Module 1 Mythandfolklore AGAGAD

Frances Zoe D.
Agagad
BSED-IIB
Performance Task 1
Alamat ng Juan Tamad
There are many versions of the folktale, “Juan Tamad”, but one thing is for sure, Juan Tamad got
his name for being a lazy child and a terrible headache of his mother. As I grew up, I often hear parents
tell their children the story of Juan Tamad, and his comical and clumsy actions he took to earn his name.
But what was actually inspiring about his story is how he takes form of every young children going
through the stages of mischief- and how he ironically influences them to not be as lazy as he was.
The story starts from a boy who knows nothing but to sleep. He’s not very knowledgeable, but I
could guarantee how talented he is in making his mother’s head hurt. He and his mother lived in a small
hut, where his busy mother does everything in their household. But in times she does try to make him
do some chores, it often leads to disappointment. Once, she told him to sell some steamed rice cakes
(Puto), but due to the heat and tiredness, he decided to rest instead of selling the product. When he saw
two hungry frogs, he pitied them and gave them all of the puto. He even took the frogs back home!-
which earned him some beating from his poor mother.
But perhaps the most famous (and ridiculous!) action of Juan Tamad was when he wanted to eat
a guava fruit but instead of picking it himself, he laid directly below the guava tree to wait for it to fall on
him. But that action actually led him to meet the person who would later on encourage and influence
him to change, the person he would marry in the future, Maria Masipag. Just like that, the story takes a
romantic turn and the readers get more indulged in the story. It happened as Juan tamad was waiting
for the guava fruit to fall, he saw Maria Masipag, a girl who is a complete opposite of him. She picked
the fruit that Juan was targeting and told him it is not right to be lazy. When he opened his eyes, he was
amazed by her beauty and asked to court her, to which Maria’s mother disagreed.
In the end, Juan Tamad realized how much he burdened his mother and how he wanted to
change for the better to deserve Maria. From then on, all his actions became right, and he left his
nickname to the past. Juan Tamad became Juan Tama- a symbol to everyone who heard the story that
we must not take his laziness and to learn from his story.
Performance Task 2
Directions: Make a story analysis applying the elements of a story.
Transitions of a Juan Tamad to a Juan Tama

Juan Tamad or in English, Lazy John, is a Philippine folktale embraced by Filipinos for a century.
The main character is an extremely lazy boy named Juan Tamad. Due to that, he symbolizes sloth and
indolence. One of the famous scenarios of the story is when he saw a ripe fruit of a guava tree, due to
his laziness, he decided to lie beneath the tree and wait for the gravity to make the guava fruit onto him.
Along the story, it tells how Juan Tamad overcomes his laziness through learning from his mistakes.
The story has been going on for a century, even before I was born. Juan Tamad’s story happened
in a simpler times, and in a simple town in The Philippines. The other significant places mentioned were
the wet market where he sold fake medicines for a plague, in the lake where he hid the salt (that his
mother told him to buy) in the water as he was taking a bath, his simple home, and the place beneath
the guava tree where he first met Maria Masipag.
Other significant characters are his mother, who was often stressed out for his son’s behaviors,
Maria Masipag, who was known for her diligence and productivity- and the girl Juan Tamad fell in love
with, another character is Maria’s mother, who does not approve of Juan Tamad for her daughter
because of his laziness. These characters also inspired Juan Tamad to change his ways and be
responsible in the end.
The main conflict was when Juan made the town’s people mad because of a fake medicine that
he sold and this situation caused his mother to have a heart attack because of his relentless mistakes.
Through Maria and her mother’s influence and encouragement, he started to change and be a better
person. Overall, I think that this story is very relatable and also inspiring, because it sends a message
that if Juan Tamad can be a Juan Tama, then everyone can too.

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Frances Zoe D.

Transitions of a Juan Tamad to a Juan Tama

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