Home Biotechnology - People’s Green Revolution

Home Biotechnology - 

People’s Green Revolution 
   Dr Abe V Rotor 

We wake up to the fresh aroma of coffee, chocolate, vanilla, the cured taste of dried tapa, tinapa, ham and bacon – all these are products of a mysterious process we generally call fermentation.

Aged wine is mellower, cured tobacco is more aromatic, naturally ripened fruits are sweeter, dried prunes, raisin and dates have higher sugar content and have longer shelf life. Seasoned toyo, bagoong and patis make fine cuisine, so with vanilla, chili, laurel, banana blossom, and annatto.

Why many foods taste better after allowing them to stand for sometime! Take suman, tupig, puto, bibingka, and the like. The real taste of pinakbet comes out an hour or two after it has been cooked. So with the Ilocos dinuguan.

Thanks to the myriads of beneficial microorganisms, and the complex chemistry working in our favor even while we are asleep. Indeed Nature works silently through her invisible agents and processes.

The vast potential uses of microorganisms - bacteria, algae, fungi and the like - in providing food, medicine and better environment to supply the requirements of our fast growing population and standard of living are being tapped by biotechnology. Biotechnology hand in hand with genetic engineering dominate the Green Revolution of this century – the fourth since Neolithic time.

Let me cite particular areas of biotechnology in which small entrepreneurs play a vital role and which they have proven themselves successful in one way or the other. The first group involves the production of alcoholic drinks and vinegar through fermentation. These products are

§ Tapoy (rice wine of the Cordillera equivalent to the Japanese kampei)
§ Basi (sugarcane)
§ Lambanog (distilled coconut wine)
§ Tuba (young wine from coconut)
§ Layaw (nipa)
§ Bahalina (coconut and tangal)
§ Fruit wine (kasoy, bignay, strawberry, pineapple, etc.)
§ Root crop wine (potato, kamote, cassava, yakon)
§ Beer (malted corn, rice, sorghum, barley, wheat, rye)
§ Vinegar (nipa, sugarcane, coconut, various fruits)

Basi, pride of the Ikocos Region; and rice wine, indigenous drink of the Cordillera region.

With readily available raw materials and simple tools used, brewing is a practical industry. More so, with the simplicity of fermentation itself - which is the conversion of sugar into ethanol through fermentation with yeast, as shown in this general formula?

C6H12O6 -------  2C2H5OH + 2CO2
Sugar    to         Wine

This equation applies to all kinds of wine and beer in the world, varying only in the source of materials and technical aspects, cultural uniqueness notwithstanding. This is why wine making is universal. It is engrained in culture and history, and in all human activities. No ceremony is without wine. It is symbolic of religious faith and belief. And while there are popular brands in the market, still the best wine is found in the farmer’s cellar in Europe and Asia, or elsewhere.

The brewed product is either consumed immediately or allowed to age. Aging improves quality and lengthens the shelf life of the product. Wine making is an art, and a personalized enterprise, with each vintage or cellar having a distinctive quality trademark. Bordeaux in France for example, is famous for brandy, while the Scotch Whiskey remains a top grade liquor made from grains. Similarly we have basi in Ilocos, bahalina in the Visayas and lambanog in Southern Tagalog.

Wine does not go to waste if it fails to meet standards. And even if the brew is left unattended. Nature makes wine to vinegar. Vin-egar means sour wine. In chemistry it is oxidized ethyl alcohol, the product of which is acetic acid, as shown in this formula, similarly a universal one.

C2H5OH + O2 à CH3COOH + H2O
Wine or Ethyl Alcohol to Acetic Acid

Vinegar is perhaps the most common food preservative and additive. It is often associated with the local source such as Sukang Iloko and Sukang Paombong. Or material – sasa from nipa, pineapple vinegar, apple cider vinegar, etc.

Vinegar has many uses outside of the kitchen. Weed killer, bleaching agent, pesticide, drainage declogger, odor remover, etc. Many industries rely on this organic substance from food to textile to metallurgy.

The second group of products of village biotechnology are beverages, food condiments, tobacco and betel for chewing. Tea, coffee, fruit juice and chocolate, in this order, make up the world’s top beverages, thus pointing out the vast opportunities of biotechnology in this area.

