I’m incredibly excited to share that I’ve completed the first part of my book, Akojopo Itandowe, written entirely in Yoruba! Honestly, the fact that I was able to write this book in my mother tongue excites me even more than the content itself. And that’s saying something, because Akojopo Itandowe is a unique collection of a lesser-known Yoruba folktale genre called Itandowe, a category many people haven’t really explored in depth.
Before I dive into the stories, I need to acknowledge Mr. Babatunde Popoola. Without his help, this book might never have existed. As much as it pains me to admit, I’ve always been more comfortable writing in English than in Yoruba, my first language. But with Mr. Popoola’s encouragement and guidance, I was able to break through that barrier and write in Yoruba, something I’ve always dreamed of doing.
About Akojopo Itandowe: A Journey Back to Our Cultural Roots
This book didn’t start out as a project about Itandowe. Initially, my goal was to collect at least 101 Yoruba folktales, with one clear rule: absolutely no stories about “Ijapa,” the famous tortoise. Don’t get me wrong, Ijapa stories are classics, but I felt they had been told and retold enough times already.
Then I stumbled upon Itandowe, and everything changed.
I had heard of Itandowe growing up but didn’t realize how underrepresented it was in books and collections. It shocked me to see that no one had tried to properly gather and publish these tales, especially in the Yoruba language. That discovery inspired me to pivot from my original plan and focus solely on Itandowe.
With every new story I uncovered, my excitement grew. Mr. Popoola’s help kept me motivated, and I soon found myself not just collecting Itandowe, but committing to publishing it in Yoruba first, before any English translation. It felt like the right way to honour the cultural essence of these stories.
What is Itandowe?
Great question! Itandowe roughly translates to “stories turned into proverbs.” But like many Yoruba-to-English translations, that definition doesn’t fully capture its cultural richness.
If I were to loosely group Itandowe within known story genres like fairy tales, folktales, myths, and legends, I’d say it’s closest to “legends.” Why? Because these stories often have roots in real people or actual events, things that could have happened, or in some cases, definitely did.
Think of it like the story of Robin Hood, historians believe there was once a man who inspired that legend. In contrast, stories like the tortoise hiding his mother on the moon (during a famine) are purely folktales.
In Akojopo Itandowe, you’ll find legends like “Sebotimo Elewa Sapon”. Interestingly, my brother Adams recently mentioned watching a video interview with the real Elewa Sapon, the very person who inspired this story! Another memorable one is “Eniti ko le se alarun ni Oyigbo, ko le se bi Adegboro loja Oba,” where many still remember the real-life figure behind the tale.
Ajojopo Itandowe Yoruba: Writing in Yoruba Was a Journey, and not an Easy One!
Before I share the download link, I must give a heartfelt thank you to my nephew, Mubarak Oladosu. He kindly pointed out some of my mistakes with Yoruba spelling, punctuations, and the tricky “oro yinyin” (tonal markings), and helped me correct them.
Right now, I am excited that I got the book together and out there. I will defer corrections to when I work on the second edition.
By the way, you Yoruba experts are quite divided on “oro yiyan”. It can be quite confusing as to the definitive way to “yan”, some “oro” does not seem to exist. This reminds me that I must thank the very awesome Mr Dele A Sonubi, who helped me enormously, not just with punctuation, but with much more, including introducing me to an awesome software every writer should have in their toolbox. Mr Sonubi is a motivator, a generous human being who gave his time to help me. Modupe lowo yin Mr Sonubi.
You can find some of Mr Sonubi’s work on his Amazon profile page.
Ahh and during the work on this project, Mr Sonubi and Mr Popoola disagreed on some “oro yinan” and Mr Oladosu seemed to disagree with both of them.
In the end, after countless back-and-forths and disagreements about tonal markings, I decided to follow the golden rule: Done is better than perfect. I published the first edition of Akojopo Itandowe, imperfect, but real, raw, and from the heart.
Download Akojopo Itandowe (Free!)
If you’d like to reconnect with Yoruba culture and discover these timeless Itandowe legends, you can download the first edition of Akojopo Itandowe for free.
Click here to download
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