What the cautionary àlọ́ in this section actually warn against, how severe their endings are, and the pattern that public exposure rather than private harm is the punishment they most often reach for.
Machine na im translate dis page and no person don check am. The Yorùbá wey dem quote, the proverbs, the meanings and the citations dey exactly as the original. Everything else fit wrong.
The Yorùbá wey dem quote, the proverbs, oríkì, ẹsẹ Ifá, word list headwords, Odù names and citations dey exactly as the corpus record dem, for every language.
Na elder person dey tell children Àlọ́ for evening, and plenty of the story dem pack for this section na warning . This file put the warning story dem side by side to ask wetin dem dey warn against, how dem dey punish, and wetin that one talk about the way dem dey teach. E no retell dem; each story get im own file.
Two things wey dem find out dey important to talk first. The way the stories dey end dey harsh pass wetin modern reader dey expect. And the punishment wey these stories dey use pass no be injury or death, but to expose person for open place.
If dem arrange the warning matter for this section according to the topic, the list dey short and e dey strange pass wetin the phrase "moral teaching for children" mean.
To marry fine stranger. alo-adun-and-the-borrowed-body, alo-the-head-who-borrowed-a-body, alo-the-leopard-man. Three story from two people wey collect dem, and for all the three, the danger na fine man from another place wey the body wey e wear no be im own. For two of dem, na borrow e borrow the body and the owners collect am back on the way go house.
To promise wetin you no fit do. alo-oluronbi-and-the-iroko. Promise wey person make when matter tie am neck, wey dem force without mercy on woman wey no know wetin she promise.
To take the good part. alo-the-palm-oil-seller-and-the-goblin. The test dem na about respect, and the girl wey chop the oil give person the dirty part come die for the matter.
To let person use sweet mouth collect wetin you get. alo-the-voices-of-birds, and also alo-why-women-have-long-hair. The two story balance on top person wey agree with how stranger measure im own value.
To put mouth for other people fight. alo-why-the-tortoise-nose-is-small. Omolaye talk the lesson straight: mind your business and comot hand for fight .
Long throat, for almost every tortoise story. Ellis reach the same conclusion across im own six story for 1894 and write am down: whenever dem catch the tortoise, "na long throat make am fail" .
To disobey instruction from person wey know pass you. alo-ijapa-and-the-babalawo, where dem give the instruction three times and the third disobedience cause death.
Wetin no dey there at all dey teach person lesson just like wetin dey there. Nothing much dey here about lie as lie, almost nothing dey about violence between people, nothing dey about stealing from strangers compared to stealing from friends, and no story dey for this section wey dey warn child direct about disobeying parent.
If dem put am plain, the warning story dem for this section dey end like this:
alo-the-palm-oil-seller-and-the-goblin)alo-the-poor-woman-and-the-aranran-bird)alo-buje-the-slender)alo-ijapa-and-the-babalawo)alo-the-twin-brothers)alo-oluronbi-and-the-iroko)The analysis for the work talk say this harshness no be by mistake for the story format. Story wey dem dey tell children for evening wey dem go still hear again next year no need to soft before dem fit take am, because the structure dey do that work: yoruba-alo explain say the way story take dey start dey separate world of story from real life, and the way e take dey end dey bring the audience back to real life. Child wey don answer Ààlọ̀ know the kind thing dem dey tell am. The story fit harsh like that because the frame solid.
E still good to notice say the harsh endings no be say na according to who deserve am. The girl for the goblin story cheat and die; the girl for the leopard story ignore three clear warning and still reach house alive; Bùjẹ̀ no do any wrong thing at all and e destroy. These story dem no be system wey dey give result according to how person behave.
Na this pattern strong pass for this section and e show for story dem wey no even match for any other thing.
Look wetin really destroy people for these stories:
alo-buje-the-slender)alo-oluronbi-and-the-iroko)alo-isokun-and-the-baby)alo-the-twin-brothers)alo-the-poor-woman-and-the-aranran-bird)yoruba-alo; e dey beat drum wey dey sound like frog for front of crowd for alo-ijapa-singing-drum.The pattern dey same: person go do the bad thing for corner, and the punishment na make everybody know about am. owe-shame-reputation-being-seen show this same logic for inside proverbs, where dem treat good name as property wey belong to the community, no be just feeling wey one person get inside im heart.
Di corpus bring out one consequence, wey dem mark as analysis. If na exposure be di punishment, e mean say di tori dem dey teach pikin dem to reason wetin audience go do. Di question wey pikin dey carry commot from dis tori dem no be "dis thing bad?", but na "wetin go happen if people know about am?", and na different questions wey dey cause different behavior. Whether Yorùbá storytellers for describe di way dem dey teach like dat, di sources wey dem check no talk am.
E hard make na god, and e hard make na parent.
Di community, na dem most of di time: people wey dey pass for baobab tree, gathering wey dem ask wetin dem suppose do, town wey reject king with fear and shock, people wey talk afta di matter don happen say nobody suppose make dat kind bet.
Specialist, where di wrong thing affect knowledge: di babaláwo wey refuse di third healing.
Di power of di person wey dem offend, inside di tori dem wey get supernatural actors: di ìrókò spirit, di àranran, di goblin.
Nobody at all, inside plenty cases wey surprise person. Stone fall wey nobody dey there for alo-the-dog-and-the-tortoise. Dem just outsmart di ape dem for alo-the-hunter-and-the-ape-with-sixteen-tails and dem no punish di hunter at all. Ìjàpá keep di half-palace for alo-ijapa-and-the-dumb-princess and for alo-buje-the-slender.
Di corpus record say dis last category big reach to stop person from reading dis section like say na one consistent moral system, and yoruba-alo make di same argument from another angle.
Two of di tori inside dis section get things wey adult today wey dey read give pikin go need handle carefully: alo-buje-the-slender dey based on rape, and alo-the-twin-brothers report one old tradition where dem dey kill twins when dem born dem. Di corpus present di two because dem dey inside di written record and because if dem leave dem commot, e go give wrong picture of wetin dey inside di nineteenth and early twentieth century collections.
Nothing inside di sources wey dem check show which kind audience dem tell each of di tori. yoruba-alo describe di typical setting for dis kind tori as elder wey dey tell pikin dem for evening , but dat one no mean say na inside dat kind setting and na dat kind audience dem tell every tori wey dem record. Dis compiler no assume say di Bùjẹ̀ tori na material for pikin, and e mark di question as something wey di record no answer.
A co-wives tale in which a girl short-changed by an ìwin follows him to the land of the dead, passes tests of humility and obedience, and returns rich, while the head wife's daughter repeats the journey dishonestly and is killed.
A cautionary tale in which a maiden follows a silent handsome stranger into the forest despite three warnings, and he turns out to be a leopard who hunts her back to the village.
The tale of a woman who promises her first child to the spirit of the ìrókò tree in exchange for fertility, cannot pay, and is turned into a bird until her husband carves a wooden child to deceive the tree.
An aetiological tale of the buje dye-shrub, in which a woman who refused every suitor is assaulted by the tortoise and flees into the bush, and which Ellis used to adjudicate a competing published version.
A cautionary tale in which a beautiful woman who refuses every suitor marries a stranger assembled from borrowed limbs, and escapes his house by stuffing the watchman's alarm horn with oiled bean cakes.
Thirteen sourced Yorùbá proverbs on shame, disgrace and reputation, presented with the original, a literal gloss, and a named translation, honestly reflecting how thin this theme is in the digitised record available to this corpus.