These days, the phrase, ‘Tales by moonlight’ is used for wild conspiracy theories, conjectures and outlandish narrations that barely touch reality. In other words, fairy tales that even fools would find difficult to believe and therefore, to be dismissed outright.

They are right, except for the dismissive cynicism. Growing up in a rural town, I participated actively in tales by moonlight in their pure, African form. As children, we looked forward to the full moon because it meant Mama would indulge us a bit and we could stay up a little longer with peers especially if there was no school the following day. That was when we participated in games.

One of which was sitting in a circle to listen to tales of our ancestors; of the animal world and how it impinged on our world. We heard so many stories about the tortoise that one found it difficult to profile this animal except to say it was mischievous. It was, according to folklore, clever, even wise in places; it was also foolish in places and worldly in others.

We heard about farmers who shared the produce from their farms generously and how they miraculously got their reward. We also heard about wicked old men who delighted in depriving people and how they got their comeuppance. We heard about good witches and about bad witches. To be sure, we didn’t necessarily wait for the full moon to hear these fairy tales. Grannies told them to while away time and kill boredom.

These days, our children – the lucky ones – are now hearing them in the comfort of their beds as bedtime stories. The moral of the stories, irrespective of gender, slant, or even generation, was the ultimate triumph of good over bad. We thought we were being amused.

We thought our restless energies were being creatively controlled. It wasn’t until adulthood that I realized the intrinsic lessons in these tales. Much of what I know about values, character, civic duties and integrity started from those stories. A lot of what shaped me also came from observing how my parents, teachers and influential elders in the neighborhood conducted themselves. The rest was shaped by my secondary school. By the time I came to the work place, I knew my right from my left.

I had a fair idea of how I wanted to conduct my life in a way to make my parents and those who grew up with me, proud. The shocker was in finding out that those who did contrary to what I believed was right were the ones rising in the society. Many with my background shared this experience. Many, especially those who attended Igbobi College in the 60s with me, believed – some even lamented- that the values we were taught in school, did not prepare us for the Nigeria we met.

The values we were taught centered around integrity, forthrightness and nobility with a part of our school song reading ‘wherever there is an Igbobian, there is a noble Nigerian’. The Nigeria we met however glorified wealth well above character or even knowledge. Wealth acquisition in Nigeria, not only gives you recognition, it gives you power, it earns you respect. It is the ultimate achievement. The Bible is very much like these moonlight tales in the values it teaches except that it is not as subterranean. The Bible makes no pretense about being a book of morals and a force for good.

Many of our Pastors are however, so fixated on how to live in heaven that they forget the Bible teaches more on how its adherents should conduct themselves here on earth before they get to heaven. Shorn of its spiritual or even religious garb, the Bible is basically about character, compassion, humility and good neighborliness. In short, it is about knowing what is right and doing it. It is about morals and as I said, a more explicit form of what our folk tales and story books taught us. It was never about ostentation let alone flamboyance.

Two of our more prominent Pastors turned 70 a few weeks to each other. That their flamboyant celebrations in the midst of squalor and poverty were what made headlines in the social media and not their acts of charity and love, was for me, a thing of regret and a sign of how far gone some of our religious leaders are. Another Pastor of the same age bracket was recently filmed attending a conference in Rolls Royce and private jet like a film star. Humility as a virtue is the message I get in the Bible I read everyday, while pride is among the greatest of vices.

But hearing what our Pastors emphasize and seeing how they conduct themselves could make one believe otherwise. Miracles in the Bible were incidentals; very understated incidentals in fact. Wealth was also an understated incidental; something to be accepted if it came but not coveted – Jesus actually deemphasized it as a desirable requirement. But today’s Pentecostal Churches have turned things round and now preach miracles and wealth to be the highlight or the zenith of God’s favour. So adherents could be forgiven if they believed this because those are the current ‘tales by moonlight’ that are being read to them by their ‘parents in the Lord’.

Many worshipers are still children in the Word. They will, as I was when I was young, be shaped by what they are told by their ‘parents’ in addition to what they see and hear. We should therefore, not be surprised that we now have a society which sees wealth as a sign of success and God’s favour while lack of it is seen as a sign of failure and God’s rejection. This is what the people hear in their bedtime stories; their tales by moonlight.

This is what they see in the homes, in the churches and in high offices. When I tell young people not to focus on wealth but rather to seek to enjoy what they do or that they will not be poor if they are good at what they do, they look at me as if I am from Mars. Yet, wealth is an illusion which can easily lead to delusions. I am old enough to know that. Most wealthy people are in slippery places to quote the Good Book.

The moral fabric of our society is weak and tattered in places because of what people see in their political and religious leaders. We need to go back to those days when our tales by moonlight were about right and wrong; good and bad. When we learnt about hard work, character, honour, integrity, civility and the ultimate triumph of good over evil. When we saw our parents, community leaders and Pastors practice what they read to us.