Mythology and Folklore

There was one a single servant named Amihan living on large banana plantation. Despite being a solid worker, he was often sad because he was alone. One day his master saw his worker's somber mood and asked why he was sad. Amihan responded by telling his master of his problems. The master, taken aback by his servant's despair, decided to remedy Amihan's problems by finding him a wife. Yet, after doing so, Amihan still was not satisfied. He quickly realized that having a wife would solve all of his problems; he needed money to take care of one. Once again he approached his master to solve his problems. The master, known foe his kind heart throughout Manila, did not hesitate again and gave him one thousand Philippine pesos. Amihan was amazed by his master's kindness and immediately grabbed the money and took it back to his wife. His wife, Angel, was also shocked by the master's kindness. They did not know what to do with the money, but they decided to spend all of the...

Like Part A of the Filipino tales, Part B is a collection of short stories from the Philippines. One story read was Why Mosquitoes Hum. I was drawn to this story because I was curious to see how the stories explained the humming of mosquitoes. As I am sure many people can agree, this buzzing can often be a nuisance. Without the help of the note above the story, I probably would have not understood the characters in the story. I tried to research the character names online to see the language of origin but failed to find an answer. I would think the names are of Tagalog origin due to the presence of the language on the islands, but it is difficult to confirm my inclination. It is interesting to see how the author uses personification to bring the animals to life in the story. I was confused by the author mean when the Lamoc, or mosquitoes, were carrying fire. If perhaps the the Lamoc referred to lightning bugs, then it would make more sense, but this confusion may be due to lack of und...

Similar to the folktales and short stories seen in the other units, the Filipino folktales consist of a collection of short stories. An interesting and notable story of the collection was The Clever Husband and Wife . The story recounts a Servant who manipulates his master to obtain a wife and money. It is interesting to note the name of the servant, Pedro. Pedro seems to be more of a Latino name, rather than a traditional Filipino name, so this is perhaps commenting on the Spanish influence on the Philippines since the the Philippines used to be a colony of Spain. Additionally, the name of the wife, Marta, also indicates Spanish influence. The doctor's residence, a hacienda, is also a Spanish word meaning a large estate or plantation. Overall, it is clear that the Spanish have had a large influence on the Philippines.  I also found interesting the title of the story and the outcome of the story. While the servant and his wife were certainly clever in stealing money from the ...