“Juan Pusong and the King” – One of the Myths in Philippines

Juan Usong and the King is one of the trickster tales that is told within the Philippines, where a deceiver easily outmaneuvered his naïve king. The myth begins by mentioning how the king requested a male character named Juan to tell him a lie. As he implicitly agreed, he informed his king that he was unavailable because he wanted to fish. In addition, Juan suggested that the ruler should dispatch his cook, ensuring him that he would provide the highest quality fish. Considering how Juan seemed sincere, the king was incredibly gullible to believe him. However, the cook later notified him that he never encountered Juan nor did he receive any fish. Infuriated, the king confronted Juan about this issue, where Juan justified himself by stating how he was following the king’s orders.

As a consequence, Juan was prohibited from entering the king’s palace. On the following day, Juan brought a water buffalo to travel around the king’s castle with sand on his feet. As the king saw him, he demanded the guards to place Juan into a cage, where they were commanded to drown him the third day. While he was in the cage, he was able to convince someone else to switch places with him with his well-thought and sneaky lies. With this, the young boy died in his place, whereas Juan was able to survive. After three days, Juan formed an agenda to trick his king, leading him to his death. After arriving to king’s palace, he allegedly told his king that his grandfather wanted to see him before he died. As the king foolishly believed Juan, he went with him and followed his procedures. As the king was placed in an iron cage and submerged into the water, he later drowned and died.

After reading the story, the author implemented details that were strikingly shocking. Throughout the folklore, the king demonstrated a surprising lack of self-control and intelligence. For instance, even though the king asked Juan to lie to him, he was easily provoked when he discovered Juan misinformed him. As he was filled with emotional rage, he unreasonably banned Juan from coming to his palace ever again. Considering how he does not have the correct temperament to be a ruler, it makes sense to conclude that he probably inherited his position of power. After all, it is presumed that the myth was written in an era where commanding positions were taken over by their offspring.

To further bolster this theory, the king displayed poor reasoning abilities, which describes why he made preposterous decisions within the story. For example, while explaining how he was still alive, Juan manipulated the king into believing that he met his grandparents under the sea. Unless there is a mystical component to this fairytale, there should be no reasonable explanation why the king’s grandparents would be living in the sea. From this, the king should not have believed Juan’s words. Furthermore, it is also important to note that Juan was a well-known liar who misled people on many occasions. Knowing his reputation, it is clear that most people should not trust Juan. Yet, the king still believed Juan’s words. To sum up, I believe the king has some unexpected features, as his actions and beliefs exemplifies how incredibly idiotic he is.

Looking at our current political climate, Juan Usong’s tendency to lie to others reminds me of Donald Trump. Keeping in mind on how Juan lied numerously, our president continuously lies on a daily basis. During the elections, Trump told reporters that he would reveal his tax returns once he won the presidency. However, he has not release any documentation about his taxes ever since he became president. Additionally, he currently has not shown any indication that he intends to show his tax forms. More importantly, Trump stated that he would enact a policy that would improve the healthcare system by making health insurance more accessible and cheaper. However, this proved to be false because Trump supported a policy that would have done exact opposite. Bearing in mind how the costs of premiums would have increased, a significant portion of Americans would have lost their health insurance. Although Juan’s lies were used to murder his king, Trumps’ lies are obviously worse because he has a vast amount of power that could affect our society for generations. In conclusion, Trump’s ability to lie is more detrimental considering how he has other undesirable features as well.