Reading Diary Week 7: Filipino Popular Tales Continued

This is Part B of Filipino Popular Tales by Dean Fasler.

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.

(Salt)

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! 

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. 

Storytelling Week 6: Disobedient Daughter's Diary

Dear Diary,

It's time for me to marry, but none of the men in this town are good enough for me. They're lacking in looks or personality, when, let's face it, I'm the most beautiful and smartest woman in all the land. I just don't understand why it's so hard to find someone who is as good as me. I'll be single forever if things don't turn around.

Dear Diary,

I've heard that there's the most handsome man who has traveled from a faraway land just to meet me. I must find him and meet him, since he's all that my friends can talk about. Hopefully he's just as good looking as I am.

Dear Diary,

The man is all I could ever want and more in a future husband. He's smart, charming, and so incredibly handsome. I plan to marry him and return with him to his homeland, but my parents seem to think that we're moving too fast. Don't they understand that they shouldn't mess with true love? They were married within a month!

Dear Diary,

We're married now, and it's time to move back to his home with his mother! My parents are being incredibly stubborn about this whole situation. They reluctantly allowed me to marry him, but now they're saying that I should wait to move back with him. They're just not ready for me to leave. They don't understand that they can no longer control me. I'm a married woman! They're going to have to realize that my husband will take care of me and that I'm going to do what I want.

Dear Diary,

I've made a horrible mistake. I returned back to my husband's home and he was not what I thought he was. As soon as we arrived in his town, his friends came and started taking parts of his body away until he was reduced to a skull. A skull! How am I supposed to be married to something that isn't even fully human. I tried to leave but he demanded that I go back to his mother's house to take care of her. I do love his mother. She's old, but she's so very sweet. I help her out around the house and we have some lovely conversations. I'm glad that I have her here, at least. I don't know what I'd do if I were here all alone.

(The Skull)

Dear Diary,

I haven't written in so long! My life was so hectic. The skull's mother finally felt so sorry for me that she helped me escape. A gentle breeze blew me home and I was able to return to my mother. My parents thought I was dead, so they were incredibly happy to see me. I don't know what I was thinking ever leaving them for someone who I hardly knew! I have definitely learned my lesson. I'm not really sure what happened to my last husband, and I don't really ever want to find out. I'm sure he was angry, but he couldn't have really expected someone as beautiful as me to stay with him forever. It's time for me to find a real husband, a human husband. Hopefully he will be as good looking as me.

Bibliography: This story is based off of "The Disobedient Daughter Who Married A Skull" in the Nigerian Folklore Unit by Elphinstone Dayrell.

Author's Note: I really enjoyed this story, not only because it was interesting, but also because it was kind of interesting how the girl's situation seemed like karma for being so vain and not wanting to listen to her parents. In the original story, the girl is incredibly self-centered and stubborn, and refuses  to marry every man until she hears of an extremely handsome man and ends up meeting him at the market. He's actually a skull who has borrowed body parts from his friends because he wants to be appealing enough that the girl will agree to marry him and return home to the spirit world, and she finds this out after disobeying her parents and marrying him and returning to the faraway land with him. He doesn't let her go back home, and he lives in the spirit world that is full of cannibals, so the girl would have most likely been killed. After helping around the house, she becomes good friends with his mother, who eventually helps her get back home. I thought it would be fun to do a diary from her perspective and explain things in her eyes, since it's all told in third person and you never really hear what the girl is thinking.

Reading Diary Week 6: Nigerian Folk Stories Continued

This is part B of the Nigerian Folk Stories unit by Elphinstone Dayrell.

The Story of the Lightening and the Thunder: Thunder and lightening lived on earth, and were mother and son. Lightening had a temper, and when he was angry he'd destroy everything in his path. Thunder would yell very loudly when her son threw his fits and would scare people in the town. The king made them move out farther, but they still caused destruction, so they were forced to go live in the sky.

The Bush Cow and the Elephant: The bush cow and the elephant weren't very good friends at all, and wanted the chief to settle all of their arguments once and for all. He decided that they would just need to fight, but caused problems fighting in public, so animals had to fight in the open bush after that.

The Cock who caused a fight between Two Towns: Ekpo and Etim were brothers and were very rich. Ekpo had a great chicken who caused a lot of issues between the two brothers. They fought about him, and ended up killing many men in the process. Since it caused a lot of issues, Ekpo was forced to kill his chicken so they never fought over him again.

The Affair of the Hippopotamus and Tortoise: Isantim was the biggest king in all the land and had seven wives. The hippos would only go down to the water in order to bathe, but didn't live in it like they do now. The hippo used to hold feasts, and told a tortoise if he guessed the king's name at the next meal, that he and his wives would be ashamed and go live in the water for eternity. The tortoise guessed his name, and that's why hippos now live in the water.

