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| There are many different kinds of folk stories. Here are some of them... |
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The Monkey And The Crocodile
Monkey was upset. No food could be found anymore in the forest of the little island of Buyayaw. He was very hungry indeed. Of course,he could go to the mainland,were there was plenty of food,but that was exactly the problem. How could he cross the
Channel of the water, infested with the voracious crocodiles?
“Well, let’s find out from the water,” Monkey said. “You, water, if it will be
dangerous for me to cross, you should become could.” He dipped with his hand into the water,and cold it was indeed! But to die from hunger wasn’t a pleasure either, so he would try to cross the channel, whatever the outcome! So Monkey started out. In the middle of the channel, Crocodile was waiting for
Him! “What do you want of me, Crocodile?” Monkey asked.
“Well,” Crocodile said, “I’ll just have your liver, that’s what I like
“My liver!” exclaimed Monkey. “that’s just too bad, I left it on the shore because
if I look it along, I would surely be drowned. But as a good friend, I am willing to get it for you. Maybe you could give me a ride on your back?”
And there they went to the shore. With a great leap Monkey jumped into solid land and turned around at a safe distance. “You stupid Crocodile,” he shouted, “did you ever hear about a man who left his liver behind!” And after that he disappeared in the forest, leaving an angry crocodile behind. But Crocodile planned to take revenge, and one day he hid himself in the house of Monkey, while Monkey was out. But Monkey was suspicious, and wanted to make sure as to whether or not Crocodile was inside the house.
“If somebody is in the house, let him keep silent,” Monkey shouted, “but if nobody
is inside, he should give a yell.”
And sure enough, Crocodile gave a terrific yell! Said Monkey,
“You stupid Crocodile, have you ever heard a house yell, when nobody was inside!”
But Crocodile didn’t give up. One day later on he had been wallowing in the mud and had an awful stench. Flies were settling on his body as if he had already died.
While this was happening Monkey came up, so Crocodile acted as if he was a real cadaver.
Monkey came nearer. Crocodile looked dead, all right, but one couldn’t be sure.
“You, cadaver, if you are alive, don’t make a sound. But if you are really dead, let me hear it.” And Crocodile gave a thundering roar!
“You stupid Crocodile,” Monkey laughed from a safe distance. “Ever heard about the dead crocodile that roars?”
The Tree, the Silver Girl, and the Sun and Moon
Long ago, the sun, moon, and the silver girl were three women living together on the new earth, and the tree was their servant. One man fell in love with the silver girl and
wanted to marry her. One day, however, when he came, the silver girl was gone, and the tree put on the silver girl's clothing and went away with the man and married him. When the silver girl returned and found out what happened, she was very angry and chased after the man and the tree until she found them. She made the man catch a deer and
tie the tree-girl to the deer. The deer ran back and forth across the earth, and the seeds which fell from the tree-girl fell on the ground and the forests sprang up from them.
The silver girl then married the man, but after a while the man became tired of her. The sun and moon girls had gone to live in a different place, and the man's wife forbade him to go see her two sisters. However, the man went to the dwelling of the sun and moon, fell in love with the moon and took her as his wife. The silver girl flew into a rage, turned herself into a hawk, and attacked her sisters. The man tried to defend the sisters, and they ran about trying to avoid the attacks. The man's arrows struck the talons of the hawk, for this reason there is a red spot on the hawk's foot. The ruler of the upper world intervened and took the two sisters to the upper world and made them lights for the day and the night and they never met their sister or brother in law again.
THE THREE CROWS
When fledgling crows reach a certain age, their fellow crows question them to determine whether or not they are worthy to join the flock.
On a day when three fledglings were to receive their examination, the leader of the flock perched before the first. "Tell me," he asked, "what is the most fearsome thing in all the world?"
Almost immediately, the young crow answered "An arrow," to the approval of the surrounding crows.
The leader flew on to the next fledgling, perched in a different tree, and repeated his question. This time, the fledgling paused for a moment in thought.
"A skillful archer," he said. "For, while it is the arrow which injures or kills, it is the archer who chooses his target."
The leader nodded in approval; the surrounding crows cawed their acceptance. The leader moved on to the final fledgling, and again repeated his question. After an even longer, more thoughtful pause, the third fledgling replied: "I fear the unskilled archer."
The nearby crows looked puzzled. "Why do you choose such an answer?" asked the leader.
"Because a skilled archer will aim truly. By flying just a little to the right or left, one can avoid the arrow. But there is no way to predict where the arrow of the unskilled archer will fly."
