Reading Diary Week 7: Filipino Popular Tales

This week, I am reading the Filipino Popular Tales by Dean S. Fansler. I've really enjoyed this unit because I am not familiar with Filipino culture.

In the story Three Brothers of Fortune, I liked how each had a magical object that could perform a different power. Throughout the story, I was curious how the charms would work. In the past folklore stories, the results of the charm did not turn out how the one who possesses it would have thought. However, in the case of this story, the charms worked as expected. Then, I was curious how the story would end. I liked the turn of events where the other two brothers received "useless" parts of the woman, but the brother with the stones could put her back together to have all of her. This was not something I expected in the story, and I was really happy to read that that's how it turned out. I do feel bad for the woman, though! I know I wouldn't want to be cut up into three pieces! I wish the story had elaborated more on what exactly this meant. Was her body actually split up into three?

I was really surprised by the ending of The Clever Husband and the Wife. I was guessing that the doctor would be extremely angry at the husband and his wife for lying. However, his response was one of joy because they were both alive. 

The story of Chonguita struck me as very absurd; however, I was also very drawn in to the story and wanted to know what happened. After each trial, I was curious to know who would win and was concerned about the well-being of Chonguita, especially when she was hurled against the wall. I also felt badly for the couple from the beginning since Don Juan had to marry a monkey and Chonguita had no say in the matter. In my storytelling, especially for my storybook, I would like to establish this kind of emotional connection so that my readers feel for the characters. I think it helps people stay engaged in the story and care about what is happening.

How I Imagine Chonguita
Photo source: Wikipedia (2007)

The story The Enchanted Prince made me really happy! I was so pleased that each of them found an answer to their needs and essentially saved each other. For my storytelling, I would really like to write a love story. An idea I have for this is to pick out one character I like from the stories and develop a love story with a match that I think they would get along well. I think this would be a really good way to expand my creativity and write a completely original piece.