§ Kapeng barako (Batangas and Cavite)
§ Cacao (Batangas, Mindanao)
§ Vanilla (Mindanao)
§ Tsaa (Batangas)
§ Fruit puree (mango, guyabano, pineapple, etc.,
Southern Tagalog, Mindanao)
§ Bagoong and patis (Navotas, Balayan, Dagupan)
§ Kesong Puti (Laguna)
§ Betel (Cordillera, Laguna, Ilocos)
§ Ketsup (banana, tomato)
§ Rolled tobacco (Cagayan Valley, Ilocos)Toyo (Southern Tagalog, Mindanao)

Like in the first group, these products are area-specific which point out to their indigenous production and processing, so with their patronage. Rolled tobacco or pinadis, for example, has a special market for old people who are used to the product – and not to the younger generation. This is also true with betel or nganga.

On the other hand, bagoong and patis, which used to be a specialty among Ilocanos, are now marketed abroad. So with kapeng barako a local coffee which is mainly grown in the highlands of Batangas and Tagaytay?

Fruit puree and fruit preserve, though relatively new, are amazingly growing fast, as people are shunning away from carbonated drinks. Because of high demand, these products became a boom to small growers, who recently are becoming mere conduits or raw products suppliers of big companies, instead of making and marketing the finished products themselves.

The third and largest group of village biotechnology products is in processed food.

§ Puto or rice cake, very popular among Filipinos
§ Bibingka (rice)
§ Maja (corn starch)
§ Burong manggang paho, mustasa (pickled mango, mustard)
§ Burong Isda (dalag and rice)
§ Hamon (manok, baboy, pato) ham
§ Tocino, longganisa
§ Itlog na pula and century egg
§ Balot and Penoy (incubated duck egg)
§ Tokwa (bean curd)
§ Taosi (fermented black bean)
§ Talangka (crab paste)
§ Pickles (papaya, carrot, amargoso, onion, cucumber, etc.)
§ Toge (mungo sprout)
§ Cakes (banana, cassava)
§ Ripening of fruits (with madre de cacao leaves)

Food processing constitutes the bulk of village biotechnology in developing countries, on both domestic and commercial scales. Like in the other groups, these undertakings are seldom organized as formal establishments; rather they fall under the category of informal economics which is life line of the people especially in these critical times.

The pioneering group, are the so-called “One-Celled Protein” food, a new term in food production by algae, fungi and bacteria. Actually many of these have long been known even in primitive societies because they grow in the wild.

· Spirulina (blue-green alga or BGA)
· Chlorella (green alga)
· Nostoc (BGA as food and fertilizer)
· Anabaena (BGA in symbiosis with Azolla a floating fern, for fertilizer and food)
· Nata - nata de coco, nata de piña (Leuconostoc mesenteroides, a capsule bacterium)
· Mushrooms –Pleurotus (abalone mushroom), Shitaki (black mushroom), Volvariella (banana mushrrom), Agaricus (rice hay mushroom), Auricularia or “tainga ng daga,” and many other edible mushrooms, cultivated or wild.

Let’s strive to make village biotechnology truly a Green Revolution of, for and by the people.

Banana leaves - the best food wrapper:

Banana leaves - the best food wrapper: 

practical, multi-purpose and environment-friendly.

Dr Abe V Rotor

Banana plant (Musa sapientum L) Cavendish variety; leaves and blossom sold in the market.

Banana leaves make the best food wrapper. It is practical, multipurpose, aromatic and environment-friendly.

Imagine if there were no banana leaves to make these favorite delicacies: suman, tupig, bucayo, bibingka, patupat, puto, tinubong, biko-biko, and the like. We would be missing their characteristic flavor and aroma, and their indigenous trade mark. So with a lot of recipes like paksiw na isda, lechon, tamales and rice cooked with banana leaves lining. Banana leaves have natural wax coating which aid in keeping the taste and aroma of food, while protecting it from harmful microbes.

 Preparing leaf for tamales, first by wilting it over fire, wrapping fish (dilis) with spice and salt, finally steaming.

