May 28, 2020 • 46 mins
It's the story of a good little dude.
Read the full text of The Story of Benito from Philippine Folk Tales collected by Mabel Cook Cole and published in 1916.
Follow us for sporadic posting on Instagram and Twitter. Email us your secrets at folklorica@strawhutmedia.com.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Read the full text of The Story of Benito from Philippine Folk Tales collected by Mabel Cook Cole and published in 1916.
Follow us for sporadic posting on Instagram and Twitter. Email us your secrets at folklorica@strawhutmedia.com.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Straw Hut media. Isn't a kid alive who doesn't dream
about rewarding her folks or punishing them. That's from snuff
by Chuck Palanook.
Speaker 2 (00:21):
Welcome to Folklorica.
Speaker 1 (00:23):
I'm your host, Clayton, and I'm your host Maggie, and we're.
Speaker 2 (00:26):
Coming to you live from our respective bunkers.
Speaker 1 (00:35):
Glorica. We are not physically in the same room together.
Speaker 2 (00:41):
So everyone out there who is trapped in their own
apartment houses or bedrooms, you're as connected to us as
we are to each other.
Speaker 1 (00:52):
Ooh, I like that. That's very true, Clayton, that's very true.
Out of curiosity, have you started to lose.
Speaker 2 (00:57):
Your mind yet a little bit. My mind has is
throwing everything it can into holding onto technology. I have
not been able to release my grip and detach it all.
So anything with a screen it's keeping me alive right now.
But I know that in the coming days I'm going
to I'm going to have to deactivate.
Speaker 1 (01:19):
Yeah, my social media time has gone way way up.
Speaker 2 (01:23):
This is all we have. So it's just like stare
into your phone for twenty hours.
Speaker 1 (01:29):
Have you done anything exciting and new?
Speaker 2 (01:32):
No? No, that's what I mean. Technology has totally been
like the booy that I'm holding onto in these crazy storms. Yeah,
and I need to let go of it to like
enjoy this time off, you know, enjoy this isolation in
a creative way.
Speaker 1 (01:47):
Yeah. I did manage to sew the buttons onto two
things that were missing buttons. I also organized the closet.
Speaker 2 (01:56):
Oh, you've really organized the closet. Okay, cool, cool, Yeah, yeah, yeah,
I have done absolutely nothing.
Speaker 1 (02:02):
That's great.
Speaker 2 (02:03):
So yeah, and these these dark times, what's the what's
the story you're going to read to us to to
lift our spirits around this this campfire we've established in
the trash can in our living room.
Speaker 1 (02:12):
So today we are going to read a story from
the Philippines called the Story of Benito.
Speaker 2 (02:19):
The Story of Benito, that's right from the Philippines.
Speaker 1 (02:24):
Yeah, the good old Philippines, which, as most of us know,
is a has a lot of ties to the US.
Speaker 2 (02:31):
M hm.
Speaker 1 (02:32):
You want to hear something crazy about how we ended
up like quote unquote owning the Philippines. Yes, okay, so
right around the turn of the century. So okay, So
to go back, you know that Spain took over the
like conquered the Philippines and it was their territory for
a long time.
Speaker 2 (02:52):
When the Spanish were really running the show.
Speaker 1 (02:54):
Yeah, they were, they were running the show. They were
like conquering everyone. I think it was a little bit
after Columbus came to the Americas. I think it was
in the fifteen hundreds, and so it was pretty terrible, obviously,
like most imperialism. And then around the late eighteen hundreds,
Philippine people started to organize and plan a revolution. Good
(03:19):
for them, and they started revolting and they was really bloody.
And at the same time, since Spain was obviously like
a big imperial power, Spain was also trying to get Cuba,
and the US didn't want them to take Cuba. I
think probably because it was maybe too close to the US,
I don't know. So they're doing stuff. The Spanish start
(03:43):
messing with the US, so the US decides they're going
to go to war with Spain. Meanwhile, they tell the
Philippine people, you know what, We're going to back you
up in your revolution. We're going to support you guys
because we don't like the Spanish and we're going to
like help you get your independence from the span And
so they go to the Philippines and they fight and
(04:04):
they defeat the Spanish, and then right after they signed
a treaty where no Filipino people are there and they
instead buy the Philippines from Spain for twenty million dollars.
Speaker 2 (04:18):
That's just the way to do it. That's just good business.
Speaker 1 (04:20):
And then the people in the Philippines were like what
the fuck, like wait, this wasn't the agreement. So, by
the way, like twenty dollars it sounds like a lot
of money in eighteen ninety eight, but it actually isn't
that much considering that it's an entire country.
Speaker 2 (04:36):
You know, they got it on the cheap.
Speaker 1 (04:38):
Yeah. I was looking it up and it says it's
like about six hundred million dollars these days. I don't know.
That was just from a from an inflation calculator, but
I don't know.
Speaker 2 (04:48):
Well, the entire American Samoa's is valued at five hundred
million or that's their GDP rather And I know that
because Michael Blueberg spent that same amount on his advertisement campaign.
Speaker 1 (05:04):
Oh god, what a world, I know. So, you know,
the US buys the Philippines and they're like, psych, actually
you belong to us, And so that starts the Philippine
American War obviously. Yeah, and two hundred and fifty thousand
people die and the US wins, obviously, and the Philippines
(05:25):
got their independence in the nineteen forties. But yeah, that's
that's the that's America in the Philippines. And this book,
this book that this story is from, was published in
nineteen sixteen, so this is during the time when the
US technically like owns the Philippines. The war has ended,
(05:49):
and now it's like this point of interest for Americans
because they're like, ooh, this is our like exotic island
that we own. It's like the first time the US
has ever tried to get something outside of the continental US.
This is the first place.
Speaker 2 (06:05):
Can we talk a little bit about the ethnographer of
this book.
Speaker 1 (06:09):
Yeah, so she's not technically an ethnographer. She's an anthropologist.
Speaker 2 (06:13):
Okay.
Speaker 1 (06:14):
Her name is what's.
Speaker 2 (06:16):
Her name, Mabel Cook Coal.
Speaker 1 (06:20):
That's right, Mabel Cook Cole, great name. So Mabel and
her husband they lived in the Philippines for four years.
Speaker 2 (06:30):
Okay.
Speaker 1 (06:31):
She was an anthropologist and an author. And he was
also an anthropologist and he worked at the Field Museum
in Chicago.
Speaker 2 (06:39):
But he was also a witness for the defense in
the Scopes trial.
Speaker 1 (06:42):
Pretty cool because listeners, he's a teacher who taught evolution
in Tennessee at a public school and he got sued
by the state.
Speaker 2 (06:51):
But the trial was deliberately staged in order to attract publicity,
and Scopes was unsure whether he had even taught evolution,
like he had memory of actually going through that process,
but he felt it he felt obligated to participate in
the trial simply to stand up and for the sake
of teaching evolution.
Speaker 1 (07:10):
Well that's good. I mean, that's like most Supreme Court cases,
isn't it. People who are trying to get something done.
They try to find a case that they can champion
and take to the Supreme Court. So, but it is
pretty cool that this guy, fake Cooper Cole testified for
for evolution, for evolution, not against it. But I guess
(07:31):
he's like a scientist. Him and his wife are both scientists.
Speaker 2 (07:34):
Yeah, as an anthropologist, this is like why you're doing
it right?
Speaker 1 (07:39):
Yeah, And they do kind of seem like a power couple.
Am I crazy to say that?
Speaker 2 (07:44):
No? I mean to see that she's written as many
books as she has, including the Story of Man, Story
of Primitive Man, Savage Gentleman, and this Philippine folk tales
that we're reading from. She was also a dancer and
a singer.
Speaker 1 (07:57):
I read that on Wikipedia, but I couldn't find any
evidence of her being a dancer and a singer anywhere else.
Speaker 2 (08:02):
You're a d it's all in your soul, That's why
it's not you can't catalog it. Well.
Speaker 1 (08:06):
They both they both lived until like the nineteen seventies,
I think, so they were around for a while. Yeah. Oh,
and you know what else, She was a charter member
of the Women's Anthropologist Group with Margaret Meade. Margaret Mead
is another very cool anthropologist who basically like talked about
opening up sexuality. Cool cool, And I mean, obviously we
(08:31):
have to mention that there is a lot of problematic
language that they use, because this is the time when
people used words like savages like her book Savage Gentleman.
And I wanted to read this one quote from the
introduction to this book because I think it it kind
(08:52):
of highlights how like the benevolent imperialism, you know what
I mean, Like they called it like the white man's burden,
where white people felt like they had to go to
these places out of love, to icee to like make
people come into civilized society. You know.
Speaker 2 (09:10):
That's sort of like modern day like how we do.
It's like policing the world, trying to better people against
even against the beliefs of their own.
Speaker 1 (09:18):
Cultures, against their own wishes. Often. Yeah, so there is
that that we should identify. It's not like they seem
like they were pretty cool in some ways, but they
were also definitely pro imperialism and children of their time,
children of their time. Yeah. So this is this quote
from the introduction. It goes, it is my earnest hope
(09:40):
that this collection of tales will give those who are
interested opportunity to learn something of the magic, superstitions, and
weird customs of the Filipinos and to feel the charm
of their wonder world as it is pictured by these
dark skinned inhabitants of our island possessions.
Speaker 2 (10:00):
Yikes, So they definitely have tourists' mentality.
Speaker 1 (10:06):
Yeah, well, I mean keep in mind, this is nineteen sixteen,
so in this context, this is a actually like a
pretty nice way of thinking about it. You know, Like,
now we would this person would be hashtag canceled.
Speaker 2 (10:19):
But yeah, for having described a culture like they were
at the zoo.
Speaker 1 (10:23):
Yeah, but in this context you can tell that she
actually had a lot of love for the people and
she even the way that she organized this, this book
of stories, This is the first collection of folk tales
from the Philippines to be published in at least in
the US. Before there had been a few years and
there in scientific journals. But she took the ones from
(10:45):
the scientific journals and then spent that those four years
basically collecting the stories. And what's interesting about this trip
they took to the Philippines is that Fay Cooper Cole,
her husband, is the one who basically organized the trip.
So in Illinois, so he lived in Chicago. They lived
(11:06):
in Chicago, right. So there was this exhibit about the
like the Louisiana purchase, and there was also a section
about acquiring the Philippines. And this grain merchant saw the
exhibit about the Philippines and was like, this is so cool.
I have to know more. And so he told the museum,
he said, I'll give you guys twenty thousand dollars if
(11:29):
you'll go to the Philippines and get more information and
bring back a bunch of artifacts as long as you
do it right now, and you also let the state
of Illinois benefit from it. And so the museum was like,
uh okay, so yeah, twist my arm. And so they
(11:51):
get fake Cooper Cole, a guy named William Jones, and
a guy named Steven C. Simms, they all go. At
the end of it, he brought home like over five
thousand objects that he collected from the Philippines and he
was there for the full four years. But William Jones
was murdered by a tribe, a mountain tribe in the Philippines.
