Folk tales From Philippine Region

The Story of the Piña

Pinang was a beautiful but lazy girl. One day, her mother got sick and asked her to cook food for them. Having never really done anything around the house, Pinang refused at first. She finally relented through her mother’s insistent shouting, but had trouble finding the ladle. Frustrated, Pinang’s mother wished a hundred eyes to grow on her for being so lazy. After this, Pinang was never seen again. A strange yellow fruit with a hundred eyes, however, was soon found growing in their backyard.

Like all folk tales, the story of the piña has several versions. According to Ong, the popular version is didactic or moralistic – “that’s what you get for being lazy and unmotivated.” Tahanan’s version has Pinang doing her best, but her mother just assumed that she was being lazy again.

For Ong, the story of the piña is “a cautionary tale for both parent and child.”

The Monkey and the Turtle

A monkey and a turtle were once friends. One day, they saw a banana-plant floating on the water. They decided to split it and planted each half. Monkey thought the top part was better, so he planted it and watched in dismay as it died. Turtle planted the roots and was rewarded with a fine tree with fruits. But since he could not climb to get the bananas himself, he asked Monkey to get it for him.The cunning simian, however, ate all of the fruits! In retaliation, Turtle put sticks around the tree and then tricked Monkey to go down, killing him. Monkey’s friends then tried to exact revenge on Turtle, who deceived them into throwing him into the lake, his home.

According to Ong, this folk tale “could be the most famous Philippine folk tale because Jose Rizal published an illustrated retelling in Trubners Oriental Record.” She says that part of the appeal of the story is that “it's a battle between the strong and selfish, and the physically weak but crafty. Children might identify with and root for the turtle.”