Philippine Folklore Stories Paperback – August 3, 2009

So I appreciate the work that is put into making public domain books available. Unfortunately the formatting on this book was not done very well do the book was a bit hard to follow as everything was the same font size. Also there were a few interesting stories, but the writing in general was dry and didn't seem to have much enthusiasm for the topic at hand.

Overall good Filipino folklore, although a good number are rooted in Spanish colonization. Lacking depth and breadth in terms of indigenous stories and myths. Also lacking the more commonly told stories such as the makahiya plant or the origin of the pineapple, which are commonly told myths in the Philippines.

I speak, read and write Filipino and I am quite knowledgeable on its folklore and legends.I have never heard of these myths, most probably because it may be in Visayan language but the grammar and word usage is outright confusing."Comusta pari" I think should be "Kumusta, pare?" (From Spanish Como estas- How are you?, Pare is like a male chum/friend).The author might have cited that the stories were of Visayan origin too.The construction of the sentences/paragraphs is quite lanky too.

It seems to me like someone went there on a vacation and decided to mingle with the locals. Found out about some local folklore and decided to take some notes on as many of them as possible. Regardless of the effort, the end result has poor translation and mis-information written all over it.

During my early childhood, I grew up hearing many superstitious beliefs and old wives' tales so this read took me back. A memory trip back to my native country through folklores (11 told here). I can't say I have heard any of these before but I felt the stories for the entertainment they brought. One in particular reminded me of what my aunt instructed me to do as we walked through this foresty path (somewhere in the Philippines) during the night. She told me to say, "Tabi, tabi" so as to say to the ghosts or creatures of the night to stay away from us. Looking back at it now, I think she may have said that so that I don't go wondering off there at night by myself. Not like I would anyways. As a kid, I was a big scaredy cat!

Interesting folklore stories but I wish there are more stories told. With all the islands in the Philippines, I'm sure at least there would be one unique story from each island.

Wonderful book! Really interesting. I Loved it and would read it again. It was so different than the regular folklore stories I am used to, so this was a winner.

I waw preparing to officiate at a nephew's wedding and wanted to find Philippine folk stories, that I might use as illustraitons.Even though I did not find an appropriate story, I enjoyed reading them and learned something from them.Thanks.