In this Tagalog folktale from the Philippines, a rich man (Pedro) gives a friend (Suan) a post so that he can build himself a house. Pedro becomes unhappy when Suan’s new house is bigger than his. He asks Suan to return the post, which he can’t do or the house will fall down. Pedro takes Suan before the king to get the post back. On the way, Suan experiences further problems. He accidentally kills someone and breaks off a carabao (buffalo) tail. However, thanks to the wise king, Suan keeps the post and becomes the richest man in his village.
Our source for the story was a book called Filipino Popular Tales by Dean S. Fansler, first published in 1921. Although many of the names in the folktales recorded in the book are of Spanish origin, reflecting the country’s 300 years as a Spanish colony, it likely that almost all of these stories come from a time well before Spanish rule.
In a note about this story, Fansler claims that it is almost certainly of Indian origin. He points to the story’s similarities to two Eastern folktales, and suggests that all three may have come from Gāmani-canda, story 257 from the Jataka Tales, which record previous lives of Gautama Buddha.
How Suan Became Rich Original Text / PDF (1,100 words)
Gāmani-canda Original Text / PDF (3,850 words)
An interesting aspect of the Jataka story is that during the course of Gāmani-candai’s journey to be judged by an incarnation of the future Buddha (King Mirror-face), he is given a list of 10 problems to request solutions to. This is a common element in European folktales, the answers to which (as in the case of Gamani-canda) often lead to treasure and other rewards. Examples can be found in the Italian folktale The Feathered Ogre and the Serbian folktale The Three Wonderful Beggars, both of which are recorded elsewhere on our website.