Speaker 2 (12:12):
Probably trying to steal their stuff to bring it back.
Speaker 1 (12:15):
Yeah, probably, And then STEVENS. Simms went and took over
where he where he left off.
Speaker 2 (12:22):
Wow, that's that's brave.
Speaker 1 (12:24):
So yeah, so he was sort of the reason. And
I'm not sure I couldn't find why she ended up
going along if she was just like that sounds cool,
can I come? But he actually did his dissertation on
Tinguian folklore. I don't know if I'm pronouncing that right,
but that is one of the regions, one of the
people of the Philippines, and so.
Speaker 2 (12:46):
Maybe it's ten I think it's win n g U
y e n.
Speaker 1 (12:49):
Yeah, yeah, it's win ten win, ten win. Okay, good
to know.
Speaker 2 (12:54):
It's like.
Speaker 1 (12:56):
Ten win win. It's a ten win situation.
Speaker 2 (13:02):
You beat me to it.
Speaker 1 (13:04):
So his dissertation was basically comparing the old culture in
Tinwin myths with the present day culture after the invasion
of the Spanish and the Americans, basically and like comparing
the differences and what changes had taken place in their stories.
So that's kind of cool.
Speaker 2 (13:22):
Yeah, that is cool. Well, I feel good, you feel good.
Speaker 1 (13:26):
I feel great.
Speaker 2 (13:27):
Cool. Cool. Let's take a quick break and when we
come back, we'll jump right into the story of Benito.
Speaker 1 (13:38):
The story of Benito. Benito was an only son who
lived with his father and mother in a little village.
They were very poor, and as the boy grew older
and saw how hard his parents struggled for their scanty living,
he often dreamed of a time when he might be
a help to them. One evening, when they sat eating
their frugal meal of rice, the father told about a
(14:00):
young king who lived in a beautiful palace some distance
from their village, and the boy became very interested. That night,
when the house was dark and quiet, and Benito lay
on his mat trying to sleep, thoughts of the young
king repeatedly came to his mind, and he wished he
were a king, that he and his parents might spend
the rest of their lives in a beautiful palace. The
(14:20):
next morning he awoke with a new idea. He would
go to the king and ask for work that he might,
in that way be able to help his father and mother.
He was a long time in persuading his parents to
allow him to go, however, for it was a long
journey and they feared that the king might not be gracious.
But at last they gave their consent and the boy
started out. The journey proved tiresome. After he reached the palace,
(14:44):
he was not at first permitted to see the king,
but the boy, being very earnest, at last secured a
place as a servant.
Speaker 2 (14:52):
Where we're at now, his father told him a story
over dinner about the king, and then the boy that
had a dream about the king and the next day
had to go see him and got there and has
now earned a job as a servant.
Speaker 1 (15:09):
Yeah. So my understanding so far is that this is
a family where they are living in the pre colonial ways.
You know, they're in a village, they're poor and the
father tells a son about like this westernized place with
a palace, because palaces were not They weren't the thing
(15:30):
in the Philippines pre Spanish people. So this is definitely
like one of those postcolonialization stories. Okay, so let's move
on so far. What we know is Benito's a nice kid. Mmmmm,
sweet Benit, Sweet do Benito. It was a new and
(15:52):
strange world to Benito, who had known only the life
of a little village. The work was hard, but he
was happy in thinking that now he could help his
father and mother. One day, the king sent for him
and said, I want you to bring me a beautiful
princess who lives in a land across the sea. Go
at once, and if you fail, you shall be punished severely.
The boy's heart sank within him, for he did not
(16:15):
know what to do, but he answered as bravely as possible,
I will, my Lord, and left the king's chamber. He
at once set about preparing things for a long journey,
for he was determined to try, at least to fulfill
the command. It seems like a common thing for kings
to ask for something and say like, if you don't
(16:35):
do it, I'm going to murder you.
Speaker 2 (16:38):
Yeah, they're pretty tyrannical.
Speaker 1 (16:40):
Yeah they really are.
Speaker 2 (16:42):
Well, it's awesome. I mean it just the way a
lot of cultures can tend to view human life, like
the sacrifice or your struggle, whatever you can contribute to
your belief system, Like you as a being isn't as
important as the commands you must follow sometimes and in
(17:03):
a lot of ancient cultures that seems to be the case,
where human life isn't as valued as like sacrificing to
something bigger than you.
Speaker 1 (17:11):
Preach Clayton, I didn't realize I was going to get
a sermon today.
Speaker 2 (17:16):
Yeah. Well I'm trapped in a room, so the gift
of God is coursing through me.
Speaker 1 (17:24):
Yeah. When all was ready, Benito started. He had not
gone far before he came to a thick forest where
he saw a large bird bound tightly with strings. Oh,
my friend, pleaded the bird. Please free me from these bonds,
and I will help you whenever you call on me.
Benito quickly released the bird and it flew away, calling
(17:46):
back to him that its name was Sparrowhawk. Benito continued
his journey till he came to the sea, unable to
find a way of crossing. He stopped and gazed sadly
out over the waters, thinking of the King's threat if
he failed. Suddenly he saw swimming toward him the King
of the Fishes, who asked, why are you so sad?
(18:08):
I wished to cross the sea to find the beautiful princess,
answered the boy. We'll get on my back, said the fish,
and I will carry you across. So Benito stepped on
his back and was carried to the other shore.
Speaker 2 (18:20):
So we're seeing a lot of it's already like a
magical element in this Filipino story.
Speaker 1 (18:25):
Yeah, we've encountered a talking fish and a talking bird
so far, and he just started.
Speaker 2 (18:31):
We've got sparrow hawk? Is the name of the bird,
that's right? What do you think the fish's name is
going to be?
Speaker 1 (18:37):
I think his name is the King of the Fishes.
Speaker 2 (18:39):
I hope it's flounder trout, flounder trout like sparrow hawk.
Speaker 1 (18:44):
Oh, I say, yeah, yeah, yeah, guppy bass. That's a
good one. It's a really good one. Maybe he would
go buy something like swordfish.
Speaker 2 (18:53):
Ooh, I like that swordfish.
Speaker 1 (18:56):
Grouper, guppy grouper.
Speaker 2 (19:00):
Guppy grouper. Detective PI.
Speaker 1 (19:03):
It does sound like a pi yeah, from the fifties.
The other thing I noticed is that he decided to
go do this with absolutely no plan for what he
would do when he got to the ocean, Like he
didn't consider the fact that he was going to get
to the ocean and have absolutely no way to cross.
Speaker 2 (19:17):
I mean, it's all about faith, not to preach again,
but he's just going, this is the thing I have
to do. I'm not even going to concern myself with
planning the wheel.
Speaker 1 (19:29):
Jesus.
Speaker 2 (19:31):
He's letting Jesus take the wheel, and Jesus is sending him,
just like Jesus sent Cinderella creatures to help her get
dressed in the morning. He's sending Benito a talking bird
that has guided him, and now a fish.
Speaker 1 (19:46):
So do you think he stood on the fish as
he went across or do you think he straddled it
like a horse.
Speaker 2 (19:52):
I do like the idea of him straddling the fish
like a horse. But I also like the idea of
the fish carrying Benito across and mouth.
Speaker 1 (20:00):
Oh interesting, mm hmm. That hadn't occurred to me as
a possibility.
Speaker 2 (20:05):
And little Benito's head sticking up out of the water.
Speaker 1 (20:07):
Oh yeah, I also like to imagine it being like
him standing, you know, and people in like Marina's they
stand on those big surfboards and then they paddle around
like a paddle I like to imagine, is that what
that's called? Yeah, yeah, that's an obvious name. But I
like to imagine him sort of like just standing on
(20:28):
this fish like a paddle board and just moving across
the still water.
Speaker 2 (20:32):
But without a paddle. He just looks like he's on
some sort of ocean version of a segue.
Speaker 1 (20:36):
That's exactly what he looks like. Soon he met a
strange woman who inquired what it was he saw, and
when he had told her, she said, the princess is
kept in a castle guarded by giants. Take this magic sword,
for it will kill instantly whatever it touches, and she
handed him the weapon. Benito was more than grateful for
her kindness and went on full of hope. As he
(20:57):
approached the castle, he could see that it was surrounded
by many giants, and as soon as they saw him,
they ran out to seize him, but they went unarmed,
for they saw that he was a mere boy. As
they approached, he touched those in front with his sword,
and one by one they fell dead. Then the others
ran away in a panic and left the castle unguarded.
(21:17):
Benito entered, and when he told the princess of his
errand she was only too glad to escape from her captivity,
and she set out at once with him for the
palace of the King.
Speaker 2 (21:27):
Do you think that he's just placing the sword flat
against someone's body, or he's just tapping them with it
just a little flick, or is he delicately stabbing them
just real like like popping a balloon with a needle,
just like and then they just dropped dead.
Speaker 1 (21:45):
That is how I was picturing. It was like a
It was like a boop boop, you.
Speaker 2 (21:51):
Know, just a rapidly tiny boy where the tiny sword
is going.
Speaker 1 (21:58):
These are giants, so he's probably getting mostly shin right.
Speaker 2 (22:01):
Yeah, yeah, maybe in the toe.
Speaker 1 (22:03):
Well, I guess it depends, like giants, how big is
a giant really? There's probably a lot of different opinions
on that.
Speaker 2 (22:09):
Yeah, it depends on the culture you're referencing, because some
of them are giants can be like Norse mythology. Sometimes
they're just like slightly large people. But then you have
other mythologies where they're the size of.
Speaker 1 (22:21):
Mountains or like somewhere in between.
Speaker 2 (22:23):
Sometimes yeah, yeah, sometimes they're more than a person, but
not quite a mountain, more than a girl, not quite
a woman.
Speaker 1 (22:31):
I know that was trying to think of how to
sing that to that song. Oh man, I'm not a man,
not quite a mountain.
Speaker 2 (22:43):
Yeah, there you go.
Speaker 1 (22:48):
Is time to be a good giant.
Speaker 2 (22:53):
So we're going to assume that these giants are huge.
Speaker 1 (22:58):
Let's stick with like twenty feet tall. How about that?
Speaker 2 (23:01):
Okay, that's good size.
Speaker 1 (23:05):
At the seashore, the King of the Fishes was waiting
for them, and they had no difficulty in crossing the sea,
and then in journeying through the thick forest to the palace,
where they were received with great rejoicing. After a time,
the king asked the princess to become his wife, and
she replied, I will, o, King, if you will get
the ring I lost in the sea as I was
crossing it. The king immediately thought of bigging tail and
(23:27):
sending for him. He commanded him to find the ring,
which had been lost on the journey from the land
of the Giants. It seemed a hopeless task to the boy,
but anxious to obey his master, he started out at
the seaside, he stopped and gazed over the waters, until,
to his great delight, he saw his friend, the King
of Fishes, swimming toward him. When he had been told
(23:47):
of the boy's troubles. The great fish said, I will
see if I can help you, and he summoned all
his subjects to him. When they came, he found that
one was missing, and he sent the others in search
of it. Found fund it under a stone so full
that it could not swim, and the larger ones took
up by the tail and dragged it to the king.
