PROVERBS

Proverbs surround us everyday. Whether at work, school, church or during a conversation with a
friend, the likelihood of hearing a proverb is high. With the influx of different cultures and
traditions in the United States, it is not uncommon to come in contact with many examples of
proverbs.
Some examples of Asian proverbs include the following:
1. A broom is sturdy because its strands are tightly bound.

People gain strength by standing together.

2. While the blanket is short, learn how to bend.

If your blanket is too short to cover you completely with your legs straight, bend them so that you fit.
In other words, learn how to adapt to your environment and be satisfied with what you have. If you
have less in life, learn to be frugal until you come to the point when you can spare some money for a
little bit of luxury.
3. It is hard to wake up someone who is pretending to be asleep.

While it is easy to tell people something they do not know, it is much harder if they are willfully
choosing not to see what is before them

PARABLE
Parable is a figure of speech, which presents a short story, typically with a moral lesson at the
end. You often have heard stories from your elders, such as The Boy Who Cried Wolf, and All is
Vanity. These are parables, because they teach you a certain moral lesson. Parable is, in fact, a
Greek word, parable, which means “comparison.” It is like a succinct narrative, or a universal
truth that uses symbolism, simile, and metaphor, to demonstrate the moral lesson intended to be
taught. Like analogy, we find the use of parables in verse and prose, specifically in religious
texts, such as the Upanishad or the Bible.

A Sense of A Goose :

Next autumn, when you see geese heading south for the winter, flying in a V formation, you
might consider what science has discovered as to why they fly that way. As each bird flaps
its wings, it creates uplift for the bird immediately following. By flying in a V formation, the
whole flock adds at least 71 percent greater flying range than if each bird flew on its own.

People who share a common direction and sense of community can get where they are
going more quickly and easily, because they are traveling on the thrust of one another.

When a goose falls out of formation, it suddenly feels the drag and resistance of trying to go
it alone and quickly gets back into formation to take advantage of the lifting power of the
bird in front. If we have the sense of a goose, we will stay in formation with those people
who are heading the same way we are.
When the head goose gets tired, it rotates back in the wing and another goose flies point. It
is sensible to take turns doing demanding jobs whether with people or with geese flying
south.
Geese honk from behind to encourage those up front to keep up their speed. What message
do we give when we honk from behind?

Finally - and this is important - when a goose gets sick or is wounded by gunshot and falls
out of the formation, two other geese fall out with that goose and follow it down to lend
help and protection.

They stay with the fallen goose until it is able to fly or until it dies and only then do they
launch out on their own or with another formation to catch up with their own group.
If we have the sense of a goose, we will stand by each other like that.

FOLKTALES
Folktales also stem from an oral tradition, passed down by the 'folk' who told them. The term
'folktale' is often used interchangeably with fable, since folktales can have a lesson at the end.
Folktales are different from fables because they feature people as their main characters, but often
with a twist. For example, stories like 'Paul Bunyan and Babe the Blue Ox' and the American
cowboy Pecos Bill lassoing a tornado, show people and animals performing amazing feats of
strength. Just as there are folk in every country, every country has its own folktales. Sometimes,
countries as far apart as China and France can have very similar traditional tales. The story of
'Stone Soup', for example, is one told all over the world.

The Boy Who Became a Stone

(Folktales)

One day a little boy named Elonen sat out in the yard making a bird snare, and as he
worked, a little bird called to him: "Tik-tik-lo-den" (come and catch me).

"I am making a snare for you," said the boy; but the bird continued to call until the
snare was finished.

Then Elonen ran and threw the snare over the bird and caught it, and he put it in a jar
in his house while he went with the other boys to swim.

While he was away, his grandmother grew hungry, so she ate the bird, and when
Elonen returned and found that his bird was gone, he was so sad that he wished he
might go away and never come back. He went out into the forest and walked a long
distance, until finally he came to a big stone and said: "Stone, open your mouth and
eat me." And the stone opened its mouth and swallowed the boy.

When his grandmother missed the boy, she went out and looked everywhere, hoping
to find him. Finally she passed near the stone and it cried out: "Here he is." Then the
old woman tried to open the stone but she could not, so she called the horses to come
and help her. They came and kicked it, but it would not break. Then she called the
carabao and they hooked it, but they only broke their horns. She called the chickens,
 which pecked it, and the thunder, which shook it, but nothing could open it, and she
had to go home without the boy.

FAIRY TALES
Fairy tales are stories that range from those originating in folklore to more modern stories
defined as literary fairy tales. Despite subtle differences in the categorizing of fairy
tales, folklore, fables, myths, and legends, a modern definition of the fairy tale, as provided by
Jens Tismar's monologue in German, is a story that differs "from an oral folk tale", written by "a
single identifiable author", which can be characterised as "simple and anonymous", and exists in
a mutable and difficult to define genre with a close relationship to folktales.

The Thieves and the Cockerel

Two thieves were prowling around the streets late one night, looking for a house to break into.
They were tired and hungry. They weren’t very good at their jobs; they usually made far too
much noise, so that they would wake up either the house owner, one of the servants, or worse
still, a guard dog.
They came across a house that looked dark and empty. “Let’s try this one”, they said. They crept
around the corner, and they were in luck. One of the windows in the back was open, and they
climbed inside. They went around the house carefully, in the dark, but they could not find
anything. Then one of them stumbled over something, he bent over, and found a cockerel
sleeping there. He picked up the bird and quickly put it in his bag. They made their way out of
the house and rushed back to their den. “At least we’ll be able to fill our stomachs tonight”, they
said.
One of the thieves started a fire, while the other got the cockerel out of the bag. The bird had
woken up in the meantime, and seeing the fire, immediately guessed what was happening.
“Please gentlemen”, said the cockerel, “please don’t kill me. I can be very useful. I crow every
morning to wake up the honest folk so they can get to their work bright and early!”
“Exactly!” said the thief who was stoking up the fire. “The likes of you make it impossible for us
poor thieves to go about our business and make a living. Into the pot you go!”

