Mythology and Folklore

Republic of the Philippines Capiz State University Main Campus, Roxas City College of Education Fuentes Drive, Roxas City

Homework In Mythology & Folklore (Spec 325)

Submitted by: Flordelis B. Lisao BSED 3- F Student Submitted to: Mrs. Charess Joy Dela Cruz Instructor

Define the following terms: 1.

MYTHOLOGY : the myths of a particular group or culture : ideas that are believed by many people but that are not true : an allegorical narrative : a body of myths ﾧ dealing with the gods, demigods, and legendary heroes of a particular people : a popular belief or assumption that has grown up around someone or something

2.

FOLKLORE

: traditional customs, tales, sayings, dances, or art forms preserved among a people : a branch of knowledge that deals with folklore : an often unsupported notion, story, or saying that is widely circulated 3.

LEGEND : a story from the past that is believed by many people but cannot be proved to be true : a famous or important person who is known for doing something extremely well : a list that explains the symbols on a map

4.

FAIRYTALE : a story (as for children) involving fantastic forces and beings (as fairies, wizards, and goblins) —called also fairy story : a story in which improbable events lead to a happy ending : a made-up story usually designed to mislead

Examples of Myth

The Myth about the Lanzones Fruit ﾧ One day, the myth says, a hungry old woman came to the village begging for food. The kind villagers gladly gave the old woman food and water and clothes to wear. They even offered her free lodging as long as she saw the need to stay with them. According to the myth, the woman was awed by the kindness of the villagers. One day, while staying with the people, she learned about the lanzones fruits that could not be eaten because they were poisonous. She asked the people where the tree was. They gladly obliged. Then, according to the myth, upon seeing the lanzones tree and its fruits, the old woman smiled knowingly. She announced to the people that the fruit was edible, to everyone’s wary delight. She taught the villagers the proper way to pick, peel and eat the fruits of the lanzones tree. According to the myth, the old woman said that peeling the fruit by pinching it lets out a small amount of the white sticky sap from the fruit, and that served as an antidote to the poison of the fruit. Then, the myth says, she did it with a fruit and ate it. She did the same with another fruit, and another, and another. The myth says the villagers also discovered for themselves that the

fruits were very edible and delicious. Since then, the villagers started planting more lanzones trees and it became a very lucrative source of income for everyone, the myth adds.

The Myth of the Guava Fruit ﾧ According to this myth, the guava fruit used to be a forbidden fruit. A long time ago, in a fruit orchard somewhere in the countryside, there lived a boy from the family of the Abas, the family who owned the fruit orchard. The boy Abas was very friendly and kind, says this myth, and soon the people in the place started calling him “Bay” (pronounced “buy”), the term used in the locality for super friendly and kind people. So as time went by, the myth says, the boy was known as Bay Abas. Bay Abas was especially kind to the needy. So the myth says that every needy folk who came by to ask for fruit from their orchard he gave to liberally. Various fruit-bearing trees were in their orchard, and each one with ripe fruits he picked from and gave to anyone who asked. As he did, the myth purports that the orchard noticeably bore more fruits than any orchard in the locality. And more new trees also mysteriously appeared in their orchard, the myth adds. But the myth says there was one tree in their orchard that bore inedible fruits. It was a tree of hard wood with branches spreading wide and open instead if straight up. Other fruit trees, the myth notes, grew straight up first and bore fruits high up there where they’re fruits were hard to pick. But this tree bore fruits even at low levels. But nobody dared, says this myth. One day an old woman came by the orchard and asked Bay Abas some fruits to eat. Unfortunately, says the myth, not a tree had fruit that time, save the forbidden tree. Nonchalantly, he whispered a wish, or something like a prayer and, according to this myth, he thought of sampling the fruit to find out once and for all. HIs wish, says the myth, reached the ears of the forest gods. The fruit quickly turned edible just before he took his first bite. And so from that time on, the myth says the fruit became edible and named “Bayabas.”

The Myth about the Macopa Fruit ﾧ The coastal town had an old church. According to the myth the bell in the tower was shaped like a giant cup. Initially the bell was fondly called the “copa” or cup. As time went by, the myth says the bell’s name evolved into “macopa,” which really meant “shaped more like a cup.” The bell tolled differently than most bells, the myth further says. Though alone, it often seemed to play some kind of a merry tune. One day, says this myth, some bandits, going by boat loads and armed to the teeth, proceeded to the coastal town. Soon, the myth says, the town people had a quick meeting and their leaders decided on burying the bell. The people hurriedly took the bell from the tower and buried it at the back of the church. So the bandits arrived and, the myth says, started to attack the helpless town. Being a peaceful and religious town, they did not have need for any police force. So the bandits quickly overcome them without a fight. Then they looked around but found no gold bell. This angered them.