Why did you not come when you were called, inquired
(24:09):
the kingfish. I have eaten so much that I cannot swim,
replied the poor fish. Then the kingfish, suspecting the truth,
ordered it cut open, and inside they've found the lost ring.
Benito was overjoyed at this, and, expressing his great thanks,
hastened with the precious ring to his master. So to
(24:29):
be clear right now, Kingfish sliced open another fish.
Speaker 2 (24:34):
Got the ring out, gave it to Benito, and the.
Speaker 1 (24:36):
Other fish died. The king, greatly pleased, carried the ring
to the princess and said, now that I have your ring,
will you become my wife? I will be your wife,
replied the princess, if you will find my earring that
I lost in the forest as I was journeying with Benito.
Speaker 2 (24:53):
Benito's got to be like U blee. You guys lose
a lot of shit in a lot of crazy places.
Speaker 1 (25:00):
Yes, arm get it together, princess.
Speaker 2 (25:03):
And why me? You have a whole kingdom? Why is
why am I the only person that can find this stuff?
Speaker 1 (25:08):
Well, he's obviously really good at his job.
Speaker 2 (25:10):
It's too good. This is why you got to like
just barely meet expectations. Guys. Yeah, don't overachieve because then
people ask you to do more stuff.
Speaker 1 (25:20):
This is a perfect example of that.
Speaker 2 (25:21):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (25:22):
Actually, again the king sent for Benito, and this time
he commanded him to find the earring. The boy was
very weary from his long journeys, but with no complaint,
he started out once more along the road through the
thick forest. He searched carefully, but with no reward. At last,
tired and discouraged, he sat down under a tree to rest.
(25:43):
Suddenly there appeared before him a mouse of great size,
and he was surprised to find that it was the
King of mice. I feel like I would not be
so surprised.
Speaker 2 (25:52):
You wouldn't be surprised, for at this point.
Speaker 1 (25:54):
Well, if the first fish you met was the king
of the fishes, if I were to meet a mouse,
I'd be like any the king of the mice.
Speaker 2 (26:02):
I mean, yeah, yeah, yeah. And so far the only
animals that interact with me are the kings of them,
except for sparrow hawk. Sparrow Hawk was just a run
on the mill bird, just.
Speaker 1 (26:12):
A cool bird. Why are you so sad, asked the
king mouse, because, answered the boy, I cannot find an
earring which the princess lost as we were going through
the forest together. I will help you, said the mouse,
and he summoned all his subjects. When they assembled, it
was found that one little mouse was missing, and the
king sent the others to look for him. In a
(26:34):
small hole among the bamboo trees, they found him, and
he begged to be left alone, for he said he
was so full that he could not walk. Nevertheless, they
pulled him along to their master, who, upon finding that
there was something hard inside the mouse, ordered him cut open,
and inside they found the missing ear ring. Another king,
completely willing to slice open one of his subjects well,
(26:57):
as long as.
Speaker 2 (26:57):
They keep eating human jewelry dummies. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (27:01):
Benito at once forgot his weariness, and after expressing his
great thanks to the king mouse, he hastened to the
palace with the prize. The king eagerly seized the earring
and presented it to the princess, again, asking her to
be his wife. Oh my, king replied the princess, I
have one more request to make, only granted, and I
will be your wife forever. The king, believing that now
(27:23):
with the aid of she's definitely bullshitting right, Oh my.
Speaker 2 (27:26):
God, talk about just not wanting to get married. But
she did. She did plan ahead and decided to randomly
toss all of these valuables in very strange places. It's like,
this is in the case someone ever asks me to
get married, I can be like, yeah, absolutely, but first
I need this, and then this and then this.
Speaker 1 (27:44):
So you do think she sort of surreptitiously tossed her
ring and tossed one of your rings for this purpose.
Speaker 2 (27:52):
It's it's like Olkham's razor, you know. It's the simplest
solution is always these?
Speaker 1 (27:58):
Is that the simplest solution, though, wouldn't the simpler solution
be that she lost it.
Speaker 2 (28:04):
It depends on her motive. If she's down to get married,
then yes, it is just that she lost it. But
if she doesn't want to get married, then she did
a lot of work.
Speaker 1 (28:18):
Oh, my king replied the princess, I have one more
request to make. Only grant it, and I will be
your wife forever. The king, believing that now with the
aid of Benito, he could grant anything, inquired what it
was she wished, and she replied, get me some water
from heaven and some from the lower world, and I
shall ask nothing more.
Speaker 2 (28:38):
Sure, no problem. Yeah, get me some water from heaven.
Speaker 1 (28:42):
Some Heaven water and some Hell water. That's all I need.
Speaker 2 (28:45):
Yeah, just get me some water from heaven water from hell.
Speaker 1 (28:49):
After that, I'm all good.
Speaker 2 (28:51):
I'm all yours.
Speaker 1 (28:53):
Once more, the king called Benito and sent him on
the hardest errand of all. The boy went out, not
knowing which way to turn, and while he was in
a deep study, his weary feet led him to the forest.
Suddenly he thought of the bird who had promised to
help him, and he called sparrow hawk. Sparrow Hawk, Yes,
I'm trying to decide. I'm trying to decide how he
(29:15):
called sparrow hawk sparrel hawk. Think was it sparrow hawk hawks,
sparrow hawk, coy sparrowswk sparrel hawk, or was it like
sparrow hawk.
Speaker 2 (29:27):
Yeah, yeah, it's like a tray, you a tray.
Speaker 1 (29:31):
There was a rustle of wings and the bird swooped down.
He told it of his troubles, and it said, I
will get the water for you. Then Benito made two
light cups of bamboo, which he fastened to the bird's legs,
and it flew away all day. The boy waited in
the forest, and just as night was coming on, the
bird returned with both cups full. The one on his
(29:52):
right foot, he told Benito, was from heaven, and the
one on his left was from the lower world. The
boy unfastened the cup, and then as he was thanking
the bird, he noticed that the journey had been too
much for it, and that it was dying, filled with
sorrow for his winged friend. He waited and carefully buried it,
and then he hastened to the palace with the precious water.
Speaker 2 (30:12):
So sparrow hawk died. Sparrow hawk died doing this task
for Benito, who was doing a job for the king
who was doing a job for the princess.
Speaker 1 (30:28):
Wow. Yeah that is big. Yeah, that's a long.
Speaker 2 (30:33):
Line that reminds me. I don't know if you heard
this story, but there was this I think this took
place somewhere in Asia. I'm not that's as specific as
I'm going to get, but basically, the whole thing got
found out, this assassination attempt on somebody because every hitman
or they hired a hitman, that hit man hired another
(30:53):
hitman to do it. And this went on like each
hit man would hire another hitman to do the job
to like there were like twelve of them. Wow, and
then the last one got busted, so that the whole
ring came down and they had to arrest like twelve
hit men.
Speaker 1 (31:07):
So they really didn't want to kill this person.
Speaker 2 (31:10):
Yeah yeah, they just kept taking, like giving out cuts
of the money they were gonna get each time. I
wonder pyramids came if I've ever heard one.
Speaker 1 (31:17):
I wonder who the person they were supposed to kill was,
Like why was everybody like, h I don't want to
do this. I'm going to get someone else.
Speaker 2 (31:23):
Too, you know, Yeah it's Tom Hanks. Nobody wants to hurt.
Speaker 1 (31:28):
Him except for the freaking coronavirus. Am I right?
Speaker 2 (31:31):
I know it's scary, all right.
Speaker 1 (31:33):
So our sweet boy.
Speaker 2 (31:34):
Benito buried his bird friend.
Speaker 1 (31:37):
Sat by Sparrowhawk's side as he breathed his last breath,
and then buried.
Speaker 2 (31:43):
Him and buried him, and then took a very short
moment of silence and rushed to the palace with the
heaven water and the hell water.
Speaker 1 (31:51):
When the princess saw that her wish had been fulfilled,
she asked the king to cut her in two and
pour over her the water from heaven. The king was
not able to do this, so she cut herself and
then as he poured the water over her, he beheld
her grow into the most beautiful woman he had ever seen.
Speaker 2 (32:09):
So just FYI, yeah, what does happened?
Speaker 1 (32:12):
So what just happened is the princess was like, okay,
so can you cut me in half now and then
pour this water on me? And he was like, no,
I cannot do that, and she was like, fine, I'll
do it myself, and so she cut herself in half
and then he poured the water on her, and then
she turned into the most beautiful woman that he had
(32:33):
ever seen. That's just what went down?
Speaker 2 (32:38):
Wow? So did she cut herself in half torso from
legs like that way? Or was it a vertical line?
You know?
Speaker 1 (32:50):
When I was imagining it, it was it was hot
dog style, But now that I think about the h
the actual logistics of it, I imagine and it was
hamburger style, through the through the gut, through the gut,
because then she could have like she could have like
wedged a sword in a wall and then just ran
at it as fast as she could, and then it
(33:12):
could have just sliced her in half.
Speaker 2 (33:13):
Yeah, I mean, or do you think she just sat
there just like slowly cutting through her half and just
like screaming and they're like, what are you doing? Why
is this happening?
Speaker 1 (33:24):
Yeah, it was probably a really traumatic experience for everybody involved,
I would assume.
Speaker 2 (33:28):
And so then they poured the water on her half.
I'm assuming her top half.
Speaker 1 (33:33):
Oh, I think probably both, because like what They're just
going to leave the other half there.
Speaker 2 (33:37):
That's what I'm curious about, because it just says she
grows into the most beautiful woman he had ever seen.
Like if they just if she'd like cut off her
legs and then they poured on her and then her
her legs regrow and they're like, god, damn, oh my god,
she's so beautiful because she's got new legs.
Speaker 1 (33:55):
Yeah, she's got kicking, slamming.
Speaker 2 (33:57):
Gams, slamming gam Eager to.
Speaker 1 (34:01):
Become handsome himself, the king then begged her to pour
over him the water from the other cup he cut himself,
and she did as he requested. But immediately there arose
a creature most ugly and horrible to look upon, which
soon vanished out of sight. So she tricked him.
Speaker 2 (34:19):
She tricked him. It was a long con.
Speaker 1 (34:22):
Yeah, it was a long con.
Speaker 2 (34:23):
Oh my god.
Speaker 1 (34:25):
Then the princess called Pinito and told him that because
he had been so faithful to his master and so
kind to her, she chose him for her husband. They
were married amid great festivities, and became king and Queen
of that broad and fertile land. During all the great rejoicing, however,
Benito never forgot his parents. One of the finest portions
(34:45):
of his kingdom he gave to them, and from that
time they all lived in great happiness. The end, and
(35:07):
we're back. We just finished the story, and I would
love to hear Clayton your initial.
