21st Century Literature in

Various Regions, 21st Century

Literature from the Philippines
and the World
during the Precolonial Period
 Objective
•At the end of this lesson, you
should be able to identify the
characteristics of precolonial
literature of the Philippines.
What texts
are
considered
precolonial
literature?
Precolonial literature
• includes all literature produced before the
Spanish colonization like chants, proverbs, songs,
and folk narratives. These were all passed down
from generation to generation by word of
mouth.
• Philippine folk narratives are varied and distinct.
They depict the people’s livelihood, customs,
and traditions.
Examples
• Folktale – This is a characteristically anonymous, timeless, and placeless tale
circulated orally among a people.
• Fable – This features animal characters or inanimate objects that behave like
people.
• Legend – This is presented as history but is unlikely to be true.
• Myth – This is told to explain a belief, a practice, or a natural phenomenon.
• Epic – This narrative poem celebrates the adventures and achievements of a
hero.
• Proverbs – practical observations and philosophy of everyday life that are written
usually in a rhyming scheme.
• Riddles – like proverbs with one main difference: they demand an answer and
are used to test the wits of those who are listening to them.
• Folksongs – are beautiful songs that are informal expressions of our ancestors
experiences in life.
Folktales

•Folktales about Juan are very

popular. Some emphasize certain
virtues, and some serve as
warning about behavior. Also,
some are for the reader’s
amusement.
 Example 1:
Juan Gathers Guavas (A Tagalog Folktale)

One day several neighbors came to Juan’s home to visit. His father wanted to
give the guests something to eat, so he sent Juan to get some ripe guavas for
them.
Full of mischief, Juan decided to play a joke on his father’s guests. He went to
get the guavas and ate all of them while thinking of a good joke. Then he saw
a wasp’s nest hung nearby. With some difficulty he managed to take it down
and put it into a tight basket. He hastened home and gave the basket to his
father. Quickly he left the room where the guests were and closed the door
and fastened it.
As soon as Juan’s father opened the basket, the wasps flew over the room.
With the door locked, the people fought to get out of the windows. After a while
Juan opened the door. When he saw the swollen faces of the people, he cried.
“What fine, rich guavas you must have had! They have made you all so fat!”
 Example 2:
Juan Pusong and His Father’s Cows (A Visayan Folktale)

One day Juan Pusong's father put his cows out to pasture. Juan slipped
away from home and took the cows into the forest and tied them there.
When his father found out that the cows were missing, he looked around for
them. While looking, he ran into his son.
“Where did you come from?” he asked.
“I just came from school, Father. How about you, where are you going?”
“I am looking for our cows.”
“You don’t say!" said Juan.
By that time, everybody knew about Juan’s power as a seer. So, he took a
little book from his pocket and looked into it. He said, “Our cows are tied
together in the forest.” So, his father went to the forest and found the cows.
Later on, people would discover that Juan could not read even his own
name. Consequently, his father beat him for the trick he had played on him.
Fable
•The monkey is a common
animal character in Philippine
fables. It is often depicted as a
cunning animal.
 Example
The Monkey and the Crocodile (A Tagalog Fable)

One day, a monkey saw a tall macopa tree laden with ripe fruits, which stood by a wide river. It was hungry, so it
climbed the tree and ate all of the fruits. When it climbed down, it could find no means by which to cross the
river. Then it saw a young crocodile who had just woken up from its siesta. It said to the crocodile in a friendly
way, “My dear crocodile, will you do me a favor?”
The crocodile was greatly surprised by the monkey’s amicable salutation. So, it answered humbly, “Oh, yes! If
there is anything I can do for you, I shall be glad to do it.” The monkey then told the crocodile that it wanted to
get to the other side of the river. Then the crocodile said, “I’ll take you there with all my heart. Just sit on my
back, and we’ll go at once.”
The monkey sat firmly on the crocodile’s back, and they began to move. In a short while they reached the
middle of the stream. Then the crocodile began to laugh aloud. “You foolish monkey!” it said, “I’ll eat your liver
and kidneys, for I’m very hungry.” The monkey became nervous. Trying to conceal its anxiety, it said, “I’m very
glad that you mentioned the matter. I thought myself that you might be hungry, so I have prepared my liver and
kidneys for your dinner. Unfortunately, in our haste to depart, I left them hanging on the macopa tree. Let us
return, and I’ll get them for you.”
Convinced that the monkey was telling the truth, the crocodile turned around and swam back to the direction of
the macopa tree. When they got near the riverbank, the monkey nimbly jumped up onto the land and
scampered up the tree. The crocodile came to realize what happened and said, “I am a fool.”
Legend There are different Filipino legends of the great flood. The story of Bukidnon, for instance, tells
that a huge crab caused the water to rise by going into the sea. On the other hand, the Igorot
story tells that the sons of Lumawig the Great Spirit caused the flood.

