Folktales and education: Role of Bhutanese folktales in value transmission

This paper begins by introducing Meme 'Haylain' Happiness, a concept drawn from a Bhutanese folktale about an old man, Meme Haylay Haylay, who exchanges his turquoise for a song, and happily returns home singing the song. It challenges whether we are ready to pursue happiness in our daily life like Meme Haylay Haylay who had realised that more happiness would flow from singing a song than from guarding a turquoise. The paper then explores the roles of Bhutanese oral tradition in educating children who could not avail either monastic or modern education. It argues that modern education, which mostly provides secular, pluralistic, egalitarian and market values necessary for running economic, political and legal institutions and machineries of modern nation-state is deficient in many ways; and it is the oral tradition which fills this gap by inculcating universal, humanistic and Bhutanese values. It also discusses the main functions of the Bhutanese folktales which are of trivial events, but embedded with multi-layered meanings of great moral and social importance, with experiences drawn from daily life. The common motifs of the tales are chosen to relate them to daily realities of Bhutanese people. Lastly, this paper comes out with some policy recommendations to promote, document, disseminate and study the Bhutanese folktales through mass media such as press, radio, TV, internet, and film industry. These are the surest means of preserving and promoting our unique culture.