Essay for Week 6: The Tricksters

(The Tricky Tortoise: Web Source: Wikipedia)

The week I read The Filipino Popular Tales and found a very common theme of trickery. In the tale of The Iguana and the Turtle, the iguana was continuously envious of the position that the turtle was in purely because the turtle made each position seem valuable. The turtle used the Iguana's quickness to greed to remove himself from bad situations. Another story that included a form of trickery was The Hummingbird and the Caraboa. In this story the hummingbird exploited and testing the caraboas pride by challenging him to a water drinking contest. The hummingbird knew when the tided would rise and fall and used that knowledge to trick the caraboa into thinking that he could drink more water than a giant water-buffalo! The third story that included trickery was the Hawk and the Coiling. This was very similar to the story of the humming bird and the caraboa in that a challenge was involved. The coiling knew that when the hawk challenged him to a flying contest, that his best chance of winning was to carry something on his back. The hawk fell for this and chose cotton to carry thinking that it would be light and easy, whereas, the coiling chose salt knowing that it would rain. When it did rain, the cotton became very heavy and the salt dissolved allowing the coiling to fly higher than the hawk and be victorious. I thought that this weeks reading was the most enjoyable because of the short mini stories that got straight to the point about their plots. It was also fun to see the physical underdog utilize their brain to be the intellectual victor by tricking their competitors. I think that the stories would have been even better if these underdogs had more of a reason for their trickery though. It seemed like many of them only did it because they knew that they could.

Storytelling for Week 6: The Unbeatable Hummingbird

(The Hummingbird: Photo by Daniel Borman)

Little Hum flew off with a smug grin as he left the very bewildered caraboa behind him.

***

Word began to spread to those who frequented the watering hole of Little Hum's victory. The tortoise and the hawk gasped in disbelieve when the fox told them of this curious feat.

"I do not understand how someone so small could drink more water than the water-buffalo himself!" the hawk said while shaking his head.

"I saaaaaay weeee maaaake Littttttle Huuuum doooo it agaaaaaain, sooooo thaaaaat I caaaaan seeee thiiiis wiiiiith myyyy owwwwwn eyyyyyes," the tortoise mumbled.

"Yes! Great idea! But, who should do it?" the fox questioned?

"I will," said the hippopotamus proudly. "Who could ever drink more water than someone who lives most of his life in the water and has a belly far larger than even the water buffalo. There is no possible way Little Hum could beat me!"

When Hippo's challenge reached the ears of Little Hum, he immediately accepted. Little Hum waited until just before the tide would rise and then made his grand arrival at the watering hole.

"So, my Dear Hippo, I hear that you would like to challenge me to a water drinking contest! Even with your enormous belly, I will still be the winner here," Little Hum said boastfully. "Go on. You first!"

Hippo wattled over to the water and stuck in his snout and then started draining the water at an alarming rate! The water level was actually really going down! Little Hum started to get nervous.

"Come on high tide. Come on high tide," Little Hum thoughtfully pleaded.

"Yes!" He thought! The tide started coming in and the water started to rise!

"Dear Hippo, I thought that the challenge was to drink as much water as you could! Not drink and then spit it out!" Little Hum laughed at him!

"My turn!" Little Hum said. He once more stuck his bill into the water just in time for the low tide. The water began to recede and his audience was astounded!

Authors Note: This is a story of what happened after The Humming Bird and the Caraboa. In the original story, the hummingbird used the high and low tide of the watering hole to trick the caraboa into thinking that he can drink more water than him. I wanted to tell the story of this happening again, only this time with an audience to watch!

Week 6 Reading Diary: Filipino Popular Tales

Filipino Tales

The Iguana and the Turtle: The iguana was so envious of what the turtle had or was going through that he feel prey to the turtles simple trickery.

The Greedy Crow: You should be happy with what you have and not lust after what you do not. For if you do, you risk losing what you had. I could tell this tale in the form of toddlers playing with toys.

The Hummingbird and the Carabao: I love the trickery that can be played on those who hold too much pride. The hummingbird was clever and attacked the carabao's pride in such a perfect way.

The Hawk and the Coiling: This story was very similar to the Hummingbird and the Carabao in that trickery was used for the underdog to be victorious in a challenge by being the one who was more clever. However, in this particular story, the underdog also faced a little harm showing that once should be be too prideful after a win.

The Lost Necklace: This was just a story that I found to be a very cute and creative way of explaining why hens and chicks are always scratching at the ground. 

The Story of Our Fingers: This story was also quite fun to read. I think that it's funny that the thumb is what helps us hold on the items, which makes it easier to steal. I also think that it's funny that the pointer finger was the first to object and "point" out the immorality of the thumbs suggestions since it is our pointer finger that we use to place blame on others.