Philippines Folktales:

The Boy Who Became a Stone

One day a little boy

named Elonen sat out
in the yard making a
bird snare, and as he
worked, a little bird
called to him: "Tik-
tik-lo-den" (come
and catch me).

"I am making a snare

for you," said the boy;
but the bird continued to call until the snare was finished.

Then Elonen ran and threw the snare over the bird and caught it, and he
put it in a jar in his house while he went with the other boys to swim.

While he was away, his grandmother grew hungry, so she ate the bird, and
when Elonen returned and found that his bird was gone, he was so sad that
he wished he might go away and never come back. He went out into the
forest and walked a long distance, until finally he came to a big stone and
said: "Stone, open your mouth and eat me." And the stone opened its
mouth and swallowed the boy.

When his grandmother missed the boy, she went out and looked
everywhere, hoping to find him. Finally she passed near the stone and it
cried out: "Here he is." Then the old woman tried to open the stone but she
could not, so she called the horses to come and help her. They came and
kicked it, but it would not break. Then she called the carabao and they
hooked it, but they only broke their horns. She called the chickens, which
pecked it, and the thunder, which shook it, but nothing could open it, and
she had to go home without the boy.
The Carabao and the Shell

One very hot day, when a

carabao went into the river to
bathe, he met a shell and they
began talking together.

"You are very slow," said the

carabao to the shell.

"Oh, no," replied the shell. "I

can beat you in a race."

"Then let us try and see," said

the carabao.

So they went out on the bank

and started to run.

After the carabao had gone a long distance he stopped and called,
"Shell!"

And another shell lying by the river answered, "Here I am!"

Then the carabao, thinking that it was the same shell with which he
was racing, ran on.

By and by he stopped again and called, "Shell!"

And another shell answered, "Here I am!"

The carabao was surprised that the shell could keep up with him. But
he ran on and on, and every time he stopped to call, another shell
answered him. But he was determined that the shell should not beat
him, so he ran until he dropped dead.
The Man with the Coconuts

One day a man who had been

to gather his coconuts loaded
his horse heavily with the fruit.
On the way home he met a boy
whom he asked how long it
would take to reach the house.

"If you go slowly," said the

boy, looking at the load on the
horse, "you will arrive very
soon; but if you go fast, it will
take you all day."

The man could not believe this

strange speech, so he hurried his horse. But the coconuts fell off and
he had to stop to pick them up. Then he hurried his horse all the more
to make up for lost time, but the coconuts fell off again. Many time he
did this, and it was night when he reached 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.

Folktales being stories that people created to explain the natural

world, “The Necklace and the Comb” is a charming tale on how the
moon and stars were formed. Ong likes this story especially because
“the imagery is so charming and fanciful.”
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.

“Mother Mountain” resonated with Ong “because it's a story that

deals witha basic childhood fear: if you’re not good, your mother will
leave.” It is also a wonderful tale about how a mountain that looks
like a woman was formed.