In the elementary, we used banana leaves as floor polish. The wax coating makes wooden floors as shiny as any commercial floor wax sans the smell of turpentine. Banana leaves when wilted under fire exude a pleasant smell. When ironing clothes use banana leaves on the iron tray. It makes ironing cleaner and smoother, and it imparts a pleasant, clean smell to clothes and fabric.

This is how to prepare banana leaf wrapper.

1. Select the tall saba variety or other varieties.

2. Get the newly mature leaves. Leave half of the leaf to allow plant to recover. Regulate the harvesting of young leaves as this will affect the productivity of the plant.

3. Wilt the gathered leaves by passing them quickly over fire or live charcoal until they are limp and oily. Avoid smoky flame as this will discolor the leaves and impart a smoky smell (napanu-os).

4. Wipe both sides of the leaves with clean soft cloth until they are glossy and clean.

5. Cut wilted leaves with desired size, shape and design. Arrange to enhance presentation and native ambiance.

Keep in your backyard at least a hill of banana (mother plant cum tillers), preferably saba variety, and you will have all the things that the banana provides - ripe fruits, green fruits for flour and pesang dalag, trunk for ties, rope and padding, puso or heart for kare-kare.

And most important, the leaves - they make the best food wrapper. ~

Other leaf-wrappers

• Gabi (laing)
• Mango leaves (tamales)
• Woven coconut leaves (sinambong)
• Buri palm (suman)
• Pandan (kanin, arroz valenciana)

References: Wikipedia, Living with Folk Wisdom, AV Rotor

Vinegar - Nature's Secret of Good Health

Vinegar - Nature's Secret of Good Health
Dr Abe V Rotor

Vin-egar, which means sour wine, is Nature's secret of good health. Vinegar or acetic acid (CH3COOH) abounds in nature, as long as there's sugar(C6H12O6). Sugar is converted into ethanol, and ethanol to acetic acid. Vinegar then is oxidized ethanol or ethyl alcohol (C2H5OH). The conversion process is both biological and chemical. In fact, fermentation of sugar to ethanol, goes hand in hand with ethanol conversion to acetic acid, with the latter prevailing at the end.

This formula is taking place in food, flowers, fruits, plant sap, insect exudate, honeycombs, raisins, etc. Nature eliminates sugar - simple and complex - ultimately through this process, and at the end converts them back to elements ready to be re-assembled in the next process and for the next user or generation. This process is taking place everywhere because the agents are ubiquitous such as the yeast (Saccharomyces) and the vinegar bacteria (Acetobacter). And there are dozens more working in union. This scenario is also taking place in the mouth and stomach, on the skin, and other parts of the body of organisms.

Vinegar is Nature's cleansing agent and disinfectant, eliminating stain, odor, fungi, bacteria, weeds, and repelling ants, and other vermin.

People who are fond of food prepared with vinegar are healthier and slimmer. It is because vinegar regulates formation of adipose tissues, and burns fat. Some people dampen their appetite by sprinkling a little natural vinegar on prepared food to take the edge off their appetite. Notice that after eating anything with vinegar, you lose interest in your meal. Vinegar triggers the appetite's shut off mechanism.

Feel good. A teaspoon of apple cider or any natural vinegar in a glass of water, with a bit of honey added for flavor, will take the edge off your appetite and give you an overall healthy feeling.

Well, here is a short list of home remedies using natural vinegar.

• Soothe a sore throat. Put a teaspoon of natural vinegar in a glass of water. Gurgle.
• Apply cold vinegar right away for fast relief of sunburn or other minor burns. It will help prevent burn blisters.
• Soothe a bee or jellyfish sting. Douse with vinegar to soothe irritation and relieve itching.
• Relieve sunburn. Lightly rub diluted natural vinegar on skin. Reapply as needed.
• Conditions hair. Add a tablespoon of vinegar to your rinse to dissolve sticky residue left by shampoo.
• Relieve dry and itchy skin. Add 2 tablespoons of vinegar to your bath water.
• Fight dandruff. After shampooing, rinse with a solution of ½ cup vinegar and 2 cups of warm water.
• Treat sinus infections and chest colds. Add ¼ cup or more vinegar to the vaporizer.
• Cure hangover. Combine two raw eggs, a tablespoon of vinegar and black pepper. Blend well.