Example 1:
The Flood Story (A Legend of Bukidnon)

A long time ago there was a very big crab which crawled into the sea. When it went in, it crowded the
water out so that it ran all over the earth and covered all the land.
Now about one moon before the flood happened, a wise man had told the people that they must
build a large raft. They did as he commanded and cut many large trees until they had enough to
make three layers. These they bound tightly together; when it was done, they fastened the raft with a
long rattan cord to a big pole in the earth.
Soon after the raft was done, the flood came. White water poured out of the hills, and the sea rose
and covered even the highest mountains. The people and animals on the raft were safe, but all the
others drowned.
Soon the waters went down, and the raft was again on the ground. It was near their old home, for the
rattan cord had held.
The people on the raft together with the animals were the only ones left on the whole earth.
 Example 2 : The Flood Story (A Legend of the Igorot)
Once upon a time, the world was flat, and there were no mountains. There lived two sons of Lumawig, the Great Spirit.
The brothers were fond of hunting; since no mountains had formed, there was no good place to catch wild pig and deer.
The older brother said, “Let us cause water to flow over all the world and cover it, and then mountains will rise up.”
So, the brothers caused water to flow over all the earth. When it was covered, they took the head-basket of the town and
set it for a trap. They were very much pleased when they went to look at their trap, for they had caught not only many wild
pigs and deer but also many people.
Lumawig looked down from his place in the sky and saw that his sons had flooded the earth. However, there was just one
spot which was not covered. All the people in the world had been drowned except a brother and a sister who lived in
Pokis.
Then Lumawig descended, and he called to the boy and girl, saying, “Oh, you are still alive.”
“Yes,” answered the boy, “we are still alive, but we are very cold.”
So, Lumawig commanded his dog and deer to get fire for the boy and girl. The dog and the deer swam quickly away.
Lumawig waited a long time, but the dog and the deer did not return. All the time the boy and girl were growing colder.
Finally, Lumawig himself went after the dog and the deer. When he reached them, he said, “Why are you so long in
bringing the fire to Pokis? Get ready and come quickly while I watch you, for the boy and girl are very cold.”
Then the dog and the deer took the fire and started to swim through the flood. When they had gone only a little way, the
fire was put out.
Lumawig commanded the dog and the deer to get more fire, and they did so. However, they swam only a little way again
when that of the deer went out. That of the dog would have been extinguished also had not Lumawig gone quickly to him
and taken it.
As soon as Lumawig reached Pokis, he built a big fire which warmed the brother and sister. The water evaporated so that
the world was as it was before, except that now there were mountains. The brother and sister married and had children,
and thus there came to be many people on the earth.
Myth
•There are Philippine versions of the
creation myth. The Igorot’s story tells
that Lumawig the Great Spirit created
people. On the other hand, the Tagalog
story tells that the first man and woman
came from a bamboo.
The Creation (An Igorot Myth)