 

(Hippo)

Why Dead People are Buried: The creator decided that dead bodies would be put in a compound, and had wood and ashes over them, and then in 24 hours they would become alive again. The creator sent a messenger dog to tell the world his new plan, but the dog got distracted by a bone in an old woman's yard, so he didn't make it back in time to put the wood and ashes over the bodies. As punishment, the creator decided that all bodies would be buried underground, and not be able to come back to life again.

Of the Fat Woman who Melted Away: A fat woman was made of oil who many men wanted to marry. Her mother finally agreed to let a man from a far away land marry her and take her home with him. His other wife got very jealous, and put the woman in the sun and she ended up melting. The husband was furious and gave her back to her parents who sold her as a slave.

Why the Moon Waxes and Wanes: A starving woman used to cut parts of the moon off so that she could eat, but people found out and started wanting to get some of the moon too. The moon now hides, and gets thinner and fatter each month. 

How the Tortoise overcame the Elephant and the Hippopotamus: An elephant and hippo were very good friends. They were eating together and a tortoise showed up and agreed that he would give the elephant 10,000 rods if he could pull the tortoise out of the water. The tortoise tricked him a few times, and that's why tortoises live on the land and in water.

The King and the 'Nsiat Bird: The king wanted to marry the 'Nsiat Bird's daughter. The king agreed to marrying her, even though she was going to have twins, which wasn't allowed in their kingdom. The king loved his children, but it was custom for them to be killed since they were twins. The 'Nsiat Bird, not liking the idea of his daughter's children being killed, decided to take his daughter and her children and live in the trees.

Concerning the Hawk and the Owl: Rulers were supposed to put on huge feasts that they had to invite all species to. He used a hawk as a messenger, since they were the fastest birds. Once he got too old, the king told him to find his replacement and he chose an owl. The king made him take the owlet back to his parents and find another replacement, and the hawk chose a chicken, which the king also didn't want. The hawk's friend just used him as a way to eat chicken, which didn't make anything better.

The 'Nsasak Bird and the Odudu Bird: Both of the birds were friends, and decided that they were going to try to become chiefs. The king had them build houses and would decide which one was chief after inspecting them. The 'Nasak Bird ended up winning because of his cunningness.

The Election of the King Bird: Essiya wanted to find a new king of the birds and didn't take the decision lightly. In the end, he chose Ituen, the fishing eagle as the king. 

Reading Diary Week 6: Nigerian Folk Stories

This week I read the Nigerian Folk Stories unit by Elphinstone Dayrell

Of The Pretty Stranger Who Killed The King: MBOTU was a terrible king. He took prisoners for slaves and his people hated him. Many people wanted to kill him, and a witch decided to take matters into her own hands. She changed herself into a pretty girl and ended up killing the king. The king of Itu, however, was planning an attack. They attacked after the king was killed and ended up killing and taking a lot of the people in the town as prisoners. 

Why The Bat Flies By Night: A rat, Oyot and a bat, Emiong, were great friends. The bat always cooked good food and told the rat that he boiled himself in water in order to make the best food. The rat decided to try this, died, and the wife of the rat was very upset and wanted the bat to be killed. The bat changed his habits so that he flew at night instead of the day so that he could avoid being killed.

The Disobedient Daughter Who Married A Skull: A skull decided that he wanted to marry a very beautiful woman named Afiong. He borrowed many parts from his friends and was made into a beautiful man. Afiong saw him and fell in love, and agreed when he wanted to marry her. Her parents hesitated, but since Afiong was very stubborn, she went back to his homeland as his wife. Since he was a skull, his friends demanded their body parts back, and he was left only looking like a skull. Afiong wanted to go home, but he refused and took her back to his home to his mother. His mother loved her, so she eventually decided to help her escape, and Afiong was returned to her parents. 

The King Who Married The Cock's Daughter: Effiom was married to 250 women, but wasn't satisfied with any of them. He decided to marry a hen, and she made him happier than any of his other wives. This made them mad and they ended up tricking him into having to send her away, which broke his heart, and he died.

The Woman, The Ape and The Child: A woman had a child and moved to the jungle with her husband. The ape would come and take care of the child, and a jealous man decided to report this to the husband, who now wanted to kill the ape. The husband shot the ape, but didn't kill him, and the ape ended up killing the child. Out of anger, the husband also killed his wife and then went to tell the king what happened. The king, Duke, wanted to kill the hunter for all the issues he caused. He was killed, and apes and monkeys are now afraid of children.

(A Nigerian Drill)

The Fish and the Leopard's Wife: A leopard had a beautiful wife, and all the fish fell in love with her. Fish used  to be able to come on the land and would visit the leopard's wife. The leopard found out, was enraged and went to the king. The king ruled that fish were to never come on the land again, and that they would be eaten by any animal or human who found them in the future.

Why the Worms live Underneath the Ground: Driver ants and worms had a fight to see who was the strongest. The worms lost, so they had to go live underground for eternity.

The Elephant and the Tortoise: A tortoise tricked an elephant into giving him his eyes. The elephant then tricked the worm into giving him his eyes, so now elephants have tiny eyes and worms are blind.

