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ASEAN Literature: Identity & Diversity

The story 'The Two Women Scrambled for a Baby' revolves around two women, one of whom has lost her baby and the other has a living child. A dispute arises when the woman with the deceased baby attempts to claim the living child, leading them to court and ultimately to the king for resolution. The king determines the true mother by observing the women's actions during a test of their love for the child, ultimately returning the baby to its rightful mother.

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102 views1 page

ASEAN Literature: Identity & Diversity

The story 'The Two Women Scrambled for a Baby' revolves around two women, one of whom has lost her baby and the other has a living child. A dispute arises when the woman with the deceased baby attempts to claim the living child, leading them to court and ultimately to the king for resolution. The king determines the true mother by observing the women's actions during a test of their love for the child, ultimately returning the baby to its rightful mother.

Uploaded by

Jonathan XX
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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ASEAN Literature: Discovering Identity Amidst Diversity 117

While Reading
Based on the title, what sort of a story is “The Two Women scrambled for a baby?
Why do you think so?

The Two Women Scrambled for a Baby


Once there were two women who had respective babies. The baby of one woman had died
and the baby of another woman was still alive. One day, the woman with the live baby held her baby
in the arm to bathe it. Coincidentally, the
woman whose baby had already been
dead came and walking and said. “Hi
friend, your baby exactly resembles mine.
Can I hold and kiss yours little?” The
woman with the baby handed her baby to
that woman, who kissed and breastfed the
baby and walked to her home with the
baby being held in her hands. The woman
who was the mother called out: “Hey,
where are you taking my baby?” The
woman whose baby had died replied: It is
my baby. Why do you say it is yours?
The two women started quarrelling about the baby and they finally went to the court together.
The woman who took the other woman’s baby told the judge: Your honour, when I was holding my
bay, this woman saw it walked after me, claiming that the baby was hers. She asked me allow her to
hold and kiss my baby and I let her do it, but she kissed and breastfed my baby and walked to her
home with my kid, so please help solve the problem for me, your honour. The judge spent three days
and nights solving the case, but could not settle it, so he took the two women to see the king and told
the king what had happened. Out of his insight and extra ordinary wisdom, the king was able to see
through the problem quickly, so he ordered the kid to be placed in the middle and told the two women
to try to scramble for it.
The king said to the two women. The kid will belong to the one who can scramble for it first.
Upon hearing that, the two women started scrambling for the baby. The woman whose baby had been
dead quickly snatched the baby’s leg mercilessly without being afraid of tearing its arm and legs. As
the woman who was the baby’s real mother, she was very angry with the impostor, but she pitied the
baby so much that she tried to hold the baby gently. However, when she saw the impostor doing her
utmost to get the baby without caring about breaking the kid’s bones, the woman who was the real
mother let go of her poor kid and allowed the impostor to get it easily.
The king then said: the woman who let go of the baby and allowed the other woman to get the
baby was the real mother as she did it out of pitying the kid. And the other woman is not the real
mother because she did not show any mercy to the kid and tried to get the kid, by hook and by crook.
After saying that, the king ordered the baby returned to the real mother and the woman who was the
impostor to be severely punished so that she would not dare to do that again.

Geron, C.D., Baxa, E.N., & Bañez, R.M. (2020). ASEAN literature: Discovering identity amidst diversity.
Batangas City, Philippines: Batangas State University.

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