Nobody from the town wanted to talk about where the bell was, so the bandits killed all the people. Finding nothing, the bandits left frustrated. When they have left the people of the neighboring town came and buried them. At the back of the church, they found a small plant growing on the spot where the golden bell was buried. It grew into a big tree and bore bellshaped fruits which the people from the next town called macopa because it resembled the gold bell.

The Myth on Why Fireflies Have Lights ﾧ According to a local myth, fireflies were simply “flies” a longtime ago before they were called fireflies. But they did not fly around dirt or garbage dumps like ordinary flies do. They liked flying around star apple trees. The myth says the tree and its fruit so mesmerized them that they frequented star apples when the day started to fade out. And they especially became a gleeful congregation around the tree when the night became very dark. The myth says at such time, they only had the moonlight to guide them and see everything around them. Then one night, as they were flying around the star apple tree, the myth says they noticed the twinkling stars above. According to the myth a story went that time that a tribe was said to have been languished and famished by a long hunting travel and had ended up in the middle of the forest with nothing to eat. It had been so dark, but suddenly the nocturnal clouds were parted and revealed the silvery full moon and the stars. The myth says that with aid from the faint light lent by the moon and stars, they were able to make out a tree nearby. They climbed it and ate its edible and soft, apple-like fruit. It was so sweet and fibrous, re-energizing them for the long trek the next day. The tribe, according to the myth, had called the tree and its fruits star apple, imagining that it was a gift from the stars. So, the myth says, the flies thought that, since they were the guardians of the tree and its fruits, why weren’t they called starflies? So together they wished upon the stars to let them become starflies. But since stars were really burning balls, the stars gave them fire in their bodies instead.

A Myth on the Coconut Tree ﾧ According to this myth, once there was a kingdom in Mindanao known as Bangonansa Pulangui (“kingdom by the river”), which was ruled by a just and kind sultan. The myth says the kingdom was known for Putri Timbang-Namat, the sultan’s only daughter. She was a most beautiful and charming woman. Her name meant “lady grace.” Putri’s admirers came from the seven seas, but she did not care for any of them. According to the myth, the kind sultan was touched by their persistence. One day, he tried to ask his daughter to choose from among them the man she would marry, the myth adds. ”I need a son to succeed me when I die,” the father said, “and I wish that before I die, I would see you married,” he added. The myth says the king thought of a contest for the princess’ hand. A tournament was held to determine who among the suitors was worthy of the princess’ love, the myth says. In the palace garden, meanwhile, the myth says the princess met a young and handsome gardener, Wata-Mama. The myth says Wata-Mama decided to reveal his past to her. According to

the myth he was of royal descent but had been lost when he was three. His father was killed by his greedy uncle. The myth says that the princess said, “We love each other, that’s all that matters. ” The myth says a general was very jealous of Wata. So, that night, in the dark corner of the palace, he and his aides waited for the young lovers. The myth says the general suddenly emerged, struck Wata-Mama and beheaded him. The princess, fearless, picked up Wata’s head. After Wata’s head was buried, the myth says, early one morning, while the princess was watching the spot, she saw a tiny plant growing from the ground. Suddenly, the myth says, it grew into a tree and reached the height of the window where the princess was sitting at. It produced a round fruit the size of a man’s head.

Examples of Folklore The Story of the Piña ( Why The Piña Has A Hundred Eyes ) 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. 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. The Necklace and the Comb In the early days, the sky hung low and people could easily reach the clouds. Inday, a beautiful girl who was given family heirlooms for her sixteenth birthday, loved to wear her precious necklace and comb even while she worked. One day, as she was husking rice with a mortar and a pestle, she put her jewelry on a cloud to avoid spoiling them. As she pounded on the rice with her pestle, one end also pounded the sky. Before she knew it, the sky went up high with her heirloom pieces. In time, her comb became the quarter moon and the beads of her necklace became the stars