The flock loudly cawed its approval, and the leader flew dejectedly away. He knew that his days as leader were numbered: the flock already recognized the wisdom of this young fledgling.
THE SHIPWRECKED MAN AND THE SEA
A SHIPWRECKED MAN, having been cast upon a certain shore, slept after his buffetings with the deep. After a while he awoke, and looking upon the Sea, loaded it with reproaches. He argued that it enticed men with the calmness of its looks, but when it had induced them to plow its waters, it grew rough and destroyed them. The Sea, assuming the form of a woman, replied to him: "Blame not me, my good sir, but the winds, for I am by my own nature as calm and firm even as this earth; but the winds suddenly falling on me create these waves, and lash me into fury."
THE MULES AND THE ROBBERS
TWO MULES well-laden with packs were trudging along. One carried panniers filled with money, the other sacks weighted with grain. The Mule carrying the treasure walked with head erect, as if conscious of the value of his burden, and tossed up and down the clear-toned bells fastened to his neck. His companion followed with quiet and easy step. All of a sudden Robbers rushed upon them from their hiding-places, and in the scuffle with their owners, wounded with a sword the Mule carrying the treasure, which they greedily seized while taking no notice of the grain. The Mule which had been robbed and wounded bewailed his misfortunes. The other replied, "I am indeed glad that I was thought so little of, for I have lost nothing, nor am I hurt with any wound."
THE VIPER AND THE FILE
A LION, entering the workshop of a smith, sought from the tools the means of satisfying his hunger. He more particularly addressed himself to a File, and asked of him the favor of a meal. The File replied, "You must indeed be a simple-minded fellow if you expect to get anything from me, who am accustomed to take from everyone, and never to give anything in return."
THE LION AND THE SHEPHERD
A LION, roaming through a forest, trod upon a thorn. Soon afterward he came up to a Shepherd and fawned upon him, wagging his tail as if to say, "I am a suppliant, and seek your aid." The Shepherd boldly examined the beast, discovered the thorn, and placing his paw upon his lap, pulled it out; thus relieved of his pain, the Lion returned into the forest. Some time after, the Shepherd, being imprisoned on a false accusation, was condemned "to be cast to the Lions" as the punishment for his imputed crime. But when the Lion was released from his cage, he recognized the Shepherd as the man who healed him, and instead of attacking him, approached and placed his foot upon his lap. The King, as soon as he heard the tale, ordered the Lion to be set free again in the forest, and the Shepherd to be pardoned and restored to his friends.
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| FOLKTALES FROM DIFFERENT COUNTRY |
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MAMU’S ORDEAL
THE ADVENTURES OF JUAN
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MAMU’S ORDEAL
Mamu, who was very industrious, had been serving in the house of his future parents-in-law for two years. Tradition requires that after 2 years of panunugat the wedding must take place. The man must provide for the dowry and shoulder all the expenses for the wedding. Unfortunately, however, Mamu was so poor he could afford neither dowry nor wedding expense. So he decided to talk to the parents of his loved one. He bids goodbye to them.
His fiancée’s parents were sorry to see him go but there was nothing they could do.
“We do understand how you feel, Mamu,” they said. “But we have to let you go. Still we give you our blessings, and you may also see our daughter before going.”
Mamu’s sweetheart was disconsolate. She pleaded to go with him. “You may take me with you or I’ll kill myself,” the girl threatened.
Mamu had no choice. At midnight he came and positioned his ladder under sweetheart’s window. Rather thoughtlessly he left his sword at the foot of the ladder resting it on its hilt, its point facing up. The night was pitch-dark. The stars were distant points of light that were of no help to the two dark shadows moving secretly about. Then it happened. Mamu’s beloved slipped and fell exactly where Mamu’s sword rested
The sword cut a big gash on her temple and she was bleeding profusely. She passed out. The grieving Mamu took her back to her room, leaving her for dead. He sat down under a tree and wept.
The following morning the girl’s parents wondered why their daughter was not yet up for she was an early riser. “Oh our poor child,” they wept. They too believed she was dead and suspected that Mama had something to do with it.
They found the grieving Mamu and from him learned everything that happened. And they felt there was no use blaming Mama, knowing how he loved their daughter, and how she was his loss as much as theirs. So they started preparing for the burial.
At the graveside Mama lamented: “Bury me with her. My life means nothing now that she is gone. Please, bury me with my beloved.”
The people saw that Mamu meant every word he said so he was buried with his beloved. They shared the burial mat as if it was their marriage bed. Mamu waited calmly for his own death, as if it would simply come like sleep. Suddenly he felt his sweetheart stirring.
