A folktale is a story that reflects the life of the people of a particular region. Folktales are usually concerned with everyday people who experience typical human situations.

Juan Picas; picas means 'half'.

 

                      JUAN PICAS :

      THE BOY WHO LOOKED FOR GOD

   I am Juan Picas, born half of myself. I had only one eye, one arm, one leg, one half of a body. My mother wept when she saw me, but loved me as I grew up and never regarded me as abnormal. My father, too, must have wept, although he never spoke of this. He also took me as I was and loved me as much as he knew.

   I grew up in their care; I thrived in their love. As far as I knew, I was entire; I thought of myself as whole. Like all babies, I learned first to smile and then coo, to babble and know my mother and father, too. I learned to laugh. My mother taught me laughter, perhaps even before I learned to cry. She showered me with good cheer and constant delight. She taught me how to sing.

   My father taught me how to see. The birds of the sky, the trees, the flowers that grew, the rains that fell and the winds that roared in the night-these my father spoke of and made me see how perfectly they fitted into our world. and made it as lovely as can be.

   My father also spoke of people, saying that they are on this earth and living this life as in a test. All that mattered was a life spent doing good. A man should apply his days in work and by his hands hone his heart in service to God and his fellowmen. Less than this in intent and labor done, a man's days are but in vain. My father said this, and I realized how he directed his days and wished my life to be.

   My father often spoke of God, as did my mother. The Father in Heaven who made us and whose will keep us alive. God orders our days from birth, throughout death and afterlife. He has the world in his hands, rules the beatings of our hearts, knows everything, whether good or ill befalls us. All of life's questions lie in him; the meaning of life is with him. My father and mother taught me this and I learned it.

   So I grew happy as a child and enclosed in kindness. My parents sheltered me and kept me away from prying eyes. I did not know harshness; cruelty even less, until as a frisky boy, I set out to explore the world on my own. When ridicule sprang, I was bewildered, and asked my parents asked why other children laughed and poked, and made fun at me.

   I had no playmates. I could not make friends. The very young fled in fright. Children, as big as I was, would show surprise and address me with questions, to which I could not reply. Some jeered, many laughed and called me, at their kindest, odd. Some even threw stones, which always missed, for they hit my missing part.

   Other people stared, too and would not believe their eyes. They whispered about me or spoke behind their hands. What monster is this? Who sired him and bore him in her womb? They must be accursed.

   I could not bear to hear my parents maligned. Without wishing them pain, I knew I had to ask them; why was I like this and not like the rest; why was I born with just half of me and not one whole as the others are; and where, if they knew, was the other half?

   My mother wept, unable to answer. My father bowed his head held me close. He did not know the answer, either. He never thought to pursue the question, trusting that God knew what he was doing when He made me and gave me to my parents to love. My father said, however, that if I wished I could go by myself and seek out God for the answers I was seeking.

   I knew I was a grown boy and could take care of myself. Certainly I could find the way to God and I was willing to journey where I must, spending days, nights, months---even years---to find in Him my entire self.

   I set out with my parents' blessings. I traveled through strange countries, walked among strange men and creatures. Where are you going? They always asked. I said I was seeking God to ask Him why I was born one half of myself and where is the other half.

   Nearly everyone, when he learned that it was God whom I sought, had a message for Him that was a question---like mine. I met a creature in the shape of a horse that was tied with short rope. He was strong but he wanted to know why his rope was so short. Why wasn't it longer so that he could wander about and graze on greener pastures? He entrusted me to ask this question to God.

   Another creature I met, also shaped like a horse; had a long rope, which he dragged about as he wandered and went wherever he pleased. He was so skinny, his bones showing through. Why is he so thin and ugly? He entrusted me to ask God this question.

   At the crossroads, I met a man who spent his days doing good helping those who were lost, burdened, or tired, feeding the hungry and giving drink to the thirsty, binding the wound of those who were hurt, and comforting those who wept. He condemned those who did not do as he did. What was his reward for such deeds? He entrusted me to ask God this question.

   Finally, beside a waterfall, I met a man who hid among the rocks and from there, robbed the unsuspecting and ignorant. He divested them of their possessions and if they had none, he whipped them in his fury, leaving them weak and wounded and poor. He knew he did wrong. What was his punishment? He entrusted me to ask this question.

   After much traveling day and night, along smooth roads and on rough, running at times or stumbling along, covering miles in a day or going around in circles, my strength often fails me and my heart throbs with fear ; but constant in faith, I , at last, reached God.

   He was not like lightning, nor raging like fire. Neither was he like thunder nor whooshing like the wind. He was not blinding like the sun or distant like the stars. He was gentle as an evening breeze that caresses my sleeping brow. He was certain like the voice I hear about me in my waking, at my work, and play. And he was real as the most ordinary events of everyday life.

   I did not have to go far from where I was. In The most usual circumstance of my life, among those I knew and amid what I always did, there I found God.He was mirrored in my mother's gentleness and in my father's wisdom. I was not afraid to speak Him. First, I asked the questions of the men and creatures I met and then, my own. I learned from His answers that His ways and His thoughts are not of men.

   God said that the horse with the short tether knew best how to make if his situations, and so he was hefty. The horse with the long tether did not profit from his instincts, so he was deprived of them. The robber by the waterfalls knew his wrongdoing and seeking the error of his ways, will make amends and reap his rewards with God. But then the man at the crossroads who worked for a reward, showing off his deeds, judging men and condemning those who did not do as he did, was a vain performer and did not really serve God; he had already reaped his paltry size prize and would see Him.

   And what is to become of me? I asked at last. Will I always be what I am? Do I serve Him, part of myself that I am, the other half not there?

   God seemed to  smile at my way. I heard Him say that He was glad I had come to him at last. I had used my mind well, he said. I had followed my heart well, too.

   Be whole, God said. Be one whole body. So it was. But now, as a reward for seeking God, I was whole at last, I sought and found. I journeyed and arrived.

• More than a story is shared in telling and retelling of the adventures of the half-bodied boy. What binds Juan Picas with all people is his manner of believing and living and, above all, of seeking God for the answers to the enigma that he has.
• Juan's gentleness of character appeals to God and other people.Strong faith in God makes one recognize himself or herself as a gift from the creator.
• Acceptance of one's weakness strengthens self-confidence.