Computational Modelling of African Folktale Narratives

In the African folktales, the stories reveal the culture where spirits and animals abound; consequently, the tortoise, monkey, elephant, giraffe, lion, zebra, crocodile, and rhinoceros appear frequently along with a wide variety of birds such as the ostrich, parrot, owl, hawk, vulture and the eagle. The animals and birds take on human characteristics of greed, jealousy, honesty, loneliness, pride, etc. Forest, water, ancestral and other spirits are common features in Yoruba folktales where they occasionally appear to transact some kind of trade with people of the real world or to rescue them. The goal of the narrative is to use the behavior of these animals and birds to teach many valuable lessons about life. This work becomes necessary in the background of the benefits of modern computer software used in entertainment and education.