Philippine Folklore Stories

by John Maurice Miller

This book was converted from its physical edition to the digital format by a community of volunteers. You may find it for free on the web. Purchase of the Kindle edition includes wireless delivery.

Genres: Folklore, Mythology, Ebooks

42 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 1904

Reviews

[Sandy · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's the first time I came across the folklore of the Philippines. I must say I was a little disappointed about the way the stories were told. Other than that, I found them quite interesting and very simple. I don't know any stories from back in the day before the Spanish & American settled in, so I'm not the one to judge the quality of the stories. What lead me to this book are Aswang and Manananggal; absolutely mesmerizing and fascinating creatures. I thought, lets see what bloodsucking stories this book will have.

Unfortunately, this didn't have anything about those terrifying myths as I expected. There were few quite dark stories which I liked very much. I wanted this book to be away from all the influences of the invaders, I hoped it will tell me more about the lost folklore of the Philippines but alas, the almighty had to have his finger in this too. Still, it's interesting and entertaining. The illustrations are simply beautiful. I quite loved them.

Book #75 of 2021..

[Jinky · Rating 4 out of 5]

During my early childhood, I grew up hearing many superstitious beliefs and old wives' tales so this read took me back. A memory trip back to my native country through folklores (11 told here). I can't say I have heard any of these before but I felt the stories for the entertainment they brought. One in particular reminded me of what my aunt instructed me to do as we walked through this foresty path (somewhere in the Philippines) during the night. She told me to say, "Tabi, tabi" so as to say to the ghosts or creatures of the night to stay away from us. Looking back at it now, I think she may have said that so that I don't go wondering off there at night by myself. Not like I would anyways. As a kid, I was a big scaredy cat!

Jinky is Reading

[R.L. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Κριτική στα Ελληνικά πιο κάτω.

The stories theirselves were quite interesting, although the writting style was a bit simplistic. It is a thin book and still there is lot's of blank space, I would like to have more stories told more thoughtfully.

I think I detered some somehow patronizing? colonist's/Christian's point of view, superiority syndrome? undetones from the author which I didn't like though. And I don't know what to make of the preface: " As these stories are only legends that have been handed down from remote times, the teacher must impress upon the minds of the children that they are myths and are not to be given credence;otherwise the imaginative minds of the native children would accept them as truth, and trouble would be caused that might be hard to remedy. Explain then the fiction and show the children the folly of belief in such fanciful tales."
I wonder who the author is/was and when/for what purpose the book was originally written?

Anyway, this was a decent glimpse into a mythology I'm not familiar with and it wet my appetite to look for more...


Μου αρέσουν οι μυθολογίες του κόσμου κι αυτό το βιβλιαράκι ήταν μια καλή εισαγωγή στους μύθους των Φιλιππίνων. Είναι πάντα ενδιαφέρον να εντοπίζεις τις ομοιότητες και τις διαφορές ανάμεσα στις διάφορες κοσμοθεωρίες διαφορετικών πολιτισμών και να ψυχανεμίζεσαι πως αυτές αλλάζουν ή επηρεάζονται μέσα στον χρόνο. Θα ήθελα περισσότερες ιστορίες γραμμένες πιο αναλυτικά πάντως.

Αυτό που δεν μου άρεσε ήταν μια αίσθηση ότι ο συγγραφέας έχει ένα σύνδρομο ανωτερότητας και ολίγον ρατσισμού για τους ντόπιους, δεν έχω ψάξει πριν γράψω αυτό το σχόλιο ποιός ήταν και πότε/για ποιό σκοπό έγραψε αυτό το βιβλίο, αλλά υποθέτω μάλλον κάποιος αποικιοκράτης Χριστιανός ή κάτι τέτοιο;

Τέλοςπάντων, το βιβλίο μου άνοιξε την όρεξη να ψάξω πιο πολύ την μυθολογία της περιοχής...

[Robert Lloyd · Rating 2 out of 5]

Poorly formatted and dry writing

So I appreciate the work that is put into making public domain books available. Unfortunately the formatting on this book was not done very well do the book was a bit hard to follow as everything was the same font size. Also there were a few interesting stories, but the writing in general was dry and didn't seem to have much enthusiasm for the topic at hand.

[KuyaChris · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good stories, odd construction

Overall good Filipino folklore, although a good number are rooted in Spanish colonization. Lacking depth and breadth in terms of indigenous stories and myths. Also lacking the more commonly told stories such as the makahiya plant or the origin of the pineapple, which are commonly told myths in the Philippines.

[Maria D · Rating 3 out of 5]

I grew up with these Folklore stories but these stories were more matter-of-fact and didn’t stimulate the imagination like my elders use to tell the stories. So anyone reading the book not of the Filipino culture would probably be bored or uninterested

[Ann · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's a product of its time, with the casual racism, Spanish spellings and Christian bias. It does show a slice of life at that time. I liked that I knew the places they mentioned and their origin stories.

[Samuel Chan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Interesting folk tales of the Philippines

A Sharon book narrating folk tales explaining where Filipino things, persons and traditions originated. Fun to read and is a quick read.

[Melissa · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a collection of a few folklores from the islands of the Philippines, as translated by John Maurice Miller. Most of these stories I have already heard at one point while growing up, but some are surprisingly entirely new to me. Each of the 14 stories featured here starts with a brief introduction of its area of origin. The lore itself is unique to the culture of the region from where it originated. Of importance is the ancient Filipino account of "The Creation", its complexity to rival that of the Greek, Egyptian, or Nordic mythology, but sadly not as popular. I also enjoyed The Pericos, a light and easy poetry from the Visayan region about a bird that is taught to speak.
As a whole, It is interesting to note that the stories are sometimes close to plausible, while the rest are really farfetched and fantastical. Whatever the case, the resulting stories that germinated in each mythical idea is one that is worth listening to or telling about, for entertainment alone or for a deeper reflection of the Filipino people's diverse culture.

[Amanda · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thinking of illustrating some favourites for my children...