Just a reminder. Use only natural vinegar - not glacial acetic acid. ~

Fear! You can conquer it through "Art Therapy"

Fear! You can conquer it through "Art Therapy"

Our children are filled with imaginary fears which their young minds absorb from movies, TV programs, magazines, and now through social media. It could be for lack of guidance, comfort and love, too. These residues of fear must be removed, and the sooner the better, before they develop into phobia and nightmare which may persist in their adult age. 

NOTE: Art therapy can be integrated in Art Workshops for Children of reputable institutions or tutorship.  

  

Dr Abe V Rotor

Don' let fear persist, 

take it out soonest.

Here's one proven way:

art therapy.

An art workshop 

is the best avenue; 

let the children enjoy,

and draw freely.

Guide them draw

anything in mind; 

happy, sad, fearful,

then you know. 

From these drawings

I talked to the child,

confided with his parents - 

beautiful result!

Children have fears,

no exception, 

it's part of growing up

naturally. 

Fear conquers, 

conquer fear instead; 

draw the kapre - 

now he is gone.

Draw the cobra

now he is tame;

draw a shadow,

it is your own.

Draw a road

lonely and far;

now draw houses 

along the way.

A hospital scene 

with friendly doctors, 

draw your patient

with a smile.

Rejected, lonely,

draw a round table

with people around,

you and your family. ~

 You can diagnose your child through his subjects, colors, lines, strokes, his persistence on a certain theme, and his reactions while he is in his artwork. Ordinarily experiences like these are normal.  But there are certain indications you may seek professional advice, 

This is one way to check the suspected behavior of your child - reactions based on the senses. The two drawings show fear of a imaginary serpent, an influence of such movies as Anaconda (biggest snake in the world).  There are many similar causes of fear, among them: Jaws (shark), King Kong (giant gorilla). Honey, I Shrunk the Kids (movie), Travels of Gulliver (novel about giants and dwarfs), Frankenstein (man-made monster), Gabi ng Lagim (Filipino favorite of ghosts and spirits), and many. many more.  Let us save our children. (Drawings by Leo Carlo R Rotor in the Grades, ca 1990)   

Recycle plastic for good reasons

Dr Abe V Rotor

Plastic waste for cycling

Recycle plastic for value added advantage, giving the material a second life - or more, for the same or different uses.

Recycle plastic to get rid of it as waste - waste that virtually remains undecomposed for years, if not centuries.

Recycle plastic to save small fish from asphyxiation, ruminant animals from digestive malfunctioning.

Recycle plastic to reduce emission of harmful gases into the air, and contaminants in soil and water.

Recycle plastic to clear canals and waterways, reducing incidents of flood, if not preventing it to happen.

Recycle plastic to get rid of the most toxic substance man has ever made - dioxin - emitted by its burning.

Recycle plastic for decors and crafts in keeping with the festive air in Christmas,
fiestas and other occasions.

Recycle plastic to provide materials for housing, erosion and flood control, and other infrastructures.

Recycle plastic under the responsibility and accountability of manufacturers, taking much of the burden for consumers.

Recycle plastic separately: non-biodegradable for re-utilization, biodegradable for soil conditioners and similar uses.

Recycle plastic when there is no other way to stop its manufacture, to substitute it with environment-friendly materials.

Recycle plastic before it is too late, before the earth has accumulated a cover not of vegetation but of non-biodegradable film and foam.

Recycle plastic and go back natural - natural flower, natural fiber, natural wares, above all natural face and smile. ~
 
Plastic pollution around and in the sea - a grave concern

Karimbuaya - secret of tasty lechon

Dr Abe V Rotor

Young Euphorbia nerifolia grown directly from cutting.

It grows everywhere in the tropics, on wastelands, on idle farms and gardens, and untrodden corners of the field.

Yet its presence is unsuspecting. Actually it grows almost into a tree. Its four cornered branches and stems are crowned with rows of stubby thorns, and bleed profusely with milky sap when cut, that browsing animals would not dare trespass, more so eat. Thus this perennial wild plant is an ideal natural fence and border.