Speaker 2 (35:13):
Thoughts Okay, right off the cuff, It's exactly what I thought,
which is the sacrificing your your your struggle to something
bigger than you is ultimately rewarding.
Speaker 1 (35:33):
So what did he what did he sacrifice this this journey?
Speaker 2 (35:36):
He sought out the King after hearing a story about
him and having a dream apparently to get a job,
because he became a servant and then immediately he was poor.
Speaker 1 (35:47):
He wanted to help out.
Speaker 2 (35:48):
His parents, right, he was he actually making money to
send back to them?
Speaker 1 (35:53):
Yeah, unclear, unclear. I'm not one hundred percent sure.
Speaker 2 (35:56):
I don't know too many servants that get paid.
Speaker 1 (36:00):
That's a very very good point that I had not considered.
Speaker 2 (36:04):
He didn't get to fill out his W two or
his W four.
Speaker 1 (36:07):
He was definitely ten ninety nine.
Speaker 2 (36:09):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, exactly. So he does all of
these like really challenging tasks, I guess, and he goes
on these pretty epic quests where he's thankfully meeting sparrow Hawk,
who died helping him. Such a tragedy, Such a tragedy.
Let's take risked in Sparrowhawk. And then he meets fish King.
(36:30):
Fish King helps him a couple of times and sacrifices
one of his people because they'd eaten the ring, so
we lose a fish.
Speaker 1 (36:37):
Seems like he was kind of into sacrificing that fish.
Though I'm married. I feel it like fish king was
like there was no question that he was ready to
just chop open a fish.
Speaker 2 (36:46):
Yeah. And then same thing for king mice or mice
king king mouse king, king of the mice.
Speaker 1 (36:50):
Yeah. He also did not hesitate. He was ready to
go with his knife or a scalpel, yeah, or a claw.
Speaker 2 (36:58):
There is a yeah, and maybe just gnawed through him.
Speaker 1 (37:03):
So gross.
Speaker 2 (37:03):
I know, it's a different time.
Speaker 1 (37:07):
One time, one time, squish my cat for the listeners
at home, Squish my cat. She caught a bird forgot
to press off.
Speaker 2 (37:20):
To the spa.
Speaker 1 (37:23):
One time she caught a bird and she brought it inside.
And it wasn't at my current house. It was at
Ryan's parents' house. And I thought, like, does she have
something in her mouth? And she ran up into our
bedroom and I like followed her in there and she
was like hiding behind the bed and I looked at
her and she was eating the bird and she had
(37:44):
like started gnawing through its stomach and like trying to
like like hollow it out like a bread ball, and
it was so so gross, and so I like was
yelling at her, trying to get her away from the bird,
but she just had this like dingo look in her
eyes and she was like just like bloodthirsty. And Ryan
(38:06):
was at work, Oh God, and I was home alone,
and so I called so I finally I managed, I
got like a broom and I like swept Squish out
of the room, and then I called Ryan and I
was like I shut the door, and Squish was like
meowing like a crazy person and like scratching the carpet
underneath the door trying to get in there. Yeah, and
(38:26):
I called Ryan and I was like, you need to
come home right now and help me get this dead,
half eaten bird out of our bedroom. Now shining armor.
Speaker 2 (38:38):
Yeah, but yeah, there's definitely something to take away from
this on like kings having this sort of instilled superiority.
I mean obviously over there they're people, and the willingness
to sacrifice them for whatever it is that they need
from from their people, even in the animal kingdom.
Speaker 1 (38:59):
Yeah, a lot of lord loyalty, but also willingness to sacrifice,
which is kind of funny because it feels like loyalty
is like a like a logical fallacy, you know, Yeah,
like they're disloyal to their subjects in favor of being
loyal to their new friend. How does loyalty work, I
should ask Kendrick Lamar. That's true loyalty, loyalty, loyalty, Yeah,
(39:25):
great song it is.
Speaker 2 (39:27):
There's something about loyalty from the peasant level perspective where
it's definitely I would imagine based on fear, because yeah,
there's a submissiveness. There's just an acceptance that your life
isn't as valuable as whatever it is that the king
needs you to do for him.
Speaker 1 (39:46):
Interesting. Interesting, So they're creating little sub kingdoms where these
guys are servants who are as disposable as Benito is
in his human kingdom. That's very interesting. I thought about that.
Speaker 2 (40:02):
Yeah, but Benito peasant is at the is somehow magically
at the level of animal kingdom king, fish, king, mouse
friendship that they're willing to help him. So there's a
hierarchy between people or humans and animals definitely, and then
(40:22):
obviously within humanity kings and royalty and peasants, I guess,
and this.
Speaker 1 (40:29):
Is also maybe implying that kingdoms are naturally occurring, you know.
Speaker 2 (40:34):
Yeah, no, it's certainly promoting.
Speaker 1 (40:35):
That, which is contrary to how the Philippines was pre colonialization.
You know, before that there were no kingdoms. Now there
are kingdoms, and it's the most natural thing in the world.
The fish do it, the mice do it, everybody does. Yeah.
So moral wise, do you have any thoughts?
Speaker 2 (40:56):
I would say there's something about there's like, yeah, just
this sort of like faith based thing where as long
as you do hard work, eventually you will receive some
sort of reward. And like in Benito's case, even they
even have a moment where it's kind of existential and
we get to hear him being like knowing that this
(41:17):
task they're asking him to do, this journey is going
to be very challenging, like obviously doesn't want to do it,
but has to.
Speaker 1 (41:25):
Yeah, he has to because he's a servant and the
king Golden Day.
Speaker 2 (41:28):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (41:29):
I think also maybe there's maybe there's something to do
with the fact that Benito is like a real good kid,
Like his main goal, the whole reason he leaves home
is because he wants to help his parents, you know,
and they give him the name Benito, which is like,
you know, been like benevolent and his whole his whole
plan is like how can I help my parents out?
Speaker 2 (41:50):
Like Benito, I would imagine it's basically like calling him
little good, little good, Yeah, a little good dude, And
that's what he was.
Speaker 1 (41:57):
He was a good dude.
Speaker 2 (41:58):
And thankfully, I mean, it did he did. It worked
out for him. But we now have to bring it
around to this very conniving princess.
Speaker 1 (42:07):
Yeah she, I mean, is she she's conniving, But I
feel like conniving has a has a negative connotation, whereas
I might just call her clever.
Speaker 2 (42:14):
Oh okay, yeah yeah, yeah, yeah, No, I see, like
especially since they found we found her in captivity.
Speaker 1 (42:21):
This girl's been just like traded around like property.
Speaker 2 (42:23):
Yeah, you know, she knew that she was leaving captivity
and obviously going to the king to new captivity.
Speaker 1 (42:29):
Exactly do you think so? You think it was a
long con right? You don't think she was like you
don't think she was like she got out and she's like, sweet,
I'm gonna go be a princess in a kingdom. And
then she got there and she saw the king and
she was like, oh no, you think she was like
on the way over She was like, I don't know
what I'm getting in getting into over here. I'm gonna
drop these things in case so I have a way out.
Speaker 2 (42:51):
Yeah no, I think, yeah, definitely that and made it
very I mean, I don't know how challenging she made it,
but she lucked out, and that animals were constantly eating them.
Speaker 1 (42:59):
But I was lucky.
Speaker 2 (43:01):
I feel like we've come across this sort of thing
in another story where someone, Yeah, they hide all these
things assuming that the person will never find or complete
the task that they need in order to marry the
queen or the Yeah, the riddle, the riddle, that's exactly it.
The girl without.
Speaker 1 (43:18):
Hands, right, No, the girl without hands. She cried on
to her stumps.
Speaker 2 (43:24):
This was a legless night.
Speaker 1 (43:26):
This was the legless Nights. That's the same thingless night.
Speaker 2 (43:30):
So then her last ditch effort is she has to
take the power away from Benito, just getting stuff and
actually had hell water brought in, and I mean, I
don't know what the heaven water was. She became more beautiful.
Speaker 1 (43:42):
I guess yes's just magic good water, which.
Speaker 2 (43:45):
They actually did. Also in the Legless Night when they
took Bobby Yaga, she had the holy water and the firewater.
Speaker 1 (43:55):
That's so true.
Speaker 2 (43:56):
There was that same trick there.
Speaker 1 (43:59):
Interesting. Wow, yeah, look at that right. Well, I mean
it makes sense, right, Like these women they're basically property.
They got to come up with something to like protect themselves.
Speaker 2 (44:09):
Yeah. And then obviously you see Benito are a little
good dude who actually is accomplishing these goals. So that's impressive.
I mean if you were like, hey, go do this
thing for me, and the guy hired someone else to
do it, nothing romantic about it. So morally, yeah, there's
something I think at the root of it. Doing hard
work tends to get rewarded, especially if you do the
(44:30):
hard work yourself.
Speaker 1 (44:32):
Yeah. And also maybe like take care of your parents.
Speaker 2 (44:34):
Oh yeah, that too.
Speaker 1 (44:35):
If your motivation is pure, people will come to your aid.
Speaker 2 (44:41):
M hm. Just be a cool just be a cool dude,
or do debt.
Speaker 1 (44:45):
Yeah, just be a nice little dude. Just be a
good little dude.
Speaker 2 (44:49):
We're all trying our best to be Benito's.
Speaker 1 (44:52):
Thanks for listening. Today we read the story of Benito
from Philippine folk Tales, compiled by me Bill cook Coal
and published in nineteen sixteen.
Speaker 2 (45:04):
You can find all of our sources at strawhutmedia dot com,
slash Folklorica and please.
Speaker 1 (45:09):
Join us next week. Leave us a rating and review,
share us with your friends, and follow us on Facebook
or no, not on Facebook. Don't go to Facebook, you
guys on Facebook. Follow us on Instagram at Fooklorica dot
pod and on Twitter at Folklorica Pod.
Speaker 2 (45:26):
We do also have the email It's Folklorica Pod at
gmail dot com. You can send us letters there.
Speaker 1 (45:32):
And join us next week for more quarantine fun folk Glorica.
And now for your moment of Bob Dilzen.
Speaker 2 (45:48):
Come Senators, congressman, please please read the call.
Speaker 1 (45:53):
Don't stand in the WAA, don't block up the.
Speaker 2 (46:00):
Gets hurt will be held in this.
Speaker 1 (46:04):
There's a battle outside and its raging. It'll seem shake
your windows and your walls for the times they are
to change.
Speaker 2 (46:15):
Gin
Straw Hut media. Isn't a kid alive who doesn't dream
about rewarding her folks or punishing them. That's from snuff
by Chuck Palanook.
Speaker 2 (00:21):
Welcome to Folklorica.
