Before even reading these short stories, I assumed that they were going to be exotic and weird. I’m not sure why but every time I think about Latin culture, I think of a culture that is wild and fun. So, I naturally assumed that this wildness would be demonstrated in their works of writing. Furthermore, “Don Quixote” was the only novel I read that was somewhat “Latin” and Don Quixote was a weird and crazy book. That’s not to say that I didn’t enjoy it though.
So, when I began to read the two stories, it really struck out to me how normal they seemed. I would have thought that it was an English writer who wrote them if I hadn’t known prior. There was no exotic features, crazy storyline, and belligerent characters. They were normal folk short stories. Of the two short stories, I found “The Pongo’s Dream” by Jose Maria Arguedas the most interesting. It was short, simple, and powerful. What I find in old folk tales is that they always address a moral. When I was young, my mom would always tell me Chinese folk tales on how the most righteous person in this life will be reborn into someone great in the next. Which, is somewhat similar to “The Pongo’s Dream”.
What I found different about “Legend of the Singing Tablets” “Legend of the Crystal Mask” “Legend of the Silent Bell” and “Legend of the Dancing Butchers” by Miguel Angel Asturias from “The Pongo’s Dream” was how religious it was. It seemed to me that there was also a large focus on nature. I found this surprisingly consistent with most of Asian folk stories that I read. It really is interesting on how while these cultures were created thousands of kilometers apart, their stories are strikingly similar. Religion, nature and duty is a theme in a lot of them.
I loved how you hinted to the common things and recurring themes in stories all over the world. It is so true. I think that, since we are one human race and even if different in cultures and traditions, most of our deep, core emotions and values are the same. I read about this in one of my favourite books called ‘Women who run with the wolves’ by Clarissa Pinkola Estes. It is centrally about women (and I recommend it as a read to EVERYONE it is so amazing) but one main aspect she talks about is how emotions and feelings that are stored deep in our psyche, and that are universal to all beings if they classify under the ‘human species’, can be ‘resurrected’ by the reading or hearing of stories. Which draws back to what you said about the similarities of Asian and Latin American folk stories.