Mga Kuwento ni Lola Basyang

by Severino Reyes, Christine S. Bellen-Ang (Editor), Felix Mago Miguel (Illustrator)

Si Lola Basyang. Ang makikita ng iyong isip ay isang matandang babaeng nakasuot ng saya, may salamin sa mata, nakaupo sa tumba-tumba at nagkukuwento. Ang mga batang nakaupo sa paanan niya ay nag-uunahang makinig sa mga kuwento ng kababalaghan, ng makikisig na prinsipe at maririlag na mga prinsesa, ng mga kabayanihan at mga pakikipagsapalaran sa malalayong kaharian. Pamana ni Severino Reyes ang Mga Kuwento ni Lola Basyang sa mga Filipino, bata man o matanda. Una nakilala bilang manunulat ng dula, isinulat niya ang libretto ng Walang Sugat noong 1902. Siya rin ang nagtatag ng Gran Compania de la Zarzuela Tagala, isang teatrong nagtatanghal sa iba't-ibang panig ng bansa.

Noong 1925, nalimbag sa mga pahina ng magasing Liwayway ang isang kuwento ni Lola Basyang, “Ang Plautin ni Periking.” Ang unang sinulat na ito ni Severino Reyes ang nagsilbing susi na nagbukas sa isang mundo ng hiwaga, ang walang kamatayang daigdig ng mga kuwento ni Lola Basyang.

Buksan ang aklat na ito at makinig kay Lola Basyang habang naglalahad ng mga piling=piling kuwento ng pag-ibig, pakikipagsapalaran, hiwaga, kababalaghan, at engkanto. Labindalawa sa mahigit na 500 kathang-isip ni Severino Reyes ay pinili at isinaayos para sa kasalukuyang mambabasa ni Christine S. Bellen, iginuhit ni Felix Mago Miguel, at muling inialay ng Tahanan Books sa madla.

Ang Mga Kuwento ni Lola Basyang ay isang koleksiyon ng mga kuwento ng pantasya na angkop sa panlasang Pinoy. Mga kuwentong muling binuhay mula sa matagal na pamamahinga upang magbigay-ligaya sa isang bagong henersyon ng mga mambabasa.

Genres: Short Stories

224 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2005

About the author

Severino Reyes (1861–1942) was a Filipino writer, playwright, and director known as the "Father of Tagalog Plays" and the creator of the classic short story series, Mga Kuwento ni Lola Basyang. He was also one of the founders and served as editor-in-chief for Liwayway, a popular Tagalog magazine. The National Historical Commission of the Philippines placed a historical marker at his house, and a street in Manila was renamed in his honor. In 2022, Google honored him with a Doodle on his 161st birthday.

Reviews

[K.D. Absolutely]

Severino "Don Binoy" Reyes (1861-1942) was the father of Sarsuwelang Tagalog (Filipino stage plays). During the American occupation, he wrote plays that said to have anti-American undertones. The most famous of which are Walang Sugat and R.I.P. After years of writing plays, he also contributed short stories for Liwayway and became its editor from 1928-1932. However, what made him write Mga Kuwento ni Lola Basyang was when one day he visited his son Pedrito Reyes in the house of the Zamoras in Quiapo, Manila when after their dinner saw the old grandmother Gervacia Guzman "Tandang Basiang" Zamora sitting on the rocking chair and telling tales to her grandchildren. Reyes learned that Tandang Basiang did this every night after dinner. There were a total of 500 of these tales that he wrote from 1925 to until his death in 1942. Only 12 are included in this book.

Our book club, "Pinoy Reads Pinoy Books" will read this book in May 2013 and will pick one of its stories for storytelling to a group of children from the depressed areas in the City of Manila. So, my objective here is to find out which of the stories will be appropriate for our storyteller to read.

1. Ang Serena sa Uli-Uli ng Ilog Pasig. 3 STARS
Why is this story's ending violent? The mermaid kills her lover, Siso. She leaves him swimming in his own blood. Siso is not unfaithful; he even wants to go back to her only if his relatives allow him. This is supposed to be the Philippine literature's equivalent to Hans Christian Andersen's fairy tales. The story is well-told but I object to its gory ending. Tsk tsk.

2. Si Akong Ekit. 3 STARS
The story is nice but the way Akong gets into power and riches? It's by telling lies. So, this does not really have a positive value that children can learn from. For interesting story and with Mindanao as its setting, I still like this though.

3. Lokohan sa Langit. 3 STARS
I know that this is supposed to be funny. In fact, this feels like those stories drunkards tell each other during their drinking sessions. There is no child character. However, I still like this because St. Peter who guards heaven is still there and he is still balding hahaha. But no, even if this is short, this is not a good story to tell the kids.

4. Maryang Makiling. 4 STARS
This is it! A good candidate for storytelling. Positively themed. Good moral lessons. Maryang Makiling is one of the prominent figures in Philippine mythology and this story has been told to many generations of kids from my parents to me, to my daughter. The only problem here is that the story is long and that maybe the schooling kids have already heard about this. But let's see the rest of the stories.