But sorosoro or karimbuaya (Ilk) has another value very few people are aware. But to Ilocanos, no lechon is without karimbuaya.

This is the basic culinary procedure.

• Gather mature leaves as many as needed.
• Cut the leaves diagonally and thinly. Avoid skin contact as much as possible.
• Stuff the inside of the chicken or piglet and secure it closed. Similarly do the same with lechon baka and rellenong bangos.
• The stuff goes through the whole cooking period. It is served on the table as side dish vegetable for the lechon. It has a mild sour taste.

Why use karimbuaya? The sap removes unpleasant odor of meat and fish. It imparts a mild aroma, and improves taste. It is compatible with tanglad and ginger, onion and garlic, and most food adjuncts and additives.

Try karimbuaya next time you prepare lechon and relleno.~

Bryophytes: Link of Protists and True Plants*

The moss and its kind are the precursors of the Plant Kingdom 

Dr Abe V Rotor

Moss (Musci)

 

 Hornwort (Anthoceros), Liverwort (Marchantia) 

Bryophytes are the intermediate forms of life between the Algae (Kingdom Protista) and the Tracheophytes (Vascular) or true plants. Bryophytes bridge the evolution of life in the Plant Kingdom.

Anyone who has seen “Honey, I Shrunk the Kids," or the second travel of Gulliver in Brodningnag, could easily place himself into imagery where small things are very big.

A blade of grass becomes a perfect slide, an ant becomes a pony for going places, a raindrop can knock one down hard.

Now imagine the lowly moss to be as large as a tree. A liverwort becomes a large green carpet shaped like a liver. A hornwort has pinnacles in Gothic style. When you are microscopic in size, everything you see around you becomes large.

Bryophytes are the link between the two kingdoms of the protists, and the true (or vascular) plants. They are early forms of plants, which botanists believe to have stopped evolving. Thus, they are today what they were millions of years ago. They are, indeed, living fossils.

Observe a piece of rock covered with bryophytes. It appears like a miniature forest under the magnifying glass. It is dense and every space is occupied by structures that look like trunks and leaves. On closer look, however, these structures are not true organs, because they lack vascular tissues, which are found in higher plants. The tissues are needed for water and food to flow to keep the plant alive.

Thick mats of  moss and lichen (alga and fungus living together in symbiosis) are commonly found growing on the trunk of old trees.

 Alternation of Generations

The moss has a unique two-in-one life cycle. Botanists describe the gametophyte as either male or female plant, while the sporophyte is one containing the total number of chromosomes. The former carries only half the number of chromosomes (haploid). When the sporophyte plant matures, it produces spores, which will germinate and develop into gametophytes. When the gametophytes mature, they form both eggs and sperms that fuse together to form a zygote. The zygote grows into another sporophyte that will carry the next generation. This alternation of generation is the key to the survival of bryophytes even under harsh conditions.

Bryophytes are Nature’s Soil Builder

When the plants are uprooted, one will find soil underneath. This means that bryophytes grow on rock by digesting it first with acid. The softened rock yields to the roots and releases elements needed for growth and development. As the plants die, their organic debris is mixed in with the rock particles and form into soil.

Since bryophytes are short-lived and seasonal, the soil deposit becomes thicker by each generation, with the plant borders extending to form new frontiers. Soon entire walls and rocks become covered like a green carpet. As the bryophyte community expands to reach its peak and climax, more and more organisms become dependent on it. Millipedes find it an ideal place for a home, while providing their nutrition. Insects frequent the place as a hunting ground for their prey. Frogs, however, stay near the byrophytes to stalk the insects.

Bryophytes Create a Microclimate

A carpet of mosses on the wall or rock feels soft to the touch. It is thick and spongy. When it rains, the carpet absorbs and stores the water. At night and early in the morning, dew precipitates and is absorbed by the moss, creating a microclimate in the surrounding area that is favorable to other plants.

With the passage of time, new plants grow out from the middle of the carpet. This is the beginning of the second part of plant invasion, courtesy of the ferns. The plants are large and diverse, the forerunners of vascular plants which once dominated the Carboniferous forest (PHOTO), even before the dinosaurs roamed the earth.

