By Jenica Amalita
Folktales survive through oral transmission, in most cases through grandparents to children. Thus, children are the inheritors of our rich history and accumulated wisdom, tasked with bearing the knowledge of the past and innovating it to serve future needs. As such, they occupy a significant role in building the world as we know it both in the pages of history and folklore.
Folklore is a site of intimacy, a space where generations can meet and share stories, games, rhymes, songs and more. Folklore allows for imagination to color the worlds of our young ones as they adventure through the joys, sorrows, and moral dilemmas faced by folkloric characters.
From puzzling forest paths to lush palace courtyards, children have always been the heart of our stories.
The story A Brother, A Sister, And A Snake follows two royal siblings as they navigate the loss of their father’s favour leading to their exile. They remain steadfast to the truth, refusing to let go of their dignity, standing in sharp contrast to the adults who use deception and coercion to get their way. This story captures the innocence and purity of children, teaching resilience in the face of trouble.
Similarly, in A Boy Named Ono, we see how a young child remembers the words of his grandfather – that a receding shoreline meant a flood was coming. When he notices this phenomenon occurring, he takes the initiative to save his village from disaster by leading the people to a cliff. Through this tale, we see how our young ones play careful attention to the words of the wise and equip themselves for the future.
While many tales feature the actions of children themselves, other folk narratives instigate thought and creativity in children.
A popular example is the tale featuring Akbar and Birbal. When Akbar draws a line and asks how the line could be made shorter without cutting it, everybody is stumped.
Clever Birbal, however, has a solution. He picks up the chalk and simply draws a longer line besides the shorter one. Through tales like these, children learn to navigate seemingly complex circumstances and develop foresight and ingenuity.
Children breathe life into their surroundings and embody all that we wish to pass on, whether culture, tradition, or even the idea of civilization. Today, these folktales also remind us to reclaim our childlike curiosity, even if it’s in asking simple questions like “Why?” After all, didn’t the folktales we grew up with begin with a simple “What if?”