African Tales by Moonlight

About the Book

The Yoruba people of Southwestern Nigeria taught their children about lief through stories about people, animals and the spirit world. These stories were told by the elders, to the young ones, on moonlit nights.

Primary schools also set aside periods for story telling. Each child was expected, when called upon, to tell a story. Stories told to the class were often those that had been related by the elders. Many times, the details of the same story varied from person to person and from place to place. But the lessons remained the same - respect for the laws of society, honesty humility, honoring parents and elders, hard work, etc.

Growing up in a small rural town, I learned many of these stories. Some of them are related in the following pages. The lessons learned from these stories helped us to develop into responsible, law-abiding citizens.

About the Author

Philip Ademola Togun was born at Iresi, a small rural Southwestern Nigerian town. As a child, he heard the stories in this book, as well as countless others.

He was educated in Nigeria, graduating as a physician in 1974. He proceded to Edinburgh, Scotland, U.K. in 1977 for his residency in psychiatry which he completed in 1980. He practiced psychiatry in Nigeria until 1990.

He currently lives in Shreveport, Louisiana and works for the Office for Citizens with Developmental Disabilities (OCDD) in Bossier City, Louisiana. He and his wife, Kikelomo, are engaged in Christian ministry (Christlove International Ministries) in Shreveport, Louisiana.

They have three children.