Ferns actually form a canopy above the moss carpet, and as they do, they block the sun, wrest for space and compete for water. Fern roots wedge the open cracks in the rock, sending boulders down together with their tenants. While it is catastrophe to the pioneering plants, it is advantage to others. Nature works its way following a formula aimed at dynamic balance or homeostasis.

Soon the bryophytes do not only lose their dominance to the ferns, they have lost the place. Their job is over because the rock is gone.

“What good is rock when it loses the essence from which life rises?”

So thus the fern continue to change the landscape. When nature writes “finis” to the lowly moss, larger plants, like trees, come around, and soon the place becomes a forest. And life goes on. 
--------------------------------------------

Phylogeny of the Bryophytes 

Land plants	Liverworts Mosses Hornworts Polysporangiophytes "Protracheophytes", such as Horneophyton or Aglaophyton Tracheophytes or Vascular plants

*Reference: The Living with Nature Handbook by AV Rotor (UST Publishing House, 2004)

Re-discovering Aesop’s Fables.

Re-discovering Aesop’s Fables.

Are fables still relevant in our times?

Dr Abe V Rotor

Aesop's Fables have been told and re-told, then written and re-written countless times as a form of entertainment and education. Anecdotal and comic sketches were everyday forms of amusement in ancient Athens and Delphi. Today these works envelop many realms of life including psychology, politics, spirituality, education, health and well-being. Whether the man himself or Aesop the modern construct of scholars, his influence and commentary on human behavior has been firmly established. (C.D. Merriman)

Aesop

………………………………………
Aesop did not write down his fables. He told many people the stories and they remembered them. It was nearly two hundred years before the stories were collected together and published. The fables were not published in English until the 15th century, but since then they have been read by people all over the world. Their moral lessons are as true today as they were 2,500 years ago when Aesop was alive.
………………………………………………………………………………………………

Childhood Lessons from Fables

The first lessons I learned from my father came from Aesop’s fables. Quite a number of them are still fresh in my mind nearly fifty years after. Fable or fibula in Latin is a story or tale, especially a short story, often with animals or inanimate objects as speakers or actors, devised to convey a moral. So simple and universal are fables that no one could possibly miss the lesson of each story.

Before I proceed let me say a few words about the genius behind this ancient art of storytelling. Aesop, the founder of fables, was a native of old Greece, a former slave who earned his freedom out of his genius and wit, a master in allegorical philosophy. It is for this natural gift that he also gained fame – and ironically, it is also for this that he met a lamentable end in the hands of enemies whom his fables created.

Aesop is the greatest fabulist of all time, and if there are other prominent fabulists after him and at present, there is likely a trace of Aesop in their stories. Even modern fables like the movie Babes, about the pig that gained its right to live by learning to be a"sheep dog," reminds us of Aesop. Or take the case of George Orwell’s Animal Farm, a story about man’s folly and greed for power and wealth and lavish living.

But little can we perceive the original morals of Aesop in most of today’s animations. There is simply too much fantasy that masks the lesson, especially so with the versatility of technology that emphasizes scenarios that heighten the plot as if fables are running entertainment stories. What technology misses is that it fails to capture the refinement of presentation and the purposeful message that lingers in afterthought. Aesop has a unique way of making his reader to first look within himself before casting judgment upon others. Like many philosophers in his time, he believed that change is basically internal and often, discreetly self-atonement and non-effacing. Aesop is Aesop for such extraordinary character as can be gleamed from records about the man. To wit -.

“It is probable that he was of a low and diminutive stature, though agreeable in his complexion, and polite in his manners. It is however, certain that he had a great soul, and was endowed with extraordinary mental qualification; his moral character approached to a degree of perfection to which very few have attained. He appears to have had a true sense of morality and a just discernment of right and wrong; his perceptions and feelings of truth were scrupulously nice, and the smallest deviation from rectitude impressed his mind with the greatest antipathy.