Why a Hawk kills Chickens: A hawk fell in love with a hen, and she agreed to marry him. A young chicken then decided that he wanted to marry the hen, and stole her from the hawk. The hawk was very angry, and the king decided that chickens will be carried off by hawks for eternity to pay the hawk back for having his wife taken. 

Why the Sun and the Moon live in the Sky: The sun built a large compound for his friend, water, to come visit with all its other friends. The compound was built, and water came in with all its friends, and pushed the sun and the moon into the sky. 

Why the Cat kills Rats: Ansa had a very good housekeeping cat. A rat fell in love with one of the king's girls, but didn't have anything to offer the king. The cat then realized that food was missing from the store and her friends told her that the rat had taken the food to pay the king for the girl. The cat told the king, who was very angry, and was ordered to quit her job and take the rat. The cat killed the rat, which is why all rats get killed by cats now. 

Thoughts About Comments

I really enjoyed reading through all of my comments! The best ones were when people found parts of my introduction and found ways to tie it back to their own lives and also told me about themselves. It can be hard to feel connected to my classmates since this is a fully online class, but it actually really helps to have engaging comments that almost seem to be a conversation of their own. I also like the comments that make it seem like the person has read my story in full, and reflects back on those certain parts, it makes it feel a lot more personal. I should actually work on making my comments more engaging and personal, rather than just saying "I liked your story" and leaving comments that just kind of talk about stories in general. That's something I'm really going to work towards doing next week!

Week 5 Storytelling: The Trial Of The Father

We find ourselves in a musty, crowded courtroom to see if the father of a young woman is guilty of murder, after killing a monkey, which caused his young daughter to commit suicide. The court was to decide if he would be charged with involuntary manslaughter for his daughter, or murder for the monkey. This was the first time that someone had been prosecuted for killing an animal, and many people believed that he was really being charged with causing his daughter's death.

The father is brought in by the bailiff, looking incredibly nervous and tired. He hadn't slept in weeks. He didn't understand why he was being prosecuted for murder, all he did was kill an animal. He didn't realize it would cause any trouble, let alone cause his daughter to kill herself. He nervously looked over at the jury, some who looked at him sympathetically, and others who looked at him with pure hatred in their eyes. He took his seat and waited for the trial to begin. 

Judge: "Prosecution I'll allow you to begin".

Prosecutor: "The prosecution calls the girl's father up to the stand".

He wasn't prepared for this. He didn't think he'd have to testify so soon. He glanced over at his lawyers, who were equally as surprised. They hadn't prepared him for the kinds of questions that the prosecution would ask, or how he was supposed to answer. 

The judge looked at him expectantly and said "Sir, we don't have all day".

The father reluctantly made his way to the stand, and waited for the questioning to begin.

Prosecution: "Sir, is it true that you killed the monkey because you didn't want your daughter to marry him?"

Father: "Yes, that's correct".

(courtroom)

Prosecution: "Why was that such an issue for you? In this day and age we often see those kinds of marriages happen. In fact, there was a woman who gave her daughter to a tiger to be married". 

Father: "I wanted my daughter to marry a human, not a monkey. I knew that she loved him though, so I thought something had to be done. I realize now that my daughter just had a monkey soul and that she needed to be with him". 

Prosecution: "So, you're telling me that you murdered an innocent animal who would your daughter wanted to marry, for your own selfish reasons? Don't you realize your actions led to your daughter's death?"

Father: "I'm very aware of that, sir. You just don't understand. I didn't want my daughter to marry an animal. I wasn't okay with it. We've killed animals for many years before this, so I don't see what the issue is".

Prosecution: "The issue is that your actions caused another human to die. Your SELFISH actions. The prosecution has no more questions". 

The trial went on for days. The father was emotionally drained and just couldn't understand why he was in trouble for killing an animal. He was also mourning the death of his daughter, which took an even bigger emotional toll on him. 

Finally, after a long day of arguments, the jury ruled not guilty, and the father was allowed to go on with his life. 

Bibliography: This story is based on "The Monkey and the Girl" by C.H. Bompas. 

Author's Note: "The Monkey and the Girl" is a very interesting story. It starts with the girl agreeing to marry the monkey, but then her father finds out and disapproves. He decides that he needs to kill the monkey and instead of just burying him, he burns him like they would a real man. The girl is extremely upset and distracts the men burning the monkey so that she can jump into the fire. Her father says that she just must have a monkey soul, so she wanted to be with the dead monkey. I thought it would be fun to kind of spin it into a court trial, since murder is obviously something that would get you into prison today. I think that the father would justify his actions and not really understand why he was in trouble for killing a monkey or for his daughter killing herself, and would explain that he thought his daughter had a monkey soul. He would probably be super distraught over losing his daughter, and kind of regret his actions since it did lead to her death. I think that the jury would also find him not guilty, at least for murder, since he didn't actually kill a human being, even though he shouldn't have killed the monkey either.