Endaya, Lawrence M.

BSME – 3111
ASEAN Literature October 26, 2021

Activity 1
A Story Map on ‘The Crocodile and the Five Judges

The Main Characters: The Supporting Characters:

 The Crocodile  Fisherman – judge who sided with the

- An animal in dire need of help due to
his hungriness. He was helped by a
cartman whom he later betrayed
 The Cart driver
- A passenger who helped the crocodile
but was later betrayed due to the
manner he tied the crocodile
crocodile due to fear.
 One-armed old man – judge who sided with
the cartman due to his anger on crocodiles
 Lizard – judge who sided with the crocodile
as they are friend.
 Monkey – a judge who bases his decisions
on bribes
 Rabbit – the only fair judge on the
characters

Setting: Conflict:

 A placed filled with The Crocodile and The cart driver and the
dried up ponds and crocodile argue on whether
The Five Judges the driver should give an ox
rivers due to the dry
season. to the crocodile

Main events in the story:

 The crocodile is introduced as someone who needs help as he has no water and food.
 The cart driver tied the crocodile towards his cart and helped the latter to arrive at the river.
 The crocodile, after regaining his strength, argued that he was forcefully tied down hence he
asks for the ox as a compensation to his physical damages.
 They asked for four judges, to weigh in on their argument and each of the judges were filled
with their own subjective insights.
 The last judge, the rabbit, came and asked the cart driver to tie the crocodile down to the
degree on how he was previously tied down.
 The rabbit asked the cart driver to chop the head of the ungrateful and devious crocodile.
Endaya, Lawrence M. BSME – 3111
ASEAN Literature October 26, 2021

Activity 2

The story of ‘The Two Women Scrambled for a Baby’ highlights two things – the unending love
and support that a mother can provide and the sharp decision making of the king. Although these events
provide moral lessons for the readers, some may even awe in the action conducted by the real mother, I
believe that it still hasn’t captured the full scenario that is happening. With this essay, I want to talk about
the portrayal of the woman who lost her child and why I believe that the treatment provided towards her
is plain traditional and lacks the rise on the stature of how our society nowadays deals with mental health.
As evident in the story, the woman started to give kisses on the child and even breastfed them after she
received them from the real mother. This shows that she is providing the child the unending love that a
mother should give towards her child. Upon showing themselves on the judge, the merciless things
provided by the woman towards the childe is simply unforgivable and I even agree to the King’s decision.
However, I do believe that these actions simply reflect the eagerness of the mother to not lose another
child – she is fighting not to kidnap a certain baby but to escape the reality that she is a childless mother.
The story shows her with a certain crazy vibe, but I believe that with different circumstances provided
and enough help from professionals regarding with her grief, I can see that she would be as nurturing as
the real mother. My takeaway on this story is that not every conflict shown in the world that we live in
nowadays are ones and zeroes or two sides of the different coin. Sometimes, with us looking more
clearly, they are just similar people fighting on varying grounds.