Week 7 Reading Diary: Filipino Popular Tales

This week I'm reading Filipino Popular Tales by Dean Fasler.

The Three Friends: The monkey, dog and carabao were all great friends and decided to move out to the country to hunt. Each of the three friends stayed home one at a time in order to cook, and a Buñgisñgis was causing problems for them and essentially bullying them alone, and the monkey tricked him and he was killed by a boa constrictor.

Three Brothers of Function: Three brothers were sent to a prestigious school by their father, but had way too much fun and didn't actually study. During their vacation, they bought a book from an old woman, and the book was supposed to bring the dead back to life. Then, they met a woman who sold them a flying mat. Finally, the last brother found a stone that he thought was magical as well. Ambo, the brother who kept the book that brought people back to life, promised a young woman's parents that he would bring their daughter back to life and fell in love. The other brother then took her for a ride on his flying mat, and he fell in love with her as well. Then, they wrecked and the last brother, with the magic stones, fixed the ship and thought he deserved to be with the the woman too. They couldn't decide, so their father divided her up into parts for all of the brothers, and Suan, the brother with the magic stones, was the only one who wanted her and put her back together.

The Clever Husband and Wife: Pedro wanted a wife, but didn't have anything to offer a woman. He went to the doctor and said he wanted one, so the doctor promised that he would get him a wife the following day. Pedro and his wife were married and the doctor gave him two hundred pieces of gold and a house to live in. They were trying to figure out what to do with the money, spent all of it, and became poor. They kept getting money from the doctor and he realized they were tricking him, and took them home with him to be his servants.

The Devil and the Guachinango: A young girl, Piriang, was very stubborn when it came to finding a husband. The devil heard this news, and disguised himself as a worthy man, and she fell in love. Then, a guachinango decided he wanted to marry her, and he buried the devil, which scared him away and married the girl.

Chonguita: A king had three sons, Pedro, Diego and Juan. Their father sent them out on their own and Juan came upon a monkey who gave him bread and told him that he had to share the bread with each monkey he came into contact with. He met a huge monkey who promised his daughter, Chonguita, would marry him. They returned to his father, along with the other brothers who also had wives, and the king said that whoever's wife drew the prettiest picture would be crowned as king. Chonguita drew the prettiest picture, so Juan was king, even though his wife was a monkey.

Cochinango: Cochinango was a boy who was considered a fool, but a man predicted that he was going to marry the princess and become the king. The prediction came true, and Cochinango was king.

The Enchanted Prince: A very rich king had a son who fell in love with his enemy, a young witch. His father brought all of the beautiful women of the land to the castle for his son to pick, but the son chose none of them. He finally found a woman, but the witch was very angry and terrorized the town and turned the prince into a monkey. After many years, the prince found a beautiful woman and he was turned back into a man and they lived happily ever after. 

(Monkey)

The Wicked Woman's Reward: A king had five women and favored two of them because they could give him children. One woman had a girl and another had a boy. The one who had a girl wished she had a son, so she killed her girl and stole the boy from the other woman. The king thought the son's mother had drowned the girl and ordered that she be drowned in the river and he was happy to see his son was still alive. He married his daughter's mother, went to the river, and realized he drowned the wrong woman. He had his wife hanged and his son was raised to become the next king. 

The Poor Man and his Three Sons: A poor man had three sons and on his deathbed he gave them a rooster, a cat and a scythe. They each ended up becoming rich because they knew how to trade things that they were given. 

The Monkey and the Turtle: A turtle and a monkey were good friends and decided to share a banana plant. They both planted their plant, but the monkey's died while the turtle's thrived. The turtle tricked the monkey, and the monkey ended up dying.

The Monkey and the Crocodile: A monkey and a crocodile had a weird arrangement after the crocodile helped him across the river. The crocodile vowed that the monkey would pay, but the monkey said that he was the chef for the king, and the crocodile believed him. The monkey gave him food that he was allergic to, because he had tried to eat the monkey, and the crocodile was uncomfortable. 

The Monkey and the Dragon-flies: A tired dragonfly wanted to rest on a monkey's tree and he mocked her for being weak and swatted her away. The monkeys then decided to fight the dragonflies, thinking that they would win, but they lost and all were killed.

The Monkey, the Turtle and the Crocodile: A monkey was very deceitful and tried to trick a crocodile and a turtle that were resting in the street. He tricked them into going near two very hungry men, and they were both killed.