Philippine Folk Literature Series: The FolkTales, Vol: IV

Philippine Folk Literature: The Folktales is Volume IV in the eight-volume Philippine Folk Literature Series.

This present collection focuses on the folktales, defined in this work as fictional folk narratives, which are not considered dogma or history; they may or may not have happened and are not to be taken seriously. But though they are told mostly for amusement, they perform an important teaching function as well.

An "Introduction" defines the folktale and distinguishes it from the myth and the legend; briefly surveys folktale collecting activities in the Philippines; and gives a detailed discussion , with illustrative examples from the collection and elsewhere, of the different types and sub-types of Philippine folktales.

The tales are presented according to the following types and sub-types: Animal Tales; Fables (animal and plant); Märchen, or Tales of Magic; Religious and Didactic Tales; Novelistic Tales; and Jocular Tales, subdivided into Trickster Tales, Numskull Tales, and Other Humorous Anecdotes.

The tales are given in English translation, in order to make them accessible to an international readership.

As in the other volumes in the series, this collection is intended to be national in scope. Care was therefore taken to ensure that it contains as wide a representation as possible of the different types and sub-types of the folktale and that it represents as many Philippine ethnolinguistic groups as possible.