Philippine Fables:
 Why Dogs Wag their
Tails
A rich man in a certain town
once owned a dog and a cat,
both of which were very
useful to him. The dog had
served his master for many
years and had become so old
that he had lost his teeth and was unable to fight anymore, but he was
a good guide and companion to the cat who was strong and cunning.
The master had a daughter who was attending school at a convent
some distance from home, and very often he sent the dog and the cat
with presents to the girl.
One day he called the faithful animals and bade them carry a magic
ring to his daughter.
“You are strong and brave,” he said to the cat. “You may carry the
ring, but you must be careful not to drop it.”
And to the dog he said, “You must go with the cat to guide her and
keep her from harm.”
They promised to do their best, and started out. All went well until
they came to a river. As there was neither bridge nor boat, there was
no way to cross but to swim.
“Let me take the magic ring,” said the dog as they were about to
plunge into the water.
“Oh, no,” replied the cat, “the master gave it to me to carry.”
“But you cannot swim well,” argued the dog. “I am strong and can
take good care of it.”
The cat refused to give up the ring until finally the dog threatened to
bite her, and then she reluctantly gave it to him.
The river was wide and the water so swift that they grew very tired,
and just before they reached the opposite bank the dog dropped the
ring. They searched carefully, but could not find it anywhere, and
after a while they turned back to tell their master of the sad loss. Just
before reaching the house, however, the dog was so overcome with
fear that he turned and ran away and never was seen again.
The cat went on alone, and when the master saw her coming he called
out to know why she had returned so soon and what had become of
her companion. The poor cat was frightened, but as well as she could
she explained how the ring had been lost and how the dog had run
away.
On hearing her story the master was very angry, and commanded that
all his people should search for the dog, and that it should be punished
by having its tail cut off.
He also ordered that all the dogs in the world should join in the
search, and ever since when one dog meets another he says, “Are you
the old dog that lost the magic ring? If so, your tail must be cut off.”
Then immediately each shows his teeth and wags his tail to prove that
he is not the guilty one.
Since then, too, cats have been afraid of water and will not swim
across a river if they can avoid it.
And that was a tale about a tail – and why dogs wag theirs. The next
story from the Philippines explains why hens always peck the ground.

The Hawk and the Hen

 A hawk flying about in the sky
one day decided that he would like to
marry a hen whom he often saw on
earth. He flew down and searched
until he found her, and then asked her
to become his wife. She at once agreed
as long as he would wait until she
could grow wings like his, so that she
might also fly high. The hawk agreed
to this and flew away, after giving her
a ring as an engagement present and
telling her to take good care of it.
The hen was very proud of the ring
and placed it around her neck. The
next day, however, she met the
cockerel who looked at her in
astonishment and said, “Where did you get that ring? Do you not know that
you promised to be my wife? You must not wear the ring of anyone else.
Throw it away.”
The hen threw away the beautiful ring.
Not long after this the hawk came down bringing beautiful feathers to dress
the hen. When she saw him coming she was frightened and ran to hide
behind the door, but the hawk called to her to come and see the beautiful
dress he had brought her.
The hen came out, and the hawk at once saw that the ring was gone.
“Where is the ring I gave you?” He asked. “Why do you not wear it?”
The hen was too frightened and ashamed to tell the truth so she answered,
“Oh, sir, yesterday when I was walking in the garden, I met a large snake and
he frightened me so that I ran as fast as I could to the house. Then I missed
the ring and I searched everywhere but could not find it.”
The hawk looked sharply at the hen, and he knew that she was deceiving
him.
He said to her, “I did not believe that you could behave so badly. When you
have found the ring I will come down again and make you my wife. But as a
punishment for breaking your promise, you must always scratch the ground
to look for the ring. Every chicken of yours that I find, I shall snatch away.”
Then he flew away, and ever since all the hens throughout the world have
been scratching to find the hawk’s ring. [214]
And that was the story of The Hawk and the Hen. So now you know that
when hens peck the ground, they are looking for a lost ring. The next tale is
very short and explains why spiders don’t like flies.
The Spider and the Fly

Mr. Spider wanted to marry Miss Fly. Many times he told her of his
love and begged her to become his wife, but she always refused, for
she did not like him.
One day when she saw Mr. Spider coming again, Miss Fly closed all
the doors and windows of her house and made ready a pot of boiling
water. She waited, and when Mr. Spider called, begging her to allow
him to enter, she answered by throwing boiling water at him. This
made Mr. Spider very angry and he cried, “I will never forgive you
for this, but I and my descendants will always despise you. We will
never give you any peace.”
Mr. Spider kept his word, and even today one can see the hatred of
the spider for the fly.
And that was the third of our short folk tales from the Philippines. If
you enjoyed them we have loads more stories like these on
Storynory.com. For instance, you could try our Aesop’s fables or the
Just So Stories by Rudyard Kipling. You can also look through our
World Fairy Tales section for more stories from just about
everywhere.