Speaker 1 (00:23):
I'm your host, Clayton, and I'm your host Maggie, and we're.
Speaker 2 (00:26):
Coming to you live from our respective bunkers.
Speaker 1 (00:35):
Glorica. We are not physically in the same room together.
Speaker 2 (00:41):
So everyone out there who is trapped in their own
apartment houses or bedrooms, you're as connected to us as
we are to each other.
Speaker 1 (00:52):
Ooh, I like that. That's very true, Clayton, that's very true.
Out of curiosity, have you started to lose.
Speaker 2 (00:57):
Your mind yet a little bit. My mind has is
throwing everything it can into holding onto technology. I have
not been able to release my grip and detach it all.
So anything with a screen it's keeping me alive right now.
But I know that in the coming days I'm going
to I'm going to have to deactivate.
Speaker 1 (01:19):
Yeah, my social media time has gone way way up.
Speaker 2 (01:23):
This is all we have. So it's just like stare
into your phone for twenty hours.
Speaker 1 (01:29):
Have you done anything exciting and new?
Speaker 2 (01:32):
No? No, that's what I mean. Technology has totally been
like the booy that I'm holding onto in these crazy storms. Yeah,
and I need to let go of it to like
enjoy this time off, you know, enjoy this isolation in
a creative way.
Speaker 1 (01:47):
Yeah. I did manage to sew the buttons onto two
things that were missing buttons. I also organized the closet.
Speaker 2 (01:56):
Oh, you've really organized the closet. Okay, cool, cool, Yeah, yeah, yeah,
I have done absolutely nothing.
Speaker 1 (02:02):
That's great.
Speaker 2 (02:03):
So yeah, and these these dark times, what's the what's
the story you're going to read to us to to
lift our spirits around this this campfire we've established in
the trash can in our living room.
Speaker 1 (02:12):
So today we are going to read a story from
the Philippines called the Story of Benito.
Speaker 2 (02:19):
The Story of Benito, that's right from the Philippines.
Speaker 1 (02:24):
Yeah, the good old Philippines, which, as most of us know,
is a has a lot of ties to the US.
Speaker 2 (02:31):
M hm.
Speaker 1 (02:32):
You want to hear something crazy about how we ended
up like quote unquote owning the Philippines. Yes, okay, so
right around the turn of the century. So okay, So
to go back, you know that Spain took over the
like conquered the Philippines and it was their territory for
a long time.
Speaker 2 (02:52):
When the Spanish were really running the show.
Speaker 1 (02:54):
Yeah, they were, they were running the show. They were
like conquering everyone. I think it was a little bit
after Columbus came to the Americas. I think it was
in the fifteen hundreds, and so it was pretty terrible, obviously,
like most imperialism. And then around the late eighteen hundreds,
Philippine people started to organize and plan a revolution. Good
(03:19):
for them, and they started revolting and they was really bloody.
And at the same time, since Spain was obviously like
a big imperial power, Spain was also trying to get Cuba,
and the US didn't want them to take Cuba. I
think probably because it was maybe too close to the US,
I don't know. So they're doing stuff. The Spanish start
(03:43):
messing with the US, so the US decides they're going
to go to war with Spain. Meanwhile, they tell the
Philippine people, you know what, We're going to back you
up in your revolution. We're going to support you guys
because we don't like the Spanish and we're going to
like help you get your independence from the span And
so they go to the Philippines and they fight and
(04:04):
they defeat the Spanish, and then right after they signed
a treaty where no Filipino people are there and they
instead buy the Philippines from Spain for twenty million dollars.
Speaker 2 (04:18):
That's just the way to do it. That's just good business.
Speaker 1 (04:20):
And then the people in the Philippines were like what
the fuck, like wait, this wasn't the agreement. So, by
the way, like twenty dollars it sounds like a lot
of money in eighteen ninety eight, but it actually isn't
that much considering that it's an entire country.
Speaker 2 (04:36):
You know, they got it on the cheap.
Speaker 1 (04:38):
Yeah. I was looking it up and it says it's
like about six hundred million dollars these days. I don't know.
That was just from a from an inflation calculator, but
I don't know.
Speaker 2 (04:48):
Well, the entire American Samoa's is valued at five hundred
million or that's their GDP rather And I know that
because Michael Blueberg spent that same amount on his advertisement campaign.
Speaker 1 (05:04):
Oh god, what a world, I know. So, you know,
the US buys the Philippines and they're like, psych, actually
you belong to us, And so that starts the Philippine
American War obviously. Yeah, and two hundred and fifty thousand
people die and the US wins, obviously, and the Philippines
(05:25):
got their independence in the nineteen forties. But yeah, that's
that's the that's America in the Philippines. And this book,
this book that this story is from, was published in
nineteen sixteen, so this is during the time when the
US technically like owns the Philippines. The war has ended,
(05:49):
and now it's like this point of interest for Americans
because they're like, ooh, this is our like exotic island
that we own. It's like the first time the US
has ever tried to get something outside of the continental US.
This is the first place.
Speaker 2 (06:05):
Can we talk a little bit about the ethnographer of
this book.
Speaker 1 (06:09):
Yeah, so she's not technically an ethnographer. She's an anthropologist.
Speaker 2 (06:13):
Okay.
Speaker 1 (06:14):
Her name is what's.
Speaker 2 (06:16):
Her name, Mabel Cook Coal.
Speaker 1 (06:20):
That's right, Mabel Cook Cole, great name. So Mabel and
her husband they lived in the Philippines for four years.
Speaker 2 (06:30):
Okay.
Speaker 1 (06:31):
She was an anthropologist and an author. And he was
also an anthropologist and he worked at the Field Museum
in Chicago.
Speaker 2 (06:39):
But he was also a witness for the defense in
the Scopes trial.
Speaker 1 (06:42):
Pretty cool because listeners, he's a teacher who taught evolution
in Tennessee at a public school and he got sued
by the state.
Speaker 2 (06:51):
But the trial was deliberately staged in order to attract publicity,
and Scopes was unsure whether he had even taught evolution,
like he had memory of actually going through that process,
but he felt it he felt obligated to participate in
the trial simply to stand up and for the sake
of teaching evolution.
Speaker 1 (07:10):
Well that's good. I mean, that's like most Supreme Court cases,
isn't it. People who are trying to get something done.
They try to find a case that they can champion
and take to the Supreme Court. So, but it is
pretty cool that this guy, fake Cooper Cole testified for
for evolution, for evolution, not against it. But I guess
(07:31):
he's like a scientist. Him and his wife are both scientists.
Speaker 2 (07:34):
Yeah, as an anthropologist, this is like why you're doing
it right?
Speaker 1 (07:39):
Yeah, And they do kind of seem like a power couple.
Am I crazy to say that?
Speaker 2 (07:44):
No? I mean to see that she's written as many
books as she has, including the Story of Man, Story
of Primitive Man, Savage Gentleman, and this Philippine folk tales
that we're reading from. She was also a dancer and
a singer.
Speaker 1 (07:57):
I read that on Wikipedia, but I couldn't find any
evidence of her being a dancer and a singer anywhere else.
Speaker 2 (08:02):
You're a d it's all in your soul, That's why
it's not you can't catalog it. Well.
Speaker 1 (08:06):
They both they both lived until like the nineteen seventies,
I think, so they were around for a while. Yeah. Oh,
and you know what else, She was a charter member
of the Women's Anthropologist Group with Margaret Meade. Margaret Mead
is another very cool anthropologist who basically like talked about
opening up sexuality. Cool cool, And I mean, obviously we
(08:31):
have to mention that there is a lot of problematic
language that they use, because this is the time when
people used words like savages like her book Savage Gentleman.
And I wanted to read this one quote from the
introduction to this book because I think it it kind
(08:52):
of highlights how like the benevolent imperialism, you know what
I mean, Like they called it like the white man's burden,
where white people felt like they had to go to
these places out of love, to icee to like make
people come into civilized society. You know.
Speaker 2 (09:10):
That's sort of like modern day like how we do.
It's like policing the world, trying to better people against
even against the beliefs of their own.
Speaker 1 (09:18):
Cultures, against their own wishes. Often. Yeah, so there is
that that we should identify. It's not like they seem
like they were pretty cool in some ways, but they
were also definitely pro imperialism and children of their time,
children of their time. Yeah. So this is this quote
from the introduction. It goes, it is my earnest hope
(09:40):
that this collection of tales will give those who are
interested opportunity to learn something of the magic, superstitions, and
weird customs of the Filipinos and to feel the charm
of their wonder world as it is pictured by these
dark skinned inhabitants of our island possessions.
Speaker 2 (10:00):
Yikes, So they definitely have tourists' mentality.
Speaker 1 (10:06):
Yeah, well, I mean keep in mind, this is nineteen sixteen,
so in this context, this is a actually like a
pretty nice way of thinking about it. You know, Like,
now we would this person would be hashtag canceled.
Speaker 2 (10:19):
But yeah, for having described a culture like they were
at the zoo.
Speaker 1 (10:23):
Yeah, but in this context you can tell that she
actually had a lot of love for the people and
she even the way that she organized this, this book
of stories, This is the first collection of folk tales
from the Philippines to be published in at least in
the US. Before there had been a few years and
there in scientific journals. But she took the ones from
(10:45):
the scientific journals and then spent that those four years
basically collecting the stories. And what's interesting about this trip
they took to the Philippines is that Fay Cooper Cole,
her husband, is the one who basically organized the trip.
So in Illinois, so he lived in Chicago. They lived
(11:06):
in Chicago, right. So there was this exhibit about the
like the Louisiana purchase, and there was also a section
about acquiring the Philippines. And this grain merchant saw the
exhibit about the Philippines and was like, this is so cool.
I have to know more. And so he told the museum,
he said, I'll give you guys twenty thousand dollars if
(11:29):
you'll go to the Philippines and get more information and
bring back a bunch of artifacts as long as you
do it right now, and you also let the state
of Illinois benefit from it. And so the museum was like,
uh okay, so yeah, twist my arm. And so they
(11:51):
get fake Cooper Cole, a guy named William Jones, and
a guy named Steven C. Simms, they all go. At
the end of it, he brought home like over five
thousand objects that he collected from the Philippines and he
was there for the full four years. But William Jones
was murdered by a tribe, a mountain tribe in the Philippines.
Speaker 2 (12:12):
Probably trying to steal their stuff to bring it back.
Speaker 1 (12:15):
Yeah, probably, And then STEVENS. Simms went and took over
where he where he left off.
Speaker 2 (12:22):
Wow, that's that's brave.
Speaker 1 (12:24):
So yeah, so he was sort of the reason. And
I'm not sure I couldn't find why she ended up
going along if she was just like that sounds cool,
can I come? But he actually did his dissertation on
Tinguian folklore. I don't know if I'm pronouncing that right,
but that is one of the regions, one of the
people of the Philippines, and so.
