Three Wishes and Juan Bobo: A Folkloric Information System

          The folktales that Ricardo E. Alegria presents in “Three Wishes” are very different from Aesop’s fables. The meanings in Aesop’s fables are mostly clear and straight forward they did not take me long to figure out what the tales were saying, but the tales in Alegria’s “Three Wishes” took a lot longer to analyze and understand what they are trying to convey. The main reason this is, is because Aesop’s fables are just to show general morals that can be used to change your outlook at the world were as the tales in “Three Wishes” are more complex, these tales are used to spread specific ideals and values of the Puerto Rican culture. Sarai Lastra writer of "Juan Bobo: A Folkloric Information System" explains that many Puerto Rican folktales are old European riddle-tales, however there are many new tales that contain Puerto Rican traditional elements being “confused and mingled.” “Three Wishes” is an example of old foreign tales, in this case it is African tales, being used to share cultural elements that shaped Puerto Rico. In the tale of “The Ant in Search of Her Leg” was my favorite, because it states god holds the most power over everything, I personally know that religion plays a big role in Hispanic communities but it is intriguing to see that religion follows through into the culture’s stories. It is not often that you see religion in folklore, or at the very least have it directly stated. I guess that is why that folktale resonated with me more than the other two; it was something I was not expecting.

Folklore Reading

          While reading about what folklore is I just kept thinking about how much we do in our daily lives that is considered folklore. Anything from, a silly drawing that you made about your favorite character from a T.V. to what you and your friend gossip about when you hangout, is folklore. A daily routine is not folklore, but what you do in that daily routine is, because it is something that defines you. I never thought folklore was as broad of a subject a it is, I always thought it was old stories told to scare kids and teach them not to misbehave or else something terrible would happen to them. I never knew folklore was so diverse having elements from literature, anthropology , sociology and  psychology all rolled into one subject. That makes it seem more sophisticated then what people make it out to be, and gives it a universal purpose rather then an entertaining one.
          I enjoy reading a piece of work that challenges my way of thought because I find it amazing to see the misconception of what we believe is true what the real truth is. This piece does just that by explaining that folklore is not old fashion fake stories but rather folklore is anything that defines us as people. Anything we are known for is folklore, because inside folklore we find folk and as people we are folk.

“Aesop, Aristotle, and Animals: The Role of Fables in Human Life” by Edward Clayton

In the reading by Edward Clayton, he talks about Aristotle’s comparison of human and animal characteristics and why it is important to understanding the lesson of a fable. Clayton mentions the four ways Aristotle links human and animal characteristics, tame vs. wild, meeting basic human needs, war and desires. Tame vs. wild talks about how it is impossible to classify something as tame or wild, some animals can be tames but they were originally wild and that is where the similarity with humans comes in, humans start off wild but learn to become tames members of society. Meeting basic human needs is self-explanatory but it is not just humans that do this it is as well animals’ making sure that they have what is necessary for survival. War is, as Clayton puts it, “inevitable,” it is the competition and fights that occur within a species, these fights are often held in order to achieve meeting basic human needs. The last way Aristotle compares human characteristics and animal characteristics is with desires, all creatures have desires to do things that bring pleasure to them. It is because of these links in characteristics that fables use animals instead of humans. The readers will make connections between the characteristics of the animals in the fables and the characteristics in themselves, when they do this it makes it possible for the fables message to get across to the reader. “By dramatizing the limits of mere animal nature, fables can inspire efforts to become more human,” this is to say that in order for humans to become better they must see there flaws through the dramatizing the limits of other animals so that they can learn from the mistakes of these animals and take a lesson away from the fable and incorporate it into theirs.

Give it a read:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B3wGiBIAGeM_c0FUa1dORzVpLTQ/edit