Why the Fish has Scales ( The Girl Who Turned Into A Fish) Once there was a very beautiful girl who was born to a farmer and his wife. She was so beautiful that her parents refused to let her do any work. She grew up to be vain and spoiled. One day, as she was by the river admiring her reflection, the chief of the crabs was drawn to her beauty and spoke to her. The girl screamed and drove the ugly crab away. Humiliated, the chief of the crabs scratched the girl’s face with his claws and cursed her to become a fish covered with scales. This is why it is said that instead of admiring their reflection, fishes dart around and avoid it. Mother Mountain In one of the islands in Batanes, a widow lived with her two daughters who only wanted to play the whole day. The only thing that the mother asked of her daughters was to have supper ready by the time she got home from working in the fields. One night, when she got home and her daughters were nowhere to be seen, she made dinner herself. When the girls returned and saw their mother busy in the kitchen, they decided to play some more. The mother could not take it anymore and calmly walked away from their house. Though the girls eventually followed her, it was already too late. The mother had taken the shape of a mountain, now called Mount Iraya. Examples of Legend The Legend of Makahiya Maria, a very shy girl, lived with her parents Mang Dondong and Aling Iska, in a small village. Maria would spend hours tending to her garden, which was renowned for its lovely flowers. One day, bandits raided the village, and fearing for her life, Maria's parents hid her in the garden. While Aling Iska was praying to God for her daughter's safety, the bandits broke into the house and hit them both on the head. After pillaging the house, the bandits fled. When Mang Dondong and Aling Iska regained consciousness, they ran to the garden to look for Maria, but couldn't find her. They searched for her everywhere, and started to despair, when something pricked Mang Dondong's feet. Both of them knelt down to take a better look at the tiny plant closing its leaves. At that moment they realized, that their shy Maria has been transformed by the Gods into the plant. They named the plant Makahiya (Tagalog for shyness) and took immense care of it. The Legend of Sampaloc Lake There was an orchard owned by a rich couple, filled with the most delicious tamarind trees. One day, a fairy decided to test their hospitality, and came to the orchard, dressed as a poor, old woman. She begged the couple to give her a few fruits as she was very hungry. The selfish couple, instead of helping the woman, let their dogs loose on her. The old woman was bitten by the dogs and badly hurt. She touched a giant tamarind tree and cursed, "Your greed shall be punished". As the woman was walking away, the sky darkened and a ferocious storm broke out.

The downpour continued late in the night, the next morning though, the sky was clear and blue. The couple came to tend their orchard and were bewildered to find their entire orchard gone. Instead, there was water everywhere. When they looked down into the water, they could still see their precious trees at the bottom of the lake.

Legend of Mount Mayon Mount Mayon is an active volcano, named after Daragang Magayon, a beautiful girl in this legend. This is a tragic love triangle between Daragang Magayon, her lover Panginorin, and her admirer Pagtuga. The Legend of Mangoes Once upon a time, there was a little boy named Ben who had a wonderful heart. He is the son of Maria and Juan. Ben’s a kind and helpful young lad who was nurtured well by his parents who have good hearts as well. One day, Ben saw a very old beggar and he took pity on him. So, Ben decided to invite the old beggar into their humble home and he cooked food and fed the old beggar until he could not eat anymore. On another day, while Ben was looking for fire woods, he passed by an old man who was also very hungry. Ben took pity on him once more and without a doubt in his mind, he invited the old man back to their home and helped him. Unfortunately, the time came that Ben suddenly got very ill.Ben died. His parents mourned over the loss of their only son. The next day, after Ben’s death, a beautiful fairy came to Ben’s wake and talked to his parents. She asked them to give her Ben’s heart. They agreed and gave it to her. The fairy then flew away and in a mountain, she dug and buried Ben’s dead heart. It then turned into a fruit-bearing tree whose fruits were in the shape of a heart and whose taste was so sweet. People were amazed upon discovering this new type of fruit and when they tasted it they were happy as it’s the sweetest fruit they have ever tasted.

The Legend of Mount Kanlaon There once lived on the island of Negros a princess named Anina who lived a very sheltered life. One day, Anina overheard her father talking to the kingdom's chief priestess. The priestess was frantic about a report that they could not find a single maiden who was unblemished.

Later, Anina asked her father what it was all about, and the king finally broke down. There had long been a seven-headed dragon threatening the kingdom, and the monster could only be appeased if an unblemished maiden was sacrificed to it. In fear, all the women in the kingdom had cut themselves to disqualify themselves from the sacrifice. Parents cut their own baby girls so as to spare the infants from the sacrifice. But the king and the queen couldn't bring themselves to mar their daughter's beauty, and so Anina was the only remaining unscarred female in the kingdom. Anina did not weep. Instead, she willingly offered herself for the sacrifice. Fortuitously, on the day she was to be brought to the mountain where the dragon lived, a man calling himself Khan Laon appeared. (Khan in his language meant a noble lord.) He said he came from a kingdom far away in order to slay the dragon and spare Anina's life. No one believed the dragon could be killed, but Khan Laon insisted that his ability to talk to animals would help him. He asked the help of the ants, the bees and the eagles. The ants swarmed over the dragon's body and crept under its scales to bite its soft, unprotected flesh, while the bees stung the fourteen eyes of the dragon till it was blind. The largest eagle carried Khan Laon to the mountain where he was able to easily chop off the seven heads of the writhing beast. In gratitude, the king gave Khan Laon his daughter Anina to be his bride, and the people named the mountain after the noble lord. Examples of Fairytale Little Red Riding Hood Little Red Riding Hood (LRRH) went to the forest to visit her ill granny. She took some cake and lemonade in a basket. She met a wicked wolf that asked her which path she was taking. She replied, Im taking the path that leads to my granny's cottage. While LRRH was busy picking flowers to take to her granny, the wolf went to the cottage and swallowed granny in one gulp. Then the wolf put on granny's cap, got in granny's bed, covered up in blankets, and settled in to wait. LRRH arrived at the cottage and came into granny's bedroom. The wolf swallowed LLRH in one gulp and then fell asleep. A woodsman came by while the wolf was still asleep. The woodsman cut the wolf open with his ax and out popped Granny and LRRH. Then the woodsman, Granny, and LRRH all sat down by the fire and enjoyed cake and lemonade. Pinocchio An lonely old carpenter named Geppetto made a puppet out of some wood, a ball, and a string. That night, a fairy visited and cast a spell that made the puppet walk and talk. The next morning, Geppetto discovered the animated puppet and named him Pinocchio. Geppetto gave Pinocchio all of his money and sent him into town to buy books for school. Instead, Pinocchio used to the money to buy a ticket for the circus. Two clowns gave Pinocchio a hat and asked him to stay, but he said he must go back to Geppetto. The clowns returned Pinocchio's money, but on the way home he was robbed by an evil cat and an equally evil fox. The fairy appeared again and asked what happened Pinocchio pretended