“She’s alive!” he cried out. At once he helped her struggle out of the fresh grave and fortunately they both got out before they could suffocate. Happily the lovers hurried home but the people who first saw them were not exactly overjoyed. They mistook the couple for either ghosts or vampires. But everything was cleared up as soon as everybody could touch them and found them very much alive.
Once more the whole kingdom shared in the couple’s “second-life” happiness. Mamu and sweetheart had to be married at once because tradition dictated as much – they had been alone together already and they had no choice but to be man and wife. Except for one catch. The village elders said, “The wife may not submit herself physically to the husband because certain wedding conditions still have not been met.”
Mamu hadn’t completed the two years of panunugat, and neither could he afford the dowry or the wedding itself. And so they lived together for three years, consoled with their being together but never able to consummate their marriage. And after these three long years the wife died and her soul went to the realm of women’s spirits. She was almost happy there except for knowing that on earth, her husband still suffered in his grief. Before long he, too, died and his spirit went searching for her.
But Allah was ever-merciful. “You have suffered enough on earth,” He told Mamu. “You must find your eternal happiness.” Allah then led Mamu to the realm of women’s spirits. Once reunited in Allah’s kingdom, nothing at all could separate them, ever.
The Adventures of Juan
Juan was always getting into trouble. He was a lazy boy, and more than that, he did not have good sense. When he tried to do things, he made such dreadful mistakes that he might better not have tried. His family grew very impatient with him, scolding and beating him whenever he did anything wrong. One day his mother, who was almost discouraged with him, gave him a bolo[1] and sent him to the forest, for she thought he could at least cut firewood. Juan walked leisurely along, contemplating some means of escape. At last he came to a tree that seemed easy to cut, and then he drew his long knife and prepared to work.
Now it happened that this was a magic tree and it said to Juan:
"If you do not cut me I will give you a goat that shakes silver from its whiskers."
This pleased Juan wonderfully, both because he was curious to see the goat, and because he would not have to chop the wood. He agreed at once to spare the tree, whereupon the bark separated and a goat stepped out. Juan commanded it to shake its whiskers, and when the money began to drop he was so delighted that he took the animal and started home to show his treasure to his mother.
On the way he met a friend who was more cunning than Juan, and when he heard of the boy's rich goat he decided to rob him. Knowing Juan's fondness for tuba[2] he persuaded him to drink, and while he was drunk, the friend substituted another goat for the magic one. As soon as he was sober again, Juan hastened home with the goat and told his people of the wonderful tree, but when he commanded the animal to shake its whiskers, no money fell out. The family, believing it to be another of Juan's tricks, beat and scolded the poor boy.
The went back to the tree and threatened to cut it down for lying to him, but the tree said : "No, do not cut me down and I will give you a not which you may cast on dry ground, or even in the tree tops, and it will return full of fish."
So Juan spared the tree and started home with his precious net, but on the way he met the same friend who again persuaded him to drink tuba. While he was drunk, the friend replaced the magic net with a common one, so that when Juan reached home and tried to show his power, he was again the subject of ridicule. Once more Juan went to his tree, this time determined to cut it down. But the offer of a magic pot, always full of rice and spoons which provided wbatever he wished to eat with his rice, dissuaded him, and he started home happier than ever. Before reaching home, however, he met with the same fate as before, and his folks, who were becoming tired of his pranks, beat him harder than ever.
Thoroughly angered, Juan sought the tree a fourth time and was on the point of cutting it down when once more it arrested his attention. After some discussion, he consented to accept a stick to which he had only to say, "Boombye, Boomba," and it would beat and kill anything he wished.
When he met his friend on this trip, he was asked what he had and he replied:
"Oh, it is only a stick, but if I say 'Boombye, Boomba' it will beat you to death."
At the sound of the magic words the stick leaped from his hands and began beating his friend until he cried:
"Oh, stop it and I will give back everything that I stole from you." Juan ordered the stick to stop, and then he compelled the man to lead the goat and to carry the net and the jar and spoons to his home.
There Juan commanded the goat, and it shook its whiskers until his mother and brothers had all the silver they could carry. Then they ate from the magic jar and spoons until they were filled. And this time Juan was not scolded. After they had finished Juan said:
"You have beaten me and scolded me all my life, and now you are glad to accept my good things. I am going to show you something else: "Boombye, Boomba'." Immediately the stick leaped out and beat them all until they begged for mercy and promised that Juan should ever after be head of the house.
