Juan’s father asked him to gather guavas for visiting neighbors. Instead, Juan ate the fruit and played a prank. He replaced the guavas with a wasp nest in a basket, locked the guests in the room, and watched as they scrambled to escape the wasps. Seeing their swollen faces afterward, Juan mockingly remarked how “fat” the guavas had made them.
Source
Philippine Folk Tales
compiled and annotated by
Mabel Cook Cole
A.C. McClurg & Co., Chicago, 1916
► Themes of the story
Trickster: Juan embodies the trickster archetype, using cunning and mischief to play a prank on the guests.
Family Dynamics: The interaction between Juan and his father highlights aspects of familial relationships and expectations.
Community and Isolation: The story reflects on Juan’s actions affecting his relationship with the community, leading to potential isolation due to his mischievous behavior.
► From the same Region or People
Learn more about Philippines peoples
One day Juan’s father sent him to get some ripe guavas, for a number of the neighbors had come in and he wanted to give them something to eat. Juan went to the guava bushes and ate all the fruit he could hold, and then he decided to play a joke on his father’s guests instead of giving them a feast of guavas. A wasp’s nest hung near by. With some difficulty he succeeded in taking it down and putting it into a tight basket that he had brought for the fruit. He hastened home and gave the basket to his father, and then as he left the room where the guests were seated he closed the door and fastened it.
► Continue reading…
As soon as Juan’s father opened the basket the wasps flew over the room; and when the people found the door locked they fought to get out of the windows. After a while Juan opened the door, and when he saw the swollen faces of the people, he cried. “What fine, rich guavas you must have had! They have made you all so fat!”.
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