John David Ovejera

BLIS

Folktales in the Philippines

The Sun and the Moon

Filipino folktale

The Sun and the Moon were married, but the Sun was very ugly and
quarrelsome. One day he became angry at the Moon and started to chase her.
She ran very fast until she was some distance ahead of him, when she grew
tired and he almost caught her. Ever since he has been chasing her, at times
almost reaching her, and again falling far behind.

The first child of the Sun and Moon was a large star, and he was like a man.
One time the Sun, becoming angry at the star, cut him up into small pieces
and scattered him over the whole sky just as a woman scatters rice, and ever
since there have been many stars.

Another child of the Sun and Moon was a gigantic crab. He still lives and is
so powerful that every time he opens and closes his eyes there is a flash of
lightning. Most of the time the crab lives in a large hole in the bottom of the
sea, and when he is there we have high tide; but when he leaves the hole, the
waters rush in and there is low tide. His moving about also causes great waves
on the surface of the sea.

The crab is quarrelsome like his father; and he sometimes becomes so angry
with his mother, the Moon, that he tries to swallow her. When the people on
earth, who are fond of the Moon, see the crab near her, they run out of doors
and shout and beat on gongs until he is frightened away, and thus the Moon is
saved.
 The First Monkey

Philippine Folktales

By

Mabel Cook Cole

1916

Visayan
Many years ago at the foot of a forest-covered hill was a small town, and just
above the town on the hillside was a little house in which lived an old woman
and her grandson.

The old woman, who was very industrious, earned their living by removing the
seeds from cotton and a long stick that she used for a spindle. The boy was
lazy and would not do anything to help his grandmother, but every day went
down to the town and gambled.

Oone day, when he had been losing money, the boy went home and was cross
because his supper was not ready.

"I am hurrying to get the seeds out of this cotton," said the grandmother, "and
as soon as I sell it, I will buy us some food."

At this the boy fell into a rage, and he picked up some coconut shells and
threw them at his grandmother. Then she became angry and began to whip
him with her spindle, when suddenly he was changed into an ugly animal, and
the cotton became hair which covered his body, while the stick itself became
his tail.

As soon as the boy found that he had become an ugly creature he ran down
into the town and began whipping his companions, the gamblers, with his tail,
and immediately they were turned into animals like himself.

Then the people would no longer have them in the town, but drove them out.
They went to the forest where they lived in the trees, and ever since they have
been known as monkeys.
 Fairy tales in the Philippines
The Story of the Piña

Pinang was a beautiful but lazy girl. One day, her mother got sick and asked
her to cook food for them. Having never really done anything around the
house, Pinang refused at first. She finally relented through her mother’s
insistent shouting, but had trouble finding the ladle. Frustrated, Pinang’s
mother wished a hundred eyes to grow on her for being so lazy. After this,
Pinang was never seen again. A strange yellow fruit with a hundred eyes,
however, was soon found growing in their backyard.

Like all folk tales, the story of the piña has several versions. According to Ong,
the popular version is didactic or moralistic – “that’s what you get for being
lazy and unmotivated.” Tahanan version has Pinang doing her best, but her
mother just assumed that she was being lazy again.

For Ong, the story of the piña is “a cautionary tale for both parent and child.”

The Necklace and the Comb

In the early days, the sky hung low and people could easily reach the clouds.
Inday, a beautiful girl who was given family heirlooms for her sixteenth
birthday, loved to wear her precious necklace and comb even while she
worked. One day, as she was husking rice with a mortar and a pestle, she put
her jewelry on a cloud to avoid spoiling them. As she pounded on the rice with
her pestle, one end also pounded the sky. Before she knew it, the sky went up
high with her heirloom pieces. In time, her comb became the quarter moon
and the beads of her necklace became the stars.

Folktales being stories that people created to explain the natural world, “The
Necklace and the Comb” is a charming tale on how the moon and stars were
formed. Ong likes this story especially because “the imagery is so charming
and fanciful.”
 Why the Fish has Scales

Once there was a very beautiful girl who was born to a farmer and his wife.
She was so beautiful that her parents refused to let her do any work. She grew
up to be vain and spoiled. One day, as she was by the river admiring her
reflection, the chief of the crabs was drawn to her beauty and spoke to her.
The girl screamed and drove the ugly crab away. Humiliated, the chief of the
crabs scratched the girl’s face with his claws and cursed her to become a fish
covered with scales. This is why it is said that instead of admiring their
reflection, fishes dart around and avoid it.

This cautionary tale about beauty and vanity is something little girls need to
know about.

Mother Mountain

In one of the islands in Batanes, a widow lived with her two daughters who
only wanted to play the whole day. The only thing that the mother asked of her
daughters was to have supper ready by the time she got home from working in
the fields. One night, when she got home and her daughters were nowhere to
be seen, she made dinner herself. When the girls returned and saw their
mother busy in the kitchen, they decided to play some more. The mother
could not take it anymore and calmly walked away from their house. Though
the girls eventually followed her, it was already too late. The mother had taken
the shape of a mountain, now called Mount Iraya.

“Mother Mountain” resonated with Ong “because it's a story that deals with a
basic childhood fear: if you’re not good, your mother will leave.” It is also a
wonderful tale about how a mountain that looks like a woman was formed.