Week 6 Storytelling: The Monkey Wife

There was once a very ancient civilization that were located in the dense jungles of the Philippines.  They did not know how to make structures out of stone, so they made their homes and buildings within the tall tree above the ground and its many predators.  One day a witch was traveling through the jungle and crossed paths with the city of these tree dwellers.  She asked for food and shelter, but was turned away to sleep in the leaves of a nearby banana tree. This instantly angered her and she cast a spell on the kingdom and its inhabitants.  She allowed the people to keep a form similar to a human, but she shrunk their physique, made them furry, and added a tail.  She told the king of the civilization that they were now this new species called "monkey," and they were to remain this way until a man would agree to marry his daughter, Chonguita, in her monkey form.  She continued that once she was married to the man she would have to show her worth to his father, and only then would she and her people become human again.  

(Macaque)

The King waited for a man to visit the jungle, but none would come for they were frightened of the large predators on the jungle floor.  One day, though, a magic man was passing by when he saw the kingdom.  He had never seen monkeys before, and when he investigated he learned they could talk.  The King explained the curse, and the magic man agreed to help.  He made camp near one of the entrances of the jungle.  One day a noble prince, Don Juan, came walking down the road and approached the magic man. He has asked if the rumors of the jungle are true, stating that in his kingdom he had heard of monsters in the trees.  The man of magic was very good at reading people, and could tell that Don Juan was a noble and brave prince.  He also knew that Don Juan was on a journey to find a bride, and he remembered Chonguita.  To ease the prince's anxiety he told him that if he traveled along the road, that he magic man had made among the trees, he would not cross any predators and he would find the riches that he was seeking.

Don Juan thought the magic man was strange, but began to travel along the road leading to the trees.  As he traveled deeper into the jungle, the road brought him higher off the ground.  He got so caught up in looking at the new beauty around him, that he was startled by a rustling ahead of him. He quickly pulled out his sword and continued on towards the noise.  Suddenly, he was among a community of strange beasts that were similar to humans, because they could stand on two legs, but they had hair covering their bodies along with tails.  Before the Don Juan could contemplate an attack a large creature approached him and began to speak.  He explained their situation, told him that he knew that he was seeking a bride, and that he was to be married to his daughter at once.  The Prince was startled that these creatures could talk, that he did not protest, and before he knew it he was on a journey home with a monkey for a wife.  When he exited the forest he noticed that the man of magic was gone, and he felt that he had been tricked.  Anxiety over came him and he began to worry what his father, the king, would think.  Nonetheless he decided to journey back home, and tell his father that he had found a wife.  As he was traveling home he began to think about the part of the journey that the magic man did not know.  Don Juan and his two brothers were to travel among the lands and find a bride.   When they all accomplished this task they were to return home, and the best wife would determine who would get the throne.

Upon arriving home, rumors began to quickly spread that Don Juan's new wife.  This caused the King much grief, and he immediately ordered the competitions to take place.  He wanted to get rid of Chonguita so he ordered that whichever wives lost the competition would be banned from the kingdom.  He instructed the women to make him a robe for him to wear at the coronation of the new king.  Chonguita, who had lived in a very beautiful jungle, easily won this challenge by embroidering the images of the beautiful flowers surrounding her home.  This surprised and angered the King, and he decided to give them one more challenge.  He was known to love his dessert, but was so busy that he could never sit down and enjoy it.  He ordered the woman to make him a dessert that he had never tasted, and he wanted to be able to carry it around.  This stumped the other women, but Chonguita knew exactly what to do.  Prior to Don Juan's arrival no one had ever seen or tasted the banana's of the jungle.  She sent her husband to go retrieve some from her home, and quickly went to cooking.  Her dish was very simple.  She cut up the bananas, covered them in brown sugar, wrapped them in rice paper, and fried them in oil until they were golden brown.  Upon tasting the King was instantly impressed, and at this point realized he could not ban Chonguita from his kingdom.  At the time of his approval the curse had been broken and Chongiuta transformed into a beautiful woman before everyones eyes.

(Turon: what Chonguita made for dessert)

 Don Juan was chosen to take over the throne, and he and Chonguita ruled nobly for many years.  When her own kingdom had changed back into humans her father traveled to see his daughter, and the two societies were joined together in peace.

Author's Note:

I really like the original version of this story, but it left out a lot or details such as who the man was in the beginning of the story and such. I decided to fill in the blanks and I saw fit.  I also decided to pick only two challenges, instead of three, to conserve space.  If you are curious about the original tale of Chonguita and Don Juan, you can read it here. 

Bibliography:

Book title: Filipino Popular Tales

Author: Dean S. Fansler 

Year Published: 1921

Web Source: Project Gutenberg