The Ibo people use folk tales and story telling to teach other people lessons in the community.
The Folk tales that Okonkwo tells in Things Fall Apart teach children morals about life. His folk tales are with animals and show us something about human nature.
Tortoise
In the tortoise story he explains as to why they have cracks in their shells.
“No,” replied Ekwefi. “His shell broke into pieces. But there was a great medicine-man in the neighborhood. Tortoise’s wife sent for him and he gathered all the bits of shell and stuck them together. That is why Tortoise’s shell is not smooth.”
The Ibo use folktales in a certain way where they teach the lessons to the children of the tribe. Most men do not pay attention to the woman's folk tales because they are 'silly' to them because they believe that the woman are less wise. But, the children take the men's stories into consideration and use the morals to guide their decision making.