<h2 class="wp-block-heading eplus-wrapper" id="crosshead"><strong>Long story short</strong></h2>

A 13-year old fights to protect his younger siblings from a menacing monster that hides within their own house. A girl sets out upon a quest to stop a droughtA time when there is not enough water and the ground is very dry. . A mourning mother seeks revenge on the man who left her to rot.

These are some of the stories told in African Folktales, Reimagined, a new series on Netflix. Created in collaboration with UNESCOThe United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation. It aims to promote international cooperation in the arts, education, science and culture. , the show turns traditional stories from across the continent into 30-minute films. 

The six films were chosen from over 2,000 entries. Each of them takes a folktale and turns it into a drama that addresses an important contemporary issue.

Kenyan director Voline Ogutu's Anyango and the Ogre, for instance, is set in a sci-fi world where married women live in luxury while the unmarried face poverty. Zabin Halima, by Nigeria's Korede Azeez, tells the story of a girl who dates an AIA computer programme that has been designed to think.  in order to escape an arranged marriageA marriage planned by (usually) the families of a couple, rather than the couple themselves. .

The series also aims to help keep folktales alive. Folktales everywhere are threatened by extinction. Other types of stories have taken the place of folktales in the lives of many. A 2017 survey in the UK found that two-thirds of parents have no intention to pass down stories to their children. 

The loss is even greater in Africa. During the colonialWhen a region or country is controlled politically by another. period, colonisers banned many African languages and forced residents to read European literature. This caused generations to become disconnected from their own culture and heritage. 

To revive folk stories is to reopen a link to this past. South African film-maker Gcobisa Yako says: "All these platforms exist now and we need to utilise them to preserve these stories."

Many believe folktales are a crucial part of our identity as humans. It is all in the name - folk tales are "stories of the people". The tales a society tells reveal its hopes and fears, values and taboosThings that are forbidden due to social rules of behaviour.. 

Humans have always told stories. Cave-dwellers even painted stories on their stone walls. Ancient Greeks listened to epic poetry.¹ As historian Yuval Noah Harari says: "Humans think in stories, and we try to make sense of the world by telling stories."

Their significance seems clear when we look at their remarkable durability. We know very little about the day-to-day lives of people in, say, Ancient China. But know about their myths, legends and fables.

These stories helped members of a society to form connections. Gambian film-maker Maimouna Jallow says: "It's not just about the content, but also about the sense of community that it creates."

Yet some think such stories are of merely historical interest. Human society has changed hugely since folktales were formed. It is a tall order to expect the stories of our ancestors to have something to say to us. We need to make new tales to suit our time.

And stories can sometimes make us inhuman. In the Middle Ages, false Christian stories about child murder were used to justify anti-semitismShowing hatred or prejudice towards Jewish people. .² These lies were later revived in Nazi GermanyThe German state between 1933 and 1945, when it was ruled by Adolf Hitler's Nazi party., fuelling a prejudice that led to genocideThe annihilation of a people, either through killing of its members, or through the suppression of its culture..

Yes: We are obsessed with stories, from folktales to television dramas. And we cannot stop creating them, whether through spreading rumours, retelling amusing anecdotes or posting videos on TikTok.

No: We use stories to make sense of our humanity. They help us to pass down ideas, interpret the world and come together. But they are a tool. They do not make us human, anymore than other tools do.

Or... Stories have become so intertwined with our lives that it is almost impossible to imagine life without them. We would have to develop an entirely new way of seeing the world. But perhaps we should try.

Drought - A time when there is not enough water and the ground is very dry.

UNESCO - The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation. It aims to promote international cooperation in the arts, education, science and culture.

AI - A computer programme that has been designed to think. 

Arranged marriage - A marriage planned by (usually) the families of a couple, rather than the couple themselves.

Colonial - When a region or country is controlled politically by another.

Taboos - Things that are forbidden due to social rules of behaviour.

anti-semitism - Showing hatred or prejudice towards Jewish people.

Nazi Germany - The German state between 1933 and 1945, when it was ruled by Adolf Hitler's Nazi party.

Genocide - The annihilation of a people, either through killing of its members, or through the suppression of its culture.