Edna Merey-Apinda

The Moonlight Tales Edna Merey-Apinda

The Moonlight Tales begins with an introduction in the form of a conversation between the moon and her friend, the horned owl. The four stories that follow are part of that conversation and told by the horned owl to the moon per her request. Here, Merey-Apinda adheres to a common practice in African oral literature by which protagonists are often animals or other realities of nature like the moon, sun, or stars instead of human beings. This technique adds a more magical feel to the stories, although the messages conveyed are very applicable to the lives of the ordinary man, woman, or child. While Merey-Apinda is obviously inspired by African oral literature, what she offers is not an exact replicate. The Moonlight Tales is a book for a contemporary society as well, and thus she alludes to our real world problems of the here and now.