绿帽换妻

Explanatory Myths

Explanatory myths account for the origin of a certain thing or practice; they are just-so stories. They often substitute for science, and many times contain a moral for human behavior. The Tinguians, for instance, tell of a flood that came and forced fire to hide in stone, iron, and bamboo, which is why it can still be brought out of these things. They also say that the monkey was originally a man who spent a lot of time leaning on his planting stick when working in the fields; the stick eventually turned into a tail and the man ran off as a monkey. Most Filipinos believe in a brother and sister who escaped a flood to repopulate the world.

Animal Fables

These are mostly tales of clever tricksters like those of Native Americans. For instance, when a water buffalo gets into a race with a shell, the latter has his fellow shells along the path impersonate him so that the buffalo always thinks the shell is ahead. The smart-aleck mammal soon exhausts himself and loses the race.

Filipino myths are a combination of elements from the ancient Southeast Asiatic culture, and Hindu elements. While the tales themselves do not seem to have origins outside the islands, the romantic subject matter and modes are often reminiscent of Hindu epics.

Epic and Romance

Many groups possess complex cycles of love and adventure tales which revolve around the lives of a few recurrent characters and their familues.

For instance, the Tinguians have a large number of stories featuring the great warrior Aponi-tolau and his love Aponi-bolinayen, their families, and an assortment of monsters, enemies, and trials they must overcome. Often the identities of these characters are disguised or kept secret, like Hindu gods, and part of the pleasure of the story comes from recognizing them and putting the individual stories in context with their other adventures.

Ceremonial Formulas

Called diam by the Tinggians, these are didactic tales that convey the right way to do things and how to avoid various pitfalls in life. In the main, they deal with obtaining the favor of the gods.