Philippine Folklore

Perhaps the most popular character in Philippine Folklore is a bungling, shiftless simpleton known variously as Juan Tamad among the Tagalogs, Juan among the Visayas and Juan Osong among the Bicols.

This laughable, lovable character is often pictured as an extraordinarily lazy young man, who, nevertheless, manages to provide for himself because of his cleverness and sharp wit.

In other tales, he is pictured as extremely simple-minded, and often, downright stupid. This has resulted in many ludicrous adventure.

Tales from Bicol region, where he is fondly known as Juan Osong, tend to picture this character, too, as a lazy, bungling simpleton with voracious appetite.

In many of the tales about him, however, Juan Osong, through sheer coincidence, and often, just plain luck, manages to perform great deeds and amass riches despite his stupidity.

The following stories which are hitherto unpublished, are some of the most favorite tales from the Bicol region about this hilarious character.