Speaker 2 (12:46):
Maybe it's ten I think it's win n g U
y e n.
Speaker 1 (12:49):
Yeah, yeah, it's win ten win, ten win. Okay, good
to know.
Speaker 2 (12:54):
It's like.
Speaker 1 (12:56):
Ten win win. It's a ten win situation.
Speaker 2 (13:02):
You beat me to it.
Speaker 1 (13:04):
So his dissertation was basically comparing the old culture in
Tinwin myths with the present day culture after the invasion
of the Spanish and the Americans, basically and like comparing
the differences and what changes had taken place in their stories.
So that's kind of cool.
Speaker 2 (13:22):
Yeah, that is cool. Well, I feel good, you feel good.
Speaker 1 (13:26):
I feel great.
Speaker 2 (13:27):
Cool. Cool. Let's take a quick break and when we
come back, we'll jump right into the story of Benito.
Speaker 1 (13:38):
The story of Benito. Benito was an only son who
lived with his father and mother in a little village.
They were very poor, and as the boy grew older
and saw how hard his parents struggled for their scanty living,
he often dreamed of a time when he might be
a help to them. One evening, when they sat eating
their frugal meal of rice, the father told about a
(14:00):
young king who lived in a beautiful palace some distance
from their village, and the boy became very interested. That night,
when the house was dark and quiet, and Benito lay
on his mat trying to sleep, thoughts of the young
king repeatedly came to his mind, and he wished he
were a king, that he and his parents might spend
the rest of their lives in a beautiful palace. The
(14:20):
next morning he awoke with a new idea. He would
go to the king and ask for work that he might,
in that way be able to help his father and mother.
He was a long time in persuading his parents to
allow him to go, however, for it was a long
journey and they feared that the king might not be gracious.
But at last they gave their consent and the boy
started out. The journey proved tiresome. After he reached the palace,
(14:44):
he was not at first permitted to see the king,
but the boy, being very earnest, at last secured a
place as a servant.
Speaker 2 (14:52):
Where we're at now, his father told him a story
over dinner about the king, and then the boy that
had a dream about the king and the next day
had to go see him and got there and has
now earned a job as a servant.
Speaker 1 (15:09):
Yeah. So my understanding so far is that this is
a family where they are living in the pre colonial ways.
You know, they're in a village, they're poor and the
father tells a son about like this westernized place with
a palace, because palaces were not They weren't the thing
(15:30):
in the Philippines pre Spanish people. So this is definitely
like one of those postcolonialization stories. Okay, so let's move
on so far. What we know is Benito's a nice kid. Mmmmm,
sweet Benit, Sweet do Benito. It was a new and
(15:52):
strange world to Benito, who had known only the life
of a little village. The work was hard, but he
was happy in thinking that now he could help his
father and mother. One day, the king sent for him
and said, I want you to bring me a beautiful
princess who lives in a land across the sea. Go
at once, and if you fail, you shall be punished severely.
The boy's heart sank within him, for he did not
(16:15):
know what to do, but he answered as bravely as possible,
I will, my Lord, and left the king's chamber. He
at once set about preparing things for a long journey,
for he was determined to try, at least to fulfill
the command. It seems like a common thing for kings
to ask for something and say like, if you don't
(16:35):
do it, I'm going to murder you.
Speaker 2 (16:38):
Yeah, they're pretty tyrannical.
Speaker 1 (16:40):
Yeah they really are.
Speaker 2 (16:42):
Well, it's awesome. I mean it just the way a
lot of cultures can tend to view human life, like
the sacrifice or your struggle, whatever you can contribute to
your belief system, Like you as a being isn't as
important as the commands you must follow sometimes and in
(17:03):
a lot of ancient cultures that seems to be the case,
where human life isn't as valued as like sacrificing to
something bigger than you.
Speaker 1 (17:11):
Preach Clayton, I didn't realize I was going to get
a sermon today.
Speaker 2 (17:16):
Yeah. Well I'm trapped in a room, so the gift
of God is coursing through me.
Speaker 1 (17:24):
Yeah. When all was ready, Benito started. He had not
gone far before he came to a thick forest where
he saw a large bird bound tightly with strings. Oh,
my friend, pleaded the bird. Please free me from these bonds,
and I will help you whenever you call on me.
Benito quickly released the bird and it flew away, calling
(17:46):
back to him that its name was Sparrowhawk. Benito continued
his journey till he came to the sea, unable to
find a way of crossing. He stopped and gazed sadly
out over the waters, thinking of the King's threat if
he failed. Suddenly he saw swimming toward him the King
of the Fishes, who asked, why are you so sad?
(18:08):
I wished to cross the sea to find the beautiful princess,
answered the boy. We'll get on my back, said the fish,
and I will carry you across. So Benito stepped on
his back and was carried to the other shore.
Speaker 2 (18:20):
So we're seeing a lot of it's already like a
magical element in this Filipino story.
Speaker 1 (18:25):
Yeah, we've encountered a talking fish and a talking bird
so far, and he just started.
Speaker 2 (18:31):
We've got sparrow hawk? Is the name of the bird,
that's right? What do you think the fish's name is
going to be?
Speaker 1 (18:37):
I think his name is the King of the Fishes.
Speaker 2 (18:39):
I hope it's flounder trout, flounder trout like sparrow hawk.
Speaker 1 (18:44):
Oh, I say, yeah, yeah, yeah, guppy bass. That's a
good one. It's a really good one. Maybe he would
go buy something like swordfish.
Speaker 2 (18:53):
Ooh, I like that swordfish.
Speaker 1 (18:56):
Grouper, guppy grouper.
Speaker 2 (19:00):
Guppy grouper. Detective PI.
Speaker 1 (19:03):
It does sound like a pi yeah, from the fifties.
The other thing I noticed is that he decided to
go do this with absolutely no plan for what he
would do when he got to the ocean, Like he
didn't consider the fact that he was going to get
to the ocean and have absolutely no way to cross.
Speaker 2 (19:17):
I mean, it's all about faith, not to preach again,
but he's just going, this is the thing I have
to do. I'm not even going to concern myself with
planning the wheel.
Speaker 1 (19:29):
Jesus.
Speaker 2 (19:31):
He's letting Jesus take the wheel, and Jesus is sending him,
just like Jesus sent Cinderella creatures to help her get
dressed in the morning. He's sending Benito a talking bird
that has guided him, and now a fish.
Speaker 1 (19:46):
So do you think he stood on the fish as
he went across or do you think he straddled it
like a horse.
Speaker 2 (19:52):
I do like the idea of him straddling the fish
like a horse. But I also like the idea of
the fish carrying Benito across and mouth.
Speaker 1 (20:00):
Oh interesting, mm hmm. That hadn't occurred to me as
a possibility.
Speaker 2 (20:05):
And little Benito's head sticking up out of the water.
Speaker 1 (20:07):
Oh yeah, I also like to imagine it being like
him standing, you know, and people in like Marina's they
stand on those big surfboards and then they paddle around
like a paddle I like to imagine, is that what
that's called? Yeah, yeah, that's an obvious name. But I
like to imagine him sort of like just standing on
(20:28):
this fish like a paddle board and just moving across
the still water.
Speaker 2 (20:32):
But without a paddle. He just looks like he's on
some sort of ocean version of a segue.
Speaker 1 (20:36):
That's exactly what he looks like. Soon he met a
strange woman who inquired what it was he saw, and
when he had told her, she said, the princess is
kept in a castle guarded by giants. Take this magic sword,
for it will kill instantly whatever it touches, and she
handed him the weapon. Benito was more than grateful for
her kindness and went on full of hope. As he
(20:57):
approached the castle, he could see that it was surrounded
by many giants, and as soon as they saw him,
they ran out to seize him, but they went unarmed,
for they saw that he was a mere boy. As
they approached, he touched those in front with his sword,
and one by one they fell dead. Then the others
ran away in a panic and left the castle unguarded.
(21:17):
Benito entered, and when he told the princess of his
errand she was only too glad to escape from her captivity,
and she set out at once with him for the
palace of the King.
Speaker 2 (21:27):
Do you think that he's just placing the sword flat
against someone's body, or he's just tapping them with it
just a little flick, or is he delicately stabbing them
just real like like popping a balloon with a needle,
just like and then they just dropped dead.
Speaker 1 (21:45):
That is how I was picturing. It was like a
It was like a boop boop, you.
Speaker 2 (21:51):
Know, just a rapidly tiny boy where the tiny sword
is going.
Speaker 1 (21:58):
These are giants, so he's probably getting mostly shin right.
Speaker 2 (22:01):
Yeah, yeah, maybe in the toe.
Speaker 1 (22:03):
Well, I guess it depends, like giants, how big is
a giant really? There's probably a lot of different opinions
on that.
Speaker 2 (22:09):
Yeah, it depends on the culture you're referencing, because some
of them are giants can be like Norse mythology. Sometimes
they're just like slightly large people. But then you have
other mythologies where they're the size of.
Speaker 1 (22:21):
Mountains or like somewhere in between.
Speaker 2 (22:23):
Sometimes yeah, yeah, sometimes they're more than a person, but
not quite a mountain, more than a girl, not quite
a woman.
Speaker 1 (22:31):
I know that was trying to think of how to
sing that to that song. Oh man, I'm not a man,
not quite a mountain.
Speaker 2 (22:43):
Yeah, there you go.
Speaker 1 (22:48):
Is time to be a good giant.
Speaker 2 (22:53):
So we're going to assume that these giants are huge.
Speaker 1 (22:58):
Let's stick with like twenty feet tall. How about that?
Speaker 2 (23:01):
Okay, that's good size.
Speaker 1 (23:05):
At the seashore, the King of the Fishes was waiting
for them, and they had no difficulty in crossing the sea,
and then in journeying through the thick forest to the palace,
where they were received with great rejoicing. After a time,
the king asked the princess to become his wife, and
she replied, I will, o, King, if you will get
the ring I lost in the sea as I was
crossing it. The king immediately thought of bigging tail and
(23:27):
sending for him. He commanded him to find the ring,
which had been lost on the journey from the land
of the Giants. It seemed a hopeless task to the boy,
but anxious to obey his master, he started out at
the seaside, he stopped and gazed over the waters, until,
to his great delight, he saw his friend, the King
of Fishes, swimming toward him. When he had been told
(23:47):
of the boy's troubles. The great fish said, I will
see if I can help you, and he summoned all
his subjects to him. When they came, he found that
one was missing, and he sent the others in search
of it. Found fund it under a stone so full
that it could not swim, and the larger ones took
up by the tail and dragged it to the king.
Why did you not come when you were called, inquired
(24:09):
the kingfish. I have eaten so much that I cannot swim,
replied the poor fish. Then the kingfish, suspecting the truth,
ordered it cut open, and inside they've found the lost ring.
Benito was overjoyed at this, and, expressing his great thanks,
hastened with the precious ring to his master. So to
(24:29):
be clear right now, Kingfish sliced open another fish.