“No considerations of private interest could warp his inclinations to as to seduce him from the path of virtue; his principles are steadfast and determined, and truly habitual. He never employed his great wisdom to serve the purposes of cunning; but, with an uncommon exactness, made his understanding a servant of truth.” (Oliver Goldsmith, Life of Aesop)

While we recognize Aesop as the father of the fable, there were fabulists ahead of him like Archilochus who wrote fables one hundred years before. But it is certain that Aesop was the first that brought that species of teaching into reputation, building upon the style of using animals and inanimate objects to describe the manners and characters of men, communicating instructions without seeming to assume authority of a master or a pedagogue.

Here is a story from which we can gleam the Aesop’s indomitable reputation. He adopted a unique strategy to reconcile his master and his estranged wife who had left him. It is said that Aesop, then a slave of Xanthus, went to the market and brought a great quantity of the best provisions, which he publicly declared were intended for the marriage of his master with a new spouse. This report had its desired effect, and the matter was amicably settled. And at a feast to celebrate the return of his master’s wife he is said to have served the guests with several courses of tongues, by which he intended to give a moral to his master and wife, who had by too liberal use of their tongue almost caused their permanent separation.

In another occasion, Aesop astounded the sages of Greece. An ambitious king having one day shown his vast riches and magnificence, and the glory and splendor of his court, asked them the question, whom they thought was the happiest man. After several different answers given by all the wise men present, it came at last to Aesop to make his reply. He said: “That Croesus was as much happier than other men as the fullness of the sea was superior to the rivers in his kingdom.”

If we were to base Aesop’s sagacity and severe morality his answer would rather be one of sarcasm rather than compliment, but he was undoubtedly understood by the king to be a great compliment, that in his vanity exclaimed, “The Phrygian had hit the mark.” Afterward, alone with a friend, Aesop commented, “Either we must not speak to Kings, or we must say what will please them.”

While he was living at the court of King Croesus, now a free man, celebrated and famous, he was sent on a journey to the temple of Apollo at Delphi. There he was accused by the Delphians of sacrilege, and he was convicted by an act of the greatest villainy. They concealed among his baggage, at his departure, some golden vessels consecrated to Apollo, and then dispatched messengers to search his baggage. Upon this he was accused of theft and sacrilege, and condemned to die. The angry Dephians pushed him over a steep cliff to his death.

Aesop’s ironic death is not the first among respected citizens of Greece, paradoxically when Greece was at its peak of power, as we can only imagine with this aphorism “the glory that was Greece.” Not far after Aesop’s time, Socrates, the greatest philosopher of Athens in his time and one of the greatest minds the world has ever known, was condemned to die by drinking poison hemlock for “corrupting the minds of the youth.” Socrates opened the gate of enlightenment; the concept of the Lyceum or university

.

I have selected a number of Aesop fable to suit the purpose of conveying important messages related to contemporary issues in a manner that they can be understood at the grassroots. This is the purpose of Paaralang Bayan sa Himpapawid (school-on-the air) to impart functional literacy to the masses. It is not the intention of the lessons to impose moral authority, much less to proselytize our society of its failures and weaknesses. It merely seeks to elevate awareness for change, in the humblest manner we may find ways to reform, through the lessons in the fables Aesop related more than two thousand five hundred years ago.

Here are some of the popular fables of Aesop with the morals they convey.

Popular Aesop Fables

1. The fox without a tail – Wise people are not easily fooled
2. The shepherd boy and the wolf – If we tell lies, no one will believe us when we speak the truth.
3. The boastful traveler – People who boast are soon found out.
4. The crow and the fox – Beware of people who say nice things they do not mean.
5. Who will bell the cat – Some things are more easily said than done.
6. The crow and the swan – Think well before you copy other people.
7. The wolf and the lamb – People who want to do something bad can always
find an excuse.
8. The lion and the hare – It is sometimes wiser to be content with what you have.
9. Brother and sister – It is better to be good than to be just good looking.
10. The goose that laid the golden eggs - A greedy man can lose all he has.

11. The wind and the sun– Kindness often gets things done more quickly than force.
12. The trees and the axe – Be careful when you give way over small things,
or you may have to give way over big ones.

13. The dog and his reflection – If you want more because you are greedy, in the end (PHOTO, one of the most cited fables of Aesop, a moral on the greediness of man) -
you might find you have less.

