawo was not used when referring to a wife until an incident brought about its coinage and usage. Let me tell you the origin of the Yoruba word Iyawo.

Oluronbi and the Iroko Tree is an African Tale about Greed and the consequence of not fulfilling promises.