From that time Juan was rich and powerful, but he never went anywhere without his stick. One night, when some thieves came to his house, he would have been robbed and killed had it not been for the magic words "Boombye, Boomba," which caused the death of all the robbers. Some time after this he married a beautiful princess, and because of the kindness of the magic tree they always lived happily.
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TALES FROM JAPAN
The Tale of the Merciful Monk
A monk of the Capital one day decided that he had allowed himself to grow lazy. He vowed that, each day for the next one hundred days, he would make a pilgrimage from Kyoto to the Hie Shrine and back again. He made these uneventful pilgrimages, noticing nothing interesting or untoward until his trip home on the eightieth day. A young woman stood crying by the road, and he could not help expressing his concern and asking if he could help.
"You're a pilgrim," the young woman said, somewhat incoherently, and it took some time for the monk to coax the story from her.
"My mother has finally died," she said at last. "She was sick for some time, and I found her dead this morning. I don't know what to do. I can't even move the body. I'm all alone, I'm so tiny and weak, and all my neighbors are busy preparing for festivals and I'm sure they'll be no help at all."
The monk was moved by the young woman's sad tale. Anyone could see that she was in need of help. But if she could not persuade her neighbors to help, the monk doubted that he would have any more success. He might be the only person available. And yet, if he did help move the body, he would be polluted and unable to continue his pilgrimages. He would have wasted eighty days.
Another look at the young woman removed any doubts that remained. She needed his help more than he needed to finish another twenty days' worth of pilgrimages. "Don't worry. I will help you take care of your mother's body."
The two of them attended to the body that night. While the monk had no doubt that he had done the right thing, he was nonetheless disappointed. Eventually, he decided that he would still visit the shrine.
He began to doubt this decision the next morning as he walked to the shrine. The pollution of death might be superficial, but the taboos were quite clear. Even worse, a larger crowd than usual had gathered around the shrine, listening to a medium deliver oracles.
The monk, self-consciously praying in isolation, was sure that none of those people had touched a dead body less than a day earlier. He felt quite out of place at this holy site.
"You, there," the medium said, in a voice rather louder than before, and the monk looked up to find the woman's eyes fixed on him. Eyes downcast, he approached her, conscious of the crowd that watched the spectacle.
But the medium did not speak until he had come quite close, and then only in a whisper. "I know what you did last night."
The monk opened his mouth, and realized that he could not possibly offer an explaination for his actions.
"It was wonderful," the medium said. "I admire your compassion for one in need. Taboos are only secondary to the Teaching. Enlightened people can judge when there's a good reason to break taboos." The medium glanced at the crowd. "Unenlightened people need to be guided, given extra help in maintaining their faith. The taboos don't matter; the person does."
The monk's heart lifted to hear the medium's words. Ever after, he paid special attention to the plights of others around him, performing kind services for them; he no longer doubted himself or the rightness of these compassionate impulses.
The Testing of Seimei
On Tsuchimikado Avenue, which is in Kyoto, there once lived one of the greatest yin-yang diviners of all time. His name was Seimei, and people were always coming to him for advice, or asking to become his students.
One day, an old monk appeared at Seimei's door, accompanied by a pair of ten-year-old boys.
"I am from Harima province," the old man said. "Word of your reputation has reached me. I wish to learn divination, and I want you to be my teacher."
Seimei was suspicious of this story. He suspected that the old monk was already skilled in the arts of divination, and had come to test Seimei's own skill. Seimei also suspected that the two young boys were in fact genies.
So Seimei prayed, asking that the genies--if genies they were--disappear. He cast a spell and made some subtle hand gestures, which the old monk did not seem to notice.
"Today is not a good day," Seimei told the old monk. "But if you come back at a more auspicious time, I promise that I will teach you whatever you ask."
"My thanks," the old man said, bowing before he left.
Before he reached the gate, he noticed that the boys were missing. After poking around for several moments behind trees and carriages, he turned and approached Seimei again. "If it would not be too much trouble, would you mind returning my boys?"
Seimei feigned ignorance. "Whatever would I want with your boys?"
"That is only fair," the old man said. "I am sorry that you feel insulted. That was not my intention."
"Then I shall not hold it against you. But please, in the future go elsewhere if you wish to test someone's skill or perception. You shant fool me with such a trick." Seimei quietly cast another spell, and the two boys returned to their master.
"It was indeed a test, and not a trick," the old monk said. "It's easy enough to keep genies--you can see that even I manage to do so. But to make someone else's genies disappear? That is something that I could not do. I think that your reputation is deserved, and I wish to become your disciple."
