Essay: Tricksters and Fools of Filipino Tales

I chose to focus on the tricksters and fools for my essay. In the first story I read the Buñgisñgis was a trickster and a fool. He fooled the animals into cooking him dinner and making them feel threatened by his presence. However, the monkey in the story was also a trickster because he escaped from the Buñgisñgis a few times using his wit. The dog and the Carabao were the fools in the story, which resulted in death or being harmed. I thought this story was unique because the enemy received punishment as well.

The three brothers of fortune had a different twist. The trickster was harder to define but I would say it would have been the grandmother for allowing the boys to have different charms. By using their charms they were able to get what they wanted in life. This including trying to gain a wife. In a way Suan was also a trickster to his brothers because he was able to use the two halves of the girl to bring her back to life for himself. The boys showed selfish behavior about the girl and were possessive.  

In The Clever Husband and Wife the husband was the trickster. He believed he could fool the doctor to give him more money. Later his wife tried her own tricks as well to gain more money. In this story the doctor was the fool. He was so taken with the joke they continued to play that he kept them even when he found out about the mockery.

I did not find a specific pattern to a trickster and fool in the Filipino popular tales. Other than that there was usually more than one trickster and that they usually received pay back from the fool. In some stories the trickster and the fool appeared as the same character.  

Filipino Tales

I thought this MEME explained the fools. Picture Source

Storytelling: Week 6: The three boys, Marley, Eddie, and Jaxon

One day Marley, Eddie, and Jaxon decided they wanted to go on an adventure. Now the three had never been in the woods by themselves before, but Eddie was confident that he could find his way back home.

They decided they should pack a lunch in case they got hunger or did not make it back in time for dinner. Even at the age of five they knew that their parents would be worried so they wrote them a note to let them know where they had went. After the note was placed on the kitchen counter of Eddie’s house the three boys grabbed their lunches and headed towards the backyard.

They decided they were going to look for treasure. Of course all little boys want to find something hidden in the woods. They had heard from their friends that if they found a circle of stones in the middle of the forest, in which there were no trees, only the stones and grass that there would be a treasure underneath. They found a trail to follow on the nice fall morning. It wasn’t long before Jaxon was hungry. He decided he would hang back and eat his peanut butter sandwich while the others went on ahead.

 Marley and Eddie continued on the trail. They finally came to a spot that was very wooden and the trail was getting smaller. Marley started to get nervous looking at the dark and narrow path. Eddie turned around to say “Come on Marley!” Quickly Marley thought of an excuse to not go in to the dark woods. “Eddie I think I will sit here and eat my lunch and wait for Jaxon to catch up.” Eddie was fine with Marley’s excuse and went on about his marry way.

Soon Eddie noticed it was getting dark and the woods were starting to look scarier. He heard a noise coming from behind him. He thought maybe it was his friends but he heard a growling noise. Eddie started to run through the woods. Soon he heard a snap and WAM! Fell to the ground.

 He then discovered he had fallen in a hole and was trapped. He was so scared he did not know what to do but cry. Then an old woman appeared over him. She was the lady of the woods from the legends Eddie had heard. She raised Eddie from the trap and said she was looking for that old Buñgisñgis that killed her friend, the dog, and lamed the carabao, and spared that witty monkey. 

Image I thought this image was fitting from the original story.

Author's Note:

I wanted to take a different approach to this story. I found it a little difficult to connect to the story I chose by using the same plot or characters. Instead I used what the story made me think of, which was one of my children that I work with. He always wants me to tell him a story, generally about an adventure, In the original story, The Three Friends: the monkey, the dog, and the carabao the animals went to the country to hunt because they were tired of the city. Each day one animal would stay behind and cook. During that time the Buñgisñgis would come and bully them out of their food. One day they trapped him but then he was able to escape. That is when he killed the dog, harmed the carabao, and the monkey was able to get away. He met up with the monkey again but was outwitted.

Reading Diary A: Filipino Popular Tales

The Three Friends: the Monkey, the Dog, and the Carabao

Characters

·         Monkey

·         Dog

·         Carabao

·         Buñgisñgis

Setting: The jungle and the city

Plot: The three friends wanted to leave the city and go on an adventure. They soon learned there were monsters in the forest as well as the city. Some of them lost their life to the adventure.

My favorite character was the monkey because he was able to outsmart his enemy more than once and save his own life.

Three Brothers of Fortune

Characters:

·         Suan

·          Iloy

·         Ambo

·         The young woman

Setting: Neighboring town, island

Plot: The three brothers did not learn much at school but they went on an adventure to neighboring towns. They all found useful charms and used them to capture a girl, but they could not settle on who would take her hand in marriage. When asking the king he split her evenly among them, which was not satisfying to all of them. When the other two brothers tossed her aside Suan made her whole again and they lived happily together.

I thought this story was a little strange. It was very different from the other ones I have read. I like that Suan was able to put the woman back together and keep her as his.

The Clever Husband and Wife

Characters

·         Wife

·         Pedro

·         Doctor

·         Doctor’s sister

·         Servant

Plot:  The two tricked the doctor, who had brought them together, that they were out of money several times. They also pretended each other had died several times to gain more money.

I thought this story was more realistic because it showed two greedy people taking advantage of someone. I thought it was written in a language easy to understand and more modern. 

Image : Pangasinan, Philippines

Filipino Popular tales