RIDDLE
Riddles generally have a veiled meaning and might use figurative language, a euphemism, or
even a sort of pun in order to hide the true answer.

Riddles can be difficult or simple as shown in these examples:

 “Three eyes have I, all in a row; when the red one opens, all freeze.” The answer is traffic light.
 “What animal walks on all fours in the morning, two in the afternoon and three in the evening?”
The answer is man, since he crawls as a child then walks and uses a cane when he gets older.
 What does “Mill + Walk + Key=” The answer is Milwaukee.
 “What gets wetter and wetter the more it dries?” A towel of course.
 “No sooner spoken than broken. What is it?” It is silence.
 “I am weightless, but you can see me. Put me in a bucket, and I'll make it lighter. What am I?” A
hole.
 What is so fragile that when you say its name you break it? Silence.
 I have a tail, and I have a head, but i have no body. I am NOT a snake. What am I? A coin.
 What falls, but does not break, and what breaks but does not fall? Night falls and day breaks.
 You throw away the outside and cook the inside. Then you eat the outside and throw away the
inside. What did you eat? An ear of corn.

LEGEND
Originated from Latin legendus, legend means “something which ought to be read.” According
to J. A. Cuddon, a legend is “a story or narrative that lies somewhere between myth and
historical fact and which, as a rule, is about a particular figure or person.” Traditionally, a legend
is a narrative that focuses on a historically or geographically specific figure, and describes his
exploits. Similar to a myth, a legend can provide an etymological narrative, often filling in
historical gaps.

FABLE

A fable is a short story that teaches a lesson or conveys a moral. Sometimes, the characters are
animals that act and talk like animals

The Legend of Makahiya

Philippines

Long time ago, there was a couple in Barangay Masagana (Pampanga today) who
wanted a daughter. Their wish was granted and the wife gave birth to a baby girl.
They called her Maria. Maria was very beautiful but very shy that she wouldn't go out
from their house.

Weeks later, Spaniards came to their town. The Spaniards were very cruel that they
get everything they wanted. They rob houses and kill everyone who gets in their way
and who refuses to give what they wanted.

The couple was very frightened to lose their daughter so, they hid Maria in the bushes
so the Spaniards couldn't find her.

After the Spaniards left their town, the couple tried to look for Maria but they
couldn't find her even in the bushes where they hid her, instead they found a little
plant that is very sensitive that when you touch it, it would immediately close.
So they thought it was their daughter, Maria. They called the plant "Makahiya" that
means "touch me not," like their daughter who was very shy.

LITERATURE

Literature is defined as books and other written works, especially those considered to have
creative or artistic merit or lasting value. Books written by Charles Dickens are an example of
literature. Books written on a scientific subject are examples of scientific literature.

Example:

Examples of literary works:

 fiction
 nonfiction
 manuscripts
 poetry
 contributions to collective works
 compilations of data or other literary subject matter
 dissertations
 theses
 reports
 speeches
 bound or looseleaf volumes
 secure tests
 pamphlets
 brochures
 textbooks
 online works
 reference works
 directories
 catalogs
 advertising copy
 single pages of text
 tracts
 games
 automated databases
 computer programs
 EPIC

Epic literature comes from the oral traditions of ancient civilizations. Epic poems have been
created throughout history, up to the present day. Epic poems are included in all three genres of
poetry, which include lyric, dramatic, and narrative.

Ovid – Metamorphoses (8 AD)

Ovid’s epic does not contain as much bloodshed and travel as Homer’s and Virgil’s, but his 15-part
poem contains the elevated language of the epic. Written in epic dactylic hexameter (six long
syllables staggered by shorter ones), the poem is less of a confirmation of myth as much as a
retelling of it. While Virgil preached a certain inexorable push towards Roman supremacy, Ovid’s
reconfiguration of the Greek and (slightly different) Roman myths emphasize how gods change to
men. Some of the selections include the story of Pygmalion–the sculptor who falls in love with his
statue, as well as the unforgettable transformation of Daphne into a tree while escaping a malicious
suitor. It sought to deflate the hifalutin air surrounding myth while also educating the public.

MYTHOLOGY
Mythology is a set of legends, stories, or beliefs, especially ones that illustrate a religious or
cultural tradition. In many instances, myths are built around the lives of gods and goddesses. If
humans were involved, they were usually larger than life with tremendous heroic prowess.
While we may have worked out most of nature's occurrences, thousands of years ago, that was
not the case. Why did the rivers dry up? Why did healthy crops suddenly die? In nearly every
civilization, this is when creation and nature myths began to emerge and some of the earth's
natural phenomena were explained in a way that made sense to the people of that time.
Here are some examples:
 The Pueblo believed they began life underground, and were guided by a spirit to climb up
through a hole into the Earth. Once there, they found suitable land where the gods taught them
how to farm, build houses, and create communities.
 The Inuit believed first there were giants. Two giants had a baby named Sedna, who became so
large they could no longer feed her. Because of this, they threw her into the ocean, cutting off her
fingers when she tried to cling to the kayak. Each finger became a sea creature. Sedna became a
powerful spirit who controlled the sea and its animals.
 In a Filipino myth the Children of the Limokon, the Limokon were powerful birds that could
talk. On the banks of the Mayo River, they laid two eggs. These eggs became the first man and
woman who married and had many children.