Folktales and folklore which are traditional art, literature, knowledge and practice disseminated largely through oral communication and behavioral examples were initially collected and documented by some writers for culture preservation only because they felt that these elements of folklore are going into extinction and need to be frozen in print, while some writers incorporate folklore materials in their novels, poems, drama for entertainment and culture preservation. These writers are referred to as active or functional writers but the former are referred to as passive. Many creative works were critically analyzed to discover the extent of their use of folklore and it was established that proper understanding of Africa and African literature would be achieved by relating folklore to the cultural context of a literary work.
In view of the above, this study seeks to point out the use of the folklore and proverbs in the explication of the belief and cultural practices of both the Nigerian and South African cultural contexts inherent in both texts.