he had been captured by a monster. Suddenly his nose grew, and the fairy said, whenever you lie, your nose will get bigger. Pinocchio was rowing a small boat in the sea when he thought he heard Geppetto is voice coming from inside a large dark cave. He rowed inside, only to find himself inside a whale with Geppetto. He tickled the whale with a feather, and the whale sneezed, sending Pinocchio and Geppetto flying out on to the beach. Relived, Pinocchio vowed never to lie again and then he heard the fairy's voice saying, make that promise and you will become a real boy. Jack and the Beanstalk Jack and his mother were hungry. The cow in the barn gave them milk, but they needed food.so Jack's mother told him to sell the cow in the market and Jack volunteered to take the cow to town. Along the way, Jack met a farmer who talked him into giving up the cow in exchange for a handful of good luck beans. When Jack returned home, his mother was very cross because they lost their cow for a few beans. She threw the beans out the window and went to bed. The beans began to grow straight up into the sky, so Jack climbed the beanstalk hoping to find good luck at the top. Sleeping Beauty A king and a queen had been trying to have a child for years. When the child finally arrived, they called her Aurora. A great holiday was proclaimed to celebrate Aurora's birth. Visitors came from far and wide. The three good fairies began bestowing their gifts upon Aurora. Aurora received the gift of Beauty, and gift of Song but before the last gift was bestowed, a wicked fairy interrupted. This wicked fairy was upset that she wasn't invited to the party, so she cast a spell on the day of Aurora's 16th birthday, she would prick her finger on the spindle of a spinning wheel and die. The third good fairy hadn't bestowed her gift yet, and she was horrified at the spell the wicked fairy cast. The good fairy wasn't strong enough to undo the spell, but she was able to dilute it a bit instead of death, Aurora would fall asleep until her true love come along to undo the spell with a kiss. As a precaution, all spinning wheels were removed from the kingdom, and Aurora lived in hiding as a peasant with the good fairies for protection. She grew up, met Prince Philip, and fell in love. On the night of Aurora's 16th birthday, Aurora, Prince Philip, and the good fairies all went back to the castle to live. But the evil fairy snuck into the castle and pricked Aurora's finger with a needle, causing her to fall asleep. With the help of the good fairies, Prince Philip kissed her and she awoke. They all lived happily ever after.

Cinderella There once was a widower who remarried. His second wife was ill-natured, and she had two daughters who were just as unpleasant as their mother. The man had a beautiful, gentle daughter of his own, and she was soon to become the servant of her evil step-mother and step-sisters.

They made her do all the chores around the house, and she was named Cinderella, after the cinders she swept out of the fireplace. The King needed to find a queen for his prince, so he threw a huge ball. The evil stepmother and step-sisters were invited, but Cinderella was not allowed to go. After they left, Cinderella's fairy godmother appeared and changed her dirty rags into a beautiful gown with glass slippers. Next the fairy godmother changed a pumpkin into a coach and some mice into footmen. Before Cinderella left, the fairy godmother warned her to be home before midnight, because the spell would only last till then. Cinderella was a hit at the ball. The prince fell in love with her and asked her name. Just then the clock struck midnight, and Cinderella ran away. She was in such a hurry, she lost one of her glass slippers. It was the only clue the prince had to find his true love. He went to every home in the kingdom and had every single young girl try on the slipper to see if it fit. The evil step-sisters couldn't fit the slipper, but Cinderella did. The prince married her and they all lived happily ever after.