Part 12 opens with the two gentle moral tales banked at Part 11's gate, then continues in the book's own order. Two grandsons teach their fathers how an old man is to be treated; a "foolish" boy makes a whole palace dance; a witch's captive escapes on a talking horse; and a poor woman's plant climbs to the sky.
Disclosure: this performance is narrated by AI-generated voices.
In "Respect Old Age," a son ordered to leave his old father in a farm hut cuts the blanket in two — saving the other half, he says, for his own father's old age. Told by José Ignacio, a Tagalog from Malabon, Rizal. In "The Golden Rule," a grandson carves wooden plates "for you and my mother when you are old," and the grandfather is restored to the family table. Told by Cipriano Seráfica, a Pangasinan from Mangaldan, Pangasinan. In "Cochinango," the poor boy everyone calls a fool wins the princess's guessing-contest with gifts earned by kindness on the road — a magic buyo, a food-giving cane, an ever-full purse, and a guitar that makes everyone dance. Told by Felix Y. Velasco, who heard it from his grandmother, of Laoag, Ilocos Norte. In "Pedro and the Witch," the witch Boroka carries Pedro off to her mountain home, and a friendly horse and two magic handkerchiefs carry him safely home. Told by Santiago Dumlao of San Narciso, Zambales. In "The Woman and Her Coles Plant," a poor woman's plant grows to the sky and wins her a wishing wand from St. Peter — and her pride is her undoing. Told by José Hilario of Batangas.
A word on these tales, told plainly. In the two opening tales, the resolve to cast off an old father is stated and repented in the same movement, at a grandson's word; no one is harmed. In "Cochinango," the princess's wish to starve her prisoners stands as intent only — the prisoners are fed by the magic cane and freed in the tale; the closing line that the kingdom's raiders were "captured or killed" as they danced stands in a single summary clause. In "Pedro and the Witch," the witch's eating of children is her stated character, never enacted on the page; her plan to make a feast of Pedro is stated and prevented, and the pursuing witches lose their wings to the fire handkerchief in a single passage. In "The Woman and Her Coles Plant," the bell strikes the woman senseless and she recovers; her fatal fall from the broken plant stands in the tale's single closing clause, the moral of her vanity. The book's next tale, "A Negrito Slave," stands held at this gate, awaiting the owner's ruling, and "Alberto and the Monsters" stands stopped at the same gate; four earlier tales remain held from earlier gates, as does Tale 17. The book's footnote markers are kept out, and its comparative notes stand in the book, unread here.
The book's storytellers, kept with honour: José Ignacio ("Respect Old Age"); Cipriano Seráfica ("The Golden Rule"); Felix Y. Velasco ("Cochinango"); Santiago Dumlao ("Pedro and the Witch"); José Hilario ("The Woman and Her Coles Plant").
Chapters:
00:33 — Respect Old Age
01:44 — The Golden Rule
02:59 — Cochinango
09:04 — Pedro and the Witch
11:39 — The Woman and Her Coles Plant
Source: Dean S. Fansler (ed.), Filipino Popular Tales, Memoirs of the American Folk-Lore Society, Vol. XII (1921) — the tales written down in English by the Filipino narrators credited above; public-domain 1921 edition (Project Gutenberg eBook #8299). The collectors' notes stand in the book, unread here. Our telling is a fresh in-house rendering of the 1921 text. Music: opening and closing theme, "La Rive des Esprits".
Thank you for listening — the Philippine tales continue on this shelf.
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