14. The fir tree and the bramble – People who are too proud may be sorry later.
15. The ant and the dove – No one is too little to be helpful.
16. The boys and the frogs – Do not do things to other people that you would not
like to be done to you.
17. The raven and the jug – If you try hard enough, you may find you can do something
that at first seems very difficult.
18. The dog in the manger – Do not stop others having what you don’t need.
19. The fox and the grapes – It is silly to say that you do not want something just
because you cannot have it. (idiomatic expression: sour grapes)
20. The wolves and the dog – Those who cannot be trusted deserve to be treated badly.
21. The fox and the lion – Things are not always what they seem to be at first.
22. The bear and the travelers - A real friend will not leave you to face trouble alone.
23. The fox and the stork – If you play mean tricks on other people, they might do
the same to you.
24. The man and the partridge – No one loves a traitor.

Versions and Interpretations of Aesop’s Fables

The interpretation of an Aesop fable may vary. For example, The Fir tree and the Bramble, has this earlier interpretation, from Oliver Goldsmith, citing Bewick’s version.

Poverty secures a man from many dangers; whereas the rich and the mighty are the mark of malice and cross fortune; and still the higher they are, the nearer the thunder.

To have a better view of the moral, let me cite the fable from Bewick’s. The fable starts with a verse, as follows:

Minions of fortune, pillars of the state,
Round your exalted heads that tempest low’r!
While peace secure, and soft contentment wait
On the calm mansions of the humble poor.

So the story goes like this. “My head, says the boasting Fir-tree to the humble Bramble, is advanced among the stars; I furnish beams for palaces, and masts for shipping; the very sweat of my body is a sovereign remedy for the sick and wounded: whereas thou, O rascally Bramble, runnest creeping in the dirt, and art good for nothing in the world but mischief. I pretend not to vie with thee, said the Bramble, in the points that gloriest in. But, not to insist upon it, that He who made thee lofty Fir, could have made thee an humble Bramble, I pray thee tell me, when the Carpenter comes next with the axe into the wood, to fell timber, whether that hadst not rather be a Bramble than a Fir-tree?”

Compare the same fable with this simplified version for children. Here it goes.

One day, on a hill top, a fir tree said to a bramble bush. “Look at me. I am tall, strong, graceful and very beautiful. What good are you? You are small, ugly and untidy.”

This made the bramble bush very unhappy because it knew the fir tree was right. But next day some men carrying axes came up the hill. They started to chop down the fir tree. They wanted to use it to make a new house.

”Oh dear!” cried the fir tree, as it started to fall. “I wish I were a bramble bush, then the men would not have cut me down.” x x x

Your first work is a masterpiece

Your first work is a masterpiece 

Dr Abe V Rotor

Old photograph of one of my earliest paintings. I never saw 

this painting again. (oil on plywood, 10" x 12") circa 1965

Don't throw away your early work 

if not in favor of your judgment

or of others; you are not the critic

nor they, but time and art,

for it could be your masterpiece,

the window of your soul,

its expression at the break of dawn,

when light is fresh and pure. 

and through the years to old age,

your work unfolds to the world,

the stirrings of your youth

seeking perfection in dream.

And imperfection is all it shows, 

a felled tree half buried lives on

in a hill of flowering weeds,  

eternal and beautiful.~ 

Kaleidoscope in Nature

Kaleidoscope in Nature

Painting and Poem by Dr Abe V Rotor

Kaleidoscope in Nature in acrylic (20" x 24") AVR 2015

A world of colors in splendor and grandeur,

      in magnificence and glory;

the mountains in summer, the trees in autumn;

      the sky at sunset over the sea.

Undulating hills, meandering rivers,

      flowing down through the mist;

the valley wakes up to the magic of sunrise,

      in living colors that never cease.

Coral reefs, counterpart  gardens on land,

     untouched this submarine park

in luxurious colors and hues in the day,

     hauntingly glow in the dark.  

The rainbow grows in the sky with dreams,

      romance in the air in colors divine

for a lovely pair bound to love and care,

                              with nature's beauty they enshrine.