In the beginning, there were no people on the earth. Lumawig, the Great Spirit, came down from the sky and
cut many reeds. He divided the reeds into pairs which he placed in different parts of the world, and then he said
to them, “You must speak.” Immediately the reeds became people, and in each place was a man and a woman
who could talk. However, the language of each couple differed from that of the others.
Then Lumawig commanded each man and woman to marry, which they did. By and by there were many
children, all speaking the same language as their parents. The children married and had many children of their
own. In this way, there came to be many people on the earth.
Now Lumawig saw that there were several things which the people on the earth needed to use, so he set to
work to supply them. He created salt and told the inhabitants of one place to boil it down and sell it to their
neighbors. However, the people could not understand the directions. The next time he visited them, they had
not touched the salt. So, he took the salt away from them and gave it to the people of a place called Mayinit.
The people of Mayinit did as Lumawig directed. Because of their obedience, he told them that they should
always be owners of the salt and that the other peoples must buy of them.
Then Lumawig went to the people of Bontoc and told them to get clay and make pots. They got the clay, but
they did not understand the molding; the jars were not well shaped. Because of their failure, Lumawig told them
that they would always have to buy their jars, and he removed the pottery to Samoki.
Lumawig told the people of Samoki what to do, and they did just as he said. Their jars were well shaped and
beautiful. Then Lumawig saw that they were fit owners of the pottery, and he told them that they should always
make many jars to sell.
In this way, Lumawig taught the people and brought to them all the things which they now have.
The Creation (A Tagalog Myth)

When the world first began there was no land. There were only the sea and the sky, and between them was a kite.
One day the bird which had nowhere to light grew tired of flying about, so she stirred up the sea until it threw its
waters against the sky. The sky, in order to restrain the sea, showered upon it many islands until it could no longer
rise, but ran back and forth. Then the sky ordered the kite to alight on one of the islands to build its nest, and to
leave the sea and the sky in peace.
Now at this time the land breeze and the sea breeze were married, and they had a bamboo as their child. One day
when the bamboo was floating about on the water, it struck the feet of the kite which was on the beach. The bird,
angry that anything should strike it, pecked at the bamboo. Out of one section came a man and from the other a
woman.
The earthquake called on all the birds and fish to see what should be done with the man and the woman, and it
was decided that they should marry. Many children were born to the couple, and from them came all the different
races of people.
After a while the parents grew very tired of having so many idle and useless children around. They wished to be rid
of them, but they knew of no place to send them to. Time went on, and the children became so numerous that the
parents enjoyed no peace. One day, in desperation, the father seized a stick and began beating them on all sides.
The beating frightened the children so much that they fled in different directions. Some seek hidden rooms in the
house. Some concealed themselves in the walls. Some ran outside, while others hid in the fireplace. Several fled
to the sea.
Now it happened that those who went into the hidden rooms of the house later became the chiefs of the islands;
and those who concealed themselves in the walls became slaves. Those who ran outside were free men; and
those who hid in the fireplace became negroes; while those who fled to the sea were gone many years, and when
their children came back they were the white people.
 Epic
•The Philippine epics are sung or
chanted in episodes. They feature
supernatural characters and reflect
the society where they originated.
Also, there are different versions
of a story.
Biag ni Lam-ang
This Ilocano epic tells the adventures of Lam-ang, a man with supernatural powers. He
goes to war at nine-months-old and seeks the killers of his father. He embarks on a
quest with his animal friends and meets his future wife, Innes Kanoyan. He is
swallowed by a fish and resurrected from death by his animal friends.
Hinilawod
This epic is of the Sulod, a group of people living in the mountains of central Panay. It
tells the story of three very strong men, namely, Labaw Donggon, Humadapnon, and
Dumalapdap. They are the sons of Datu Paubari, the ruler of Halawod, and the
goddess Alunsina. The exploits of each son concerns beautiful women that he wants to
have as a wife.
Darangan
This Maranao epic depicts the adventures of a brave warrior named Bantugan. He
owns a magical sword protected by a spirit. After a battle, he rests and accidentally
falls into the water. A crocodile finds him and brings him to the enemies. He fights,
regains his strength, and wins the war.
Summary

The precolonial literature of the Philippines includes all

literature produced before the Spanish colonization. It
includes chants, proverbs, songs, spells, and different folk
narratives like folk tales, fables, legends, myths, and epics
that were all passed down from generation to generation
through the word of mouth.