Speaker 2 (24:34):
Got the ring out, gave it to Benito, and the.
Speaker 1 (24:36):
Other fish died. The king, greatly pleased, carried the ring
to the princess and said, now that I have your ring,
will you become my wife? I will be your wife,
replied the princess, if you will find my earring that
I lost in the forest as I was journeying with Benito.
Speaker 2 (24:53):
Benito's got to be like U blee. You guys lose
a lot of shit in a lot of crazy places.
Speaker 1 (25:00):
Yes, arm get it together, princess.
Speaker 2 (25:03):
And why me? You have a whole kingdom? Why is
why am I the only person that can find this stuff?
Speaker 1 (25:08):
Well, he's obviously really good at his job.
Speaker 2 (25:10):
It's too good. This is why you got to like
just barely meet expectations. Guys. Yeah, don't overachieve because then
people ask you to do more stuff.
Speaker 1 (25:20):
This is a perfect example of that.
Speaker 2 (25:21):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (25:22):
Actually, again the king sent for Benito, and this time
he commanded him to find the earring. The boy was
very weary from his long journeys, but with no complaint,
he started out once more along the road through the
thick forest. He searched carefully, but with no reward. At last,
tired and discouraged, he sat down under a tree to rest.
(25:43):
Suddenly there appeared before him a mouse of great size,
and he was surprised to find that it was the
King of mice. I feel like I would not be
so surprised.
Speaker 2 (25:52):
You wouldn't be surprised, for at this point.
Speaker 1 (25:54):
Well, if the first fish you met was the king
of the fishes, if I were to meet a mouse,
I'd be like any the king of the mice.
Speaker 2 (26:02):
I mean, yeah, yeah, yeah. And so far the only
animals that interact with me are the kings of them,
except for sparrow hawk. Sparrow Hawk was just a run
on the mill bird, just.
Speaker 1 (26:12):
A cool bird. Why are you so sad, asked the
king mouse, because, answered the boy, I cannot find an
earring which the princess lost as we were going through
the forest together. I will help you, said the mouse,
and he summoned all his subjects. When they assembled, it
was found that one little mouse was missing, and the
king sent the others to look for him. In a
(26:34):
small hole among the bamboo trees, they found him, and
he begged to be left alone, for he said he
was so full that he could not walk. Nevertheless, they
pulled him along to their master, who, upon finding that
there was something hard inside the mouse, ordered him cut open,
and inside they found the missing ear ring. Another king,
completely willing to slice open one of his subjects well,
(26:57):
as long as.
Speaker 2 (26:57):
They keep eating human jewelry dummies. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (27:01):
Benito at once forgot his weariness, and after expressing his
great thanks to the king mouse, he hastened to the
palace with the prize. The king eagerly seized the earring
and presented it to the princess, again, asking her to
be his wife. Oh my, king replied the princess, I
have one more request to make, only granted, and I
will be your wife forever. The king, believing that now
(27:23):
with the aid of she's definitely bullshitting right, Oh my.
Speaker 2 (27:26):
God, talk about just not wanting to get married. But
she did. She did plan ahead and decided to randomly
toss all of these valuables in very strange places. It's like,
this is in the case someone ever asks me to
get married, I can be like, yeah, absolutely, but first
I need this, and then this and then this.
Speaker 1 (27:44):
So you do think she sort of surreptitiously tossed her
ring and tossed one of your rings for this purpose.
Speaker 2 (27:52):
It's it's like Olkham's razor, you know. It's the simplest
solution is always these?
Speaker 1 (27:58):
Is that the simplest solution, though, wouldn't the simpler solution
be that she lost it.
Speaker 2 (28:04):
It depends on her motive. If she's down to get married,
then yes, it is just that she lost it. But
if she doesn't want to get married, then she did
a lot of work.
Speaker 1 (28:18):
Oh, my king replied the princess, I have one more
request to make. Only grant it, and I will be
your wife forever. The king, believing that now with the
aid of Benito, he could grant anything, inquired what it
was she wished, and she replied, get me some water
from heaven and some from the lower world, and I
shall ask nothing more.
Speaker 2 (28:38):
Sure, no problem. Yeah, get me some water from heaven.
Speaker 1 (28:42):
Some Heaven water and some Hell water. That's all I need.
Speaker 2 (28:45):
Yeah, just get me some water from heaven water from hell.
Speaker 1 (28:49):
After that, I'm all good.
Speaker 2 (28:51):
I'm all yours.
Speaker 1 (28:53):
Once more, the king called Benito and sent him on
the hardest errand of all. The boy went out, not
knowing which way to turn, and while he was in
a deep study, his weary feet led him to the forest.
Suddenly he thought of the bird who had promised to
help him, and he called sparrow hawk. Sparrow Hawk, Yes,
I'm trying to decide. I'm trying to decide how he
(29:15):
called sparrow hawk sparrel hawk. Think was it sparrow hawk hawks,
sparrow hawk, coy sparrowswk sparrel hawk, or was it like
sparrow hawk.
Speaker 2 (29:27):
Yeah, yeah, it's like a tray, you a tray.
Speaker 1 (29:31):
There was a rustle of wings and the bird swooped down.
He told it of his troubles, and it said, I
will get the water for you. Then Benito made two
light cups of bamboo, which he fastened to the bird's legs,
and it flew away all day. The boy waited in
the forest, and just as night was coming on, the
bird returned with both cups full. The one on his
(29:52):
right foot, he told Benito, was from heaven, and the
one on his left was from the lower world. The
boy unfastened the cup, and then as he was thanking
the bird, he noticed that the journey had been too
much for it, and that it was dying, filled with
sorrow for his winged friend. He waited and carefully buried it,
and then he hastened to the palace with the precious water.
Speaker 2 (30:12):
So sparrow hawk died. Sparrow hawk died doing this task
for Benito, who was doing a job for the king
who was doing a job for the princess.
Speaker 1 (30:28):
Wow. Yeah that is big. Yeah, that's a long.
Speaker 2 (30:33):
Line that reminds me. I don't know if you heard
this story, but there was this I think this took
place somewhere in Asia. I'm not that's as specific as
I'm going to get, but basically, the whole thing got
found out, this assassination attempt on somebody because every hitman
or they hired a hitman, that hit man hired another
(30:53):
hitman to do it. And this went on like each
hit man would hire another hitman to do the job
to like there were like twelve of them. Wow, and
then the last one got busted, so that the whole
ring came down and they had to arrest like twelve
hit men.
Speaker 1 (31:07):
So they really didn't want to kill this person.
Speaker 2 (31:10):
Yeah yeah, they just kept taking, like giving out cuts
of the money they were gonna get each time. I
wonder pyramids came if I've ever heard one.
Speaker 1 (31:17):
I wonder who the person they were supposed to kill was,
Like why was everybody like, h I don't want to
do this. I'm going to get someone else.
Speaker 2 (31:23):
Too, you know, Yeah it's Tom Hanks. Nobody wants to hurt.
Speaker 1 (31:28):
Him except for the freaking coronavirus. Am I right?
Speaker 2 (31:31):
I know it's scary, all right.
Speaker 1 (31:33):
So our sweet boy.
Speaker 2 (31:34):
Benito buried his bird friend.
Speaker 1 (31:37):
Sat by Sparrowhawk's side as he breathed his last breath,
and then buried.
Speaker 2 (31:43):
Him and buried him, and then took a very short
moment of silence and rushed to the palace with the
heaven water and the hell water.
Speaker 1 (31:51):
When the princess saw that her wish had been fulfilled,
she asked the king to cut her in two and
pour over her the water from heaven. The king was
not able to do this, so she cut herself and
then as he poured the water over her, he beheld
her grow into the most beautiful woman he had ever seen.
Speaker 2 (32:09):
So just FYI, yeah, what does happened?
Speaker 1 (32:12):
So what just happened is the princess was like, okay,
so can you cut me in half now and then
pour this water on me? And he was like, no,
I cannot do that, and she was like, fine, I'll
do it myself, and so she cut herself in half
and then he poured the water on her, and then
she turned into the most beautiful woman that he had
(32:33):
ever seen. That's just what went down?
Speaker 2 (32:38):
Wow? So did she cut herself in half torso from
legs like that way? Or was it a vertical line?
You know?
Speaker 1 (32:50):
When I was imagining it, it was it was hot
dog style, But now that I think about the h
the actual logistics of it, I imagine and it was
hamburger style, through the through the gut, through the gut,
because then she could have like she could have like
wedged a sword in a wall and then just ran
at it as fast as she could, and then it
(33:12):
could have just sliced her in half.
Speaker 2 (33:13):
Yeah, I mean, or do you think she just sat
there just like slowly cutting through her half and just
like screaming and they're like, what are you doing? Why
is this happening?
Speaker 1 (33:24):
Yeah, it was probably a really traumatic experience for everybody involved,
I would assume.
Speaker 2 (33:28):
And so then they poured the water on her half.
I'm assuming her top half.
Speaker 1 (33:33):
Oh, I think probably both, because like what They're just
going to leave the other half there.
Speaker 2 (33:37):
That's what I'm curious about, because it just says she
grows into the most beautiful woman he had ever seen.
Like if they just if she'd like cut off her
legs and then they poured on her and then her
her legs regrow and they're like, god, damn, oh my god,
she's so beautiful because she's got new legs.
Speaker 1 (33:55):
Yeah, she's got kicking, slamming.
Speaker 2 (33:57):
Gams, slamming gam Eager to.
Speaker 1 (34:01):
Become handsome himself, the king then begged her to pour
over him the water from the other cup he cut himself,
and she did as he requested. But immediately there arose
a creature most ugly and horrible to look upon, which
soon vanished out of sight. So she tricked him.
Speaker 2 (34:19):
She tricked him. It was a long con.
Speaker 1 (34:22):
Yeah, it was a long con.
Speaker 2 (34:23):
Oh my god.
Speaker 1 (34:25):
Then the princess called Pinito and told him that because
he had been so faithful to his master and so
kind to her, she chose him for her husband. They
were married amid great festivities, and became king and Queen
of that broad and fertile land. During all the great rejoicing, however,
Benito never forgot his parents. One of the finest portions
(34:45):
of his kingdom he gave to them, and from that
time they all lived in great happiness. The end, and
(35:07):
we're back. We just finished the story, and I would
love to hear Clayton your initial.
Speaker 2 (35:13):
Thoughts Okay, right off the cuff, It's exactly what I thought,
which is the sacrificing your your your struggle to something
bigger than you is ultimately rewarding.
Speaker 1 (35:33):
So what did he what did he sacrifice this this journey?
Speaker 2 (35:36):
He sought out the King after hearing a story about
him and having a dream apparently to get a job,
because he became a servant and then immediately he was poor.
Speaker 1 (35:47):
He wanted to help out.
