Philippine folk literature Philippine folk literature refers to the traditional oral literature of the Filipino people.

Thus, the scope of the field covers the ancient folk literature of the Philippines' various ethnic groups, as well as various pieces of folklore that have evolved since the Philippines became a single ethno-political unit. While the difference between Philippine folk literature and Philippine mythology is a fine one, this article distinguishes folk literature as the source from which Philippine mythology derives. Categories of Philippine folk literature Eugenio classifies Philippine Folk Literature into three major groups: Folk narratives, folk speech, and folk songs. Folk narratives can either be in prose - the alamat (myth), the legend, and the kuwentong bayan (folktale) - or in verse, as in the case of the folk narrative. Folk speech includes the bugtong (riddle) and the salawikain (proverbs). Folk songs can be sub-classified into those that tell a story (folk ballads), which are rare in Philippine folk literature, and those that do not, which form the bulk of the Philippines' rich heritage of folk songs. narrative is a form of story telling .Stories can be myths, legends, histories, sagas, poems, chants, family legends, and stories in books. .There are oral narratives (stories in oral form) written narratives (memoirs, diaries, histories, notes) and family histories .There are narratives in fiction, and in the official histories of the nation. .Narratives can be Oral narrative .Legends .Stories of communities .Myths and tales of forefathers and ancestors Different kinds of narratives are .Myth Legend Folk tales Stories Sagas Poems Chants and popular slogans Diaries and written records Histories and documentary writings A narrative is a story that is created in a constructive format (as a work of writing, speech, poetry, prose, pictures, song, motion pictures, video games, theatre or dance) that describes a sequence of fictional or non-fictional events. The word "story" may be used as a synonym of "narrative", but can also be used to refer to the sequence of events described in a narrative. A narrative can also be told by a character within a larger narrative. An important part of narration is the narrative mode, the set of methods used to communicate the narrative through a process called narration. Stories are an important aspect of culture. Many works of art and most works of literature, tell stories; indeed, most of the humanities involve stories. Among the significant publications of Phillipine narrative are: Filipino Poetry (1924) by Rodolfo Dato; English-German Anthology of Filipino Poets (1934) by Pablo Laslo; Jose Garcia Villas Many Voices (1939) and Poems of Doveglion (1941); Poems (1940) by Angela Manalang-Gloria; Chorus for America: Six Philippine Poets (1942) by Carlos Bulosan; Zoilo Galangs A Child of Sorrow (1921), the first Filipino novel in English, and Box of Ashes and Other Stories (1925), the first collection of stories in book form; Villas Footnote to Youth: Tales of the Philippines and Others (1933); "The Wound and the Scar" (1937) by Arturo Rotor, a collection of stories; "Winds of April" (1940) by N. V. M. Gonzalez; "His Native Soil" (1941) by Juan C. Laya; Manuel Arguillas "How My Brother Leon Brought Home a Wife and Other Stories" (1941); Galangs "Life and Success" (1921), the first volume of essays in English; and the influential "Literature and Society" (1940) by Salvador P. Lpez.

The Tagalog for 'folk tale' or 'folk story' is kuwentong-bayan. Filipino folktales are stories that form part of the oral tradition in the Philippines. They have been passed on generation to generation by word of mouth rather than by writing, and thus the stories have been modified by successive retellings before they were written down and recorded. Folktales in general include legends, fables, jokes, tall stories and fairy tales. Many of the folktales in the Philippines involve mythical creatures and magical transformations. Filipino folktales reflect the traditions of Filipino people. These stories may be broadly classified into four groups: 1. PHILIPPINE MYTHS are about the creation of the universe, God (Bathala orMaykapal), and the origin of man, supernatural beings and native Filipino heroes. 2. FILIPINO LEGENDS (alamat) relate the origin of local phenomena, places, plants, animals, things and names. Examples: how did Kanlaon Volcano came to be; why is the Philippines made up of so many islands 3. FILIPINO FABLES are about animals and inanimate beings made to speak and act like rational beings and pointing out morals. 4. FANTASTIC STORIES are about the unseen world or the underworld and with odd, whimsical, or grotesque characters Examples of Filipino Folktales Ilocano Folktales The Monkey and the Turtle The Poor Fisherman and His Wife The Presidente Who Had Horns The White Squash Tagalog Folktales The Creation Story The Story of Benito

The Adventures of Juan Juan Gathers Guavas Visayan Folktales The First Monkey The Virtue of the Cocoanut Mansumandig Why Dogs Wag Their Tails The Hawk and the Hen The Spider and the Fly The Battle of the Crabs