Many of these stories contained animals and explained why things are the way they are today. My favorite stories were the ones that contained morales at the end of them, like "The Iguana and the Turtle".
One of my favorite stories was "The Story of our Fingers". I love that the story gave human-like characteristics to fingers, and I've never really read a story that has done that before. We all know that our thumb is separate from our other fingers, but the story begins with the thumb actually being close to all the other ones. The fingers were hungry and the thumb suggested that they steal food in order to survive, but the other finger didn't agree. Since the thumb was a thief, the other fingers didn't want to live near him, so he separated from the rest. I thought this story was really interesting and different. I definitely never thought that there could be a mythological reason for why our thumbs are away from the rest of our fingers.
I also really liked "Why the Ocean is Salty". The ocean used to be without salt and was a collection for goddesses' tears. There was a tall giant who saw a beautiful women sitting on the rocks crying into the ocean. The woman didn't want to live in her dark home in heaven, so she asked the giant to build her a mansion made out of pure white bricks. The giant couldn't find any bricks, so he went to the king of salt, who gave him bricks of salt. He built bamboo bridges across the ocean and had people carry many bricks across. The ocean, who was peacefully sleeping, was angered by all the noise and wiped out those carrying them, dissolving the salt into the water, which is why the ocean is salty today. I like that this story is so unique and I'd never heard a story about why the ocean is salty before this one.
I really enjoyed this week's readings. Filipino tales were something that I'd never read before, so it was really interesting to read their stories! I love learning about other cultures and I think that learning about their different myths really gives some insight into their culture and beliefs!
Jessica, just a quick note: I am so glad you enjoyed the reading! The Philippines is home to so many different tribal cultures... with their own storytelling traditions, and so many wonderful stories. There are some other great collections of stories from the Philippines you can read for free online if you are ever just looking for some good things to read! Books of Pacific Stories (Philippines is part of the list).
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