5. Pedrong Walang Takot. 4 STARS
This is very funny. A boy with no fear. Even the raining parts of dead man do not scare Pedro. "Courage is important" is the simple theme and yet strongly delivered. My only comment is that this could scare small 4-8 children if read during the storytelling.

6. Ang Dalagang Bukid na Naging Prinsesa. 4 STARS
Griselda is a commoner and she ends up as the queen of Prince Gualterio because of her submissive and pure heart. The story is common and I think I've read some stories like this in Hans Christian Andersen's or even Italo Calvino's so I guess that, even if this seems typical, this can be a good candidate for the storytelling.

7. Ang Mahiwagang Kuba. 5 STARS
Finally a short, entertaining and engaging story. Quite predictable for an adult like me but maybe not for small children. It also has some similarities with Victor Hugo's The Hunchback of Notre-Dame in terms of the characters but the plot is totally different. The theme is that we should not judge people by their looks because beneath each person is something good because everyone of us is special.

8. Ang Kalansay na Nangungusap. 2 STARS
Quite scary especially for little children. Also, the story is ordinary. Has been told several times before: talking skeleton. Then because the skeleton is already dead, he can make his friend, a doctor, sleep and their souls travel to find out the gossips in the town. Seems pointless.

9. Ang Prinsipeng Unggoy. 4 STARS
A possible candidate for the storytelling session. The plot is interesting and at least for me, fresh. A couple has been asking God for a child but to no avail. Until, one day, the husband uttered mindlessly that if God cannot give them a son, they can accept even a monkey. So, God gives in and gave the couple a monkey-son.

10. Ang Walong Bulag. 1 STAR
I know that children's books are not supposed to be all plausible but still I thought that there should be some believability somewhere. This story just not have an iota of it. I mean, the Pilo should have heard the cries of the seven blind men when they fall from the coconut trees. The rope, hue and drum, they can't be from a giant! Too farfetched, in my humble opinion.

11. Ang Prinsipeng Masasakitin. 2 STARS
This is a nice story to reading aloud if let's say the venue is in a rich people's hospital. The sickly prince in the story just needs to do manual labor, get some sunshine and perspire. You know how some rich kids stay inside the house so they become sickly. Other than this, the story is too ordinary.

12. Ang Hari ng Tatlong Hari. 3 STARS
I liked this story of Bulilit, a yard-long man who has tremendous strength but he eats a lot so his father wants him dead so he exposes Bulilit to all situations where Bulilit could die. However, since he is strong, he survives them all. Then, when Bulilit comes to the ripe age (take note that he does not grow up anymore and that explains her name), he wants some independence so he travels outside their town and meets 3 other kids with special characteristics or powers like him. This is a good candidate for storytelling. My only apprehension comes from that father who wants to kill Bulilit because Bulilit eats a lot.

My top 3 choices for storytelling:

1st: Mahiwagang Kuba
2nd: Maryang Makiling
3rd: Pedrong Walang Takot

But my fellow bookclub members, of course, will have their opinions too and we have to decide as a group especially the one who will do the actual reading.

[Ayban Gabriyel]

Madaling basahin ngunit malalalim ang mga katagang ginamit(ex. hagos, diya't) iba sa inaasahan kong kwento ni Lola Basyang. Naghahanap ako ng kwentong may aral at kung anu-anu pang bagay na maaaring makatulong sa magandang asal ng isang bata bagkus isang nakakaaliw at nakakatuwang Lola Basyang ang nakilala ko. Kwela, maraming beses ako napatawa ng librong ito, hindi ko alam kung bakit. Hehe.

[Josephine]

This is quite an entertaining book. I don't remember reading any of the stories in this anthology, but while reading the book, each of the story seemed familiar to me-not the entire story, mind you, but some parts of it-especially the amusing parts.

I think that one's childhood isn't complete if one hasn't read at least a story of Lola Basyang's. ^_^

[Jahnie]

Nakakaaliw ang mga kuwento. Ngunit makailang ulit din akong napatigil upang aralin ang mga salitang hindi ko batid.

[Emmanuel Peñaflor]

i really want to read this book

[Alexander Mendoza]

Cool

[Regina Obat]

h

[Monzenn]

Good series of Filipino stories, lots of mythology and a revelation of values happening here, in time for Buwan ng Wika

[Stephanie Buenviaje]

My parents always talked about listening to these stories on the radio when they were growing up. I believe there’s like 500 short stories, but this book only has twelve of them. I, honestly, wasn’t expecting some of them to be as funny (and kind of disturbing) as they were! My favorite was probably Lokohan sa Langit. It was short, but it was actually hilarious, lol.

If you can read Tagalog, try this one out if you haven’t! It was originally written for mature readers because of some of the content, but around the 90s, it was rewritten to be friendlier to younger readers.

[Arjay Llave]

none

[Charity T.]

how to read this book

[Rmackoy]

fuck u

[Laurence]

gsdfgsdfgsdfgsdfgdsfg

[Aaron Louis]

its good

[Alfy]

a

[John Michael]

masaya ang huli

[Azil]

good

[Angelika]

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