Speaker 2 (35:48):
His parents, right, he was he actually making money to
send back to them?
Speaker 1 (35:53):
Yeah, unclear, unclear. I'm not one hundred percent sure.
Speaker 2 (35:56):
I don't know too many servants that get paid.
Speaker 1 (36:00):
That's a very very good point that I had not considered.
Speaker 2 (36:04):
He didn't get to fill out his W two or
his W four.
Speaker 1 (36:07):
He was definitely ten ninety nine.
Speaker 2 (36:09):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, exactly. So he does all of
these like really challenging tasks, I guess, and he goes
on these pretty epic quests where he's thankfully meeting sparrow Hawk,
who died helping him. Such a tragedy, Such a tragedy.
Let's take risked in Sparrowhawk. And then he meets fish King.
(36:30):
Fish King helps him a couple of times and sacrifices
one of his people because they'd eaten the ring, so
we lose a fish.
Speaker 1 (36:37):
Seems like he was kind of into sacrificing that fish.
Though I'm married. I feel it like fish king was
like there was no question that he was ready to
just chop open a fish.
Speaker 2 (36:46):
Yeah. And then same thing for king mice or mice
king king mouse king, king of the mice.
Speaker 1 (36:50):
Yeah. He also did not hesitate. He was ready to
go with his knife or a scalpel, yeah, or a claw.
Speaker 2 (36:58):
There is a yeah, and maybe just gnawed through him.
Speaker 1 (37:03):
So gross.
Speaker 2 (37:03):
I know, it's a different time.
Speaker 1 (37:07):
One time, one time, squish my cat for the listeners
at home, Squish my cat. She caught a bird forgot
to press off.
Speaker 2 (37:20):
To the spa.
Speaker 1 (37:23):
One time she caught a bird and she brought it inside.
And it wasn't at my current house. It was at
Ryan's parents' house. And I thought, like, does she have
something in her mouth? And she ran up into our
bedroom and I like followed her in there and she
was like hiding behind the bed and I looked at
her and she was eating the bird and she had
(37:44):
like started gnawing through its stomach and like trying to
like like hollow it out like a bread ball, and
it was so so gross, and so I like was
yelling at her, trying to get her away from the bird,
but she just had this like dingo look in her
eyes and she was like just like bloodthirsty. And Ryan
(38:06):
was at work, Oh God, and I was home alone,
and so I called so I finally I managed, I
got like a broom and I like swept Squish out
of the room, and then I called Ryan and I
was like I shut the door, and Squish was like
meowing like a crazy person and like scratching the carpet
underneath the door trying to get in there. Yeah, and
(38:26):
I called Ryan and I was like, you need to
come home right now and help me get this dead,
half eaten bird out of our bedroom. Now shining armor.
Speaker 2 (38:38):
Yeah, but yeah, there's definitely something to take away from
this on like kings having this sort of instilled superiority.
I mean obviously over there they're people, and the willingness
to sacrifice them for whatever it is that they need
from from their people, even in the animal kingdom.
Speaker 1 (38:59):
Yeah, a lot of lord loyalty, but also willingness to sacrifice,
which is kind of funny because it feels like loyalty
is like a like a logical fallacy, you know, Yeah,
like they're disloyal to their subjects in favor of being
loyal to their new friend. How does loyalty work, I
should ask Kendrick Lamar. That's true loyalty, loyalty, loyalty, Yeah,
(39:25):
great song it is.
Speaker 2 (39:27):
There's something about loyalty from the peasant level perspective where
it's definitely I would imagine based on fear, because yeah,
there's a submissiveness. There's just an acceptance that your life
isn't as valuable as whatever it is that the king
needs you to do for him.
Speaker 1 (39:46):
Interesting. Interesting, So they're creating little sub kingdoms where these
guys are servants who are as disposable as Benito is
in his human kingdom. That's very interesting. I thought about that.
Speaker 2 (40:02):
Yeah, but Benito peasant is at the is somehow magically
at the level of animal kingdom king, fish, king, mouse
friendship that they're willing to help him. So there's a
hierarchy between people or humans and animals definitely, and then
(40:22):
obviously within humanity kings and royalty and peasants, I guess,
and this.
Speaker 1 (40:29):
Is also maybe implying that kingdoms are naturally occurring, you know.
Speaker 2 (40:34):
Yeah, no, it's certainly promoting.
Speaker 1 (40:35):
That, which is contrary to how the Philippines was pre colonialization.
You know, before that there were no kingdoms. Now there
are kingdoms, and it's the most natural thing in the world.
The fish do it, the mice do it, everybody does. Yeah.
So moral wise, do you have any thoughts?
Speaker 2 (40:56):
I would say there's something about there's like, yeah, just
this sort of like faith based thing where as long
as you do hard work, eventually you will receive some
sort of reward. And like in Benito's case, even they
even have a moment where it's kind of existential and
we get to hear him being like knowing that this
(41:17):
task they're asking him to do, this journey is going
to be very challenging, like obviously doesn't want to do it,
but has to.
Speaker 1 (41:25):
Yeah, he has to because he's a servant and the
king Golden Day.
Speaker 2 (41:28):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (41:29):
I think also maybe there's maybe there's something to do
with the fact that Benito is like a real good kid,
Like his main goal, the whole reason he leaves home
is because he wants to help his parents, you know,
and they give him the name Benito, which is like,
you know, been like benevolent and his whole his whole
plan is like how can I help my parents out?
Speaker 2 (41:50):
Like Benito, I would imagine it's basically like calling him
little good, little good, Yeah, a little good dude, And
that's what he was.
Speaker 1 (41:57):
He was a good dude.
Speaker 2 (41:58):
And thankfully, I mean, it did he did. It worked
out for him. But we now have to bring it
around to this very conniving princess.
Speaker 1 (42:07):
Yeah she, I mean, is she she's conniving, But I
feel like conniving has a has a negative connotation, whereas
I might just call her clever.
Speaker 2 (42:14):
Oh okay, yeah yeah, yeah, yeah, No, I see, like
especially since they found we found her in captivity.
Speaker 1 (42:21):
This girl's been just like traded around like property.
Speaker 2 (42:23):
Yeah, you know, she knew that she was leaving captivity
and obviously going to the king to new captivity.
Speaker 1 (42:29):
Exactly do you think so? You think it was a
long con right? You don't think she was like you
don't think she was like she got out and she's like, sweet,
I'm gonna go be a princess in a kingdom. And
then she got there and she saw the king and
she was like, oh no, you think she was like
on the way over She was like, I don't know
what I'm getting in getting into over here. I'm gonna
drop these things in case so I have a way out.
Speaker 2 (42:51):
Yeah no, I think, yeah, definitely that and made it
very I mean, I don't know how challenging she made it,
but she lucked out, and that animals were constantly eating them.
Speaker 1 (42:59):
But I was lucky.
Speaker 2 (43:01):
I feel like we've come across this sort of thing
in another story where someone, Yeah, they hide all these
things assuming that the person will never find or complete
the task that they need in order to marry the
queen or the Yeah, the riddle, the riddle, that's exactly it.
The girl without.
Speaker 1 (43:18):
Hands, right, No, the girl without hands. She cried on
to her stumps.
Speaker 2 (43:24):
This was a legless night.
Speaker 1 (43:26):
This was the legless Nights. That's the same thingless night.
Speaker 2 (43:30):
So then her last ditch effort is she has to
take the power away from Benito, just getting stuff and
actually had hell water brought in, and I mean, I
don't know what the heaven water was. She became more beautiful.
Speaker 1 (43:42):
I guess yes's just magic good water, which.
Speaker 2 (43:45):
They actually did. Also in the Legless Night when they
took Bobby Yaga, she had the holy water and the firewater.
Speaker 1 (43:55):
That's so true.
Speaker 2 (43:56):
There was that same trick there.
Speaker 1 (43:59):
Interesting. Wow, yeah, look at that right. Well, I mean
it makes sense, right, Like these women they're basically property.
They got to come up with something to like protect themselves.
Speaker 2 (44:09):
Yeah. And then obviously you see Benito are a little
good dude who actually is accomplishing these goals. So that's impressive.
I mean if you were like, hey, go do this
thing for me, and the guy hired someone else to
do it, nothing romantic about it. So morally, yeah, there's
something I think at the root of it. Doing hard
work tends to get rewarded, especially if you do the
(44:30):
hard work yourself.
Speaker 1 (44:32):
Yeah. And also maybe like take care of your parents.
Speaker 2 (44:34):
Oh yeah, that too.
Speaker 1 (44:35):
If your motivation is pure, people will come to your aid.
Speaker 2 (44:41):
M hm. Just be a cool just be a cool dude,
or do debt.
Speaker 1 (44:45):
Yeah, just be a nice little dude. Just be a
good little dude.
Speaker 2 (44:49):
We're all trying our best to be Benito's.
Speaker 1 (44:52):
Thanks for listening. Today we read the story of Benito
from Philippine folk Tales, compiled by me Bill cook Coal
and published in nineteen sixteen.
Speaker 2 (45:04):
You can find all of our sources at strawhutmedia dot com,
slash Folklorica and please.
Speaker 1 (45:09):
Join us next week. Leave us a rating and review,
share us with your friends, and follow us on Facebook
or no, not on Facebook. Don't go to Facebook, you
guys on Facebook. Follow us on Instagram at Fooklorica dot
pod and on Twitter at Folklorica Pod.
Speaker 2 (45:26):
We do also have the email It's Folklorica Pod at
gmail dot com. You can send us letters there.
Speaker 1 (45:32):
And join us next week for more quarantine fun folk Glorica.
And now for your moment of Bob Dilzen.
Speaker 2 (45:48):
Come Senators, congressman, please please read the call.
Speaker 1 (45:53):
Don't stand in the WAA, don't block up the.
Speaker 2 (46:00):
Gets hurt will be held in this.
Speaker 1 (46:04):
There's a battle outside and its raging. It'll seem shake
your windows and your walls for the times they are
to change.
Speaker 2 (46:15):
Gin
Popular Podcasts
24/7 News: The Latest
The latest news in 4 minutes updated every hour, every day.
The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show
The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show. Clay Travis and Buck Sexton tackle the biggest stories in news, politics and current events with intelligence and humor. From the border crisis, to the madness of cancel culture and far-left missteps, Clay and Buck guide listeners through the latest headlines and hot topics with fun and entertaining conversations and opinions.
The Charlie Kirk Show
Charlie is America's hardest working grassroots activist who has your inside scoop on the biggest news of the day and what's really going on behind the headlines. The founder of Turning Point USA and one of social media's most engaged personalities, Charlie is on the front lines of America’s culture war, mobilizing hundreds of thousands of students on over 3,500 college and high school campuses across the country, bringing you your daily dose of clarity in a sea of chaos all from his signature no-holds-barred, unapologetically conservative, freedom-loving point of view. You can also watch Charlie Kirk on Salem News Channel