Seimei smiled. "I think you shall make a marvelous student."
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THE MAGIC MONEYBAG
A Korean Folktale
Long, long ago there was a young couple who lived in a small thatched hut in a gully. They were so poor that every day they had to cut two bundles of firewood and carry them to market on their backs.
One day, the young couple came back from the mountain carrying the firewood. They put one bundle in the courtyard and planned to sell it at the market the next day to buy rice. The other bundle they kept in the kitchen for their own use. When they woke up the following morning, the bundle in the courtyard had mysteriously disappeared. There was nothing to do but to sell the bundle which they had kept for themselves.
That same day, they cut another two bundles of firewood as usual. They put one bundle in the courtyard for market and kept the other bundle for their own use. But the following morning, the bundle in the courtyard had vanished again. The same thing happened on the third and fourth day as well, and the husband began to think there was something strange going on.
On the fifth day, he made a hollow in the bundle of firewood in the courtyard and hid himself inside it. From the outside it looked just the same as before. At midnight an enormous rope descended from the sky, attached itself to the bundle and lifted it up into the sky, with the woodcutter still inside it.
On his arrival in heaven, he saw a kindly looking, white-haired old man coming in his direction. The old man untied the bundle and when he found the man inside it, he asked, "Other people only cut one bundle of firewood a day. Why do you cut two?"
The woodcutter made a bow and replied, "We are penniless. That's why my wife and I cut two bundles of firewood a day. One bundle is for our own use and the other we carry to the market. With it we can buy rice to make porridge."
The old man chuckled and said to the woodcutter in a warmhearted tone of voice, "I've known for a long time that you are a decent couple and lead a frugal and hardworking life. I shall give you a piece of treasure. Take it back with you and it will provide you with your livelihood."
As soon as he had finished speaking, there came seven fairies who led the young man into a magnificent palace. Its golden eaves and gleaming roof tiles shone so brightly that the moment he entered, he could no longer open his eyes. Inside the palace there were many kinds of rare objects on display that he had never seen before. Moneybags of all shapes and sizes hung in one room. The fairies asked him, "Which one do you like best? Choose whichever you please, and take it home."
The woodcutter was beside himself with joy, "I'd like that moneybag, the one full of precious things. Give me that round, bulging one." He chose the biggest one and took it down. Just at this moment, the white-haired old man came in and, with a stern expression on his face, said to the young man, "You cannot take that one. I'll give you an empty one. Every day you can take one tael of silver out of it, and no more." The woodcutter reluctantly agreed. He took the empty moneybag and, clinging onto the enormous rope, he was lowered to the ground.
Once home, he gave the moneybag to his wife and told her the whole story. She was most excited. In the daytime they went as usual to cut firewood. But from then on, whenever they returned home after dark, they would close the door and open the moneybag. Instantly, a lump of silver would roll jingling out. When they weighed it on the palm of their hand, they found it to be exactly one tael. Every day one tael of silver and no more came rolling out of the bag. The wife saved them up one by one.
Time went slowly by. One day the husband suggested, "Let's buy an ox."
The wife didn't agree. A few days later, the husband suggested again, "How about buying a few acres of land?"
His wife didn't agree with that either. A few more days elapsed, and the wife herself proposed, "Let's build a little thatched cottage."
The husband was itching to spend all the money they had saved and said, "Since we have so much money in hand, why don't we build a big brick house?"
The wife could not dissuade her husband and reluctantly went along with his idea.
The husband spent the money on bricks, tiles and timber and on hiring carpenters and masons. From that time on, neither of them went into the mountain to cut firewood any more. The day came when their pile of silver was almost exhausted, but the new house was still unfinished. It had long been in the back of the husband's mind to ask the moneybag to produce more silver. So without his wife's knowledge, he opened the bag for a second time that day. Instantly, another lump of snow-white silver rolled jingling out of the bag onto the ground. He opened it a third time and received a third lump.
He thought to himself, "If I go on like this, I can get the house finished in no time!" He quite forgot the old man's warning. But when he opened the bag for the fourth time, it was absolutely empty. This time not a scrap of silver came out of it. It was just an old cloth bag. When he turned to look at his unfinished brick house, that was gone as well. There before him was his old thatched hut.
The woodcutter felt very sad. His wife came over and consoled him, "We can't depend on the magic moneybag from heaven. Let's go back to the mountain to cut firewood as we did before. That's a more dependable way of earning a living."
From that day on, the young couple once again went up to the mountain to cut firewood and led their old, hardworking life.
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