Hafa adai Todu Hamyu, hello everybody. Welcome to the Red Rice and fina'denne' podcast. Thanks for joining me. This story is a shorty. It's called Kolas Tambot and is told by Pale' Eric Forbes. In Chamorro, a priest is called Pale', they're ordained ministers. It's like calling a priest father. And Pale' Eric Forbes is a Chamorro Catholic priest. He's also a historian and a cultural advocate from Guam. To set a little context to the story Kolas Tambot, in my world, growing up Chamorro meant I had a lot of uncles and aunties who kinda had the same name. Or maybe versions of a name that had origins in a specific name. Let's look at the name Juan. J-U-A-N, Juan. It's Spanish, of course, it came with the Spanish colonization. But let's look at my family. So we had Auntie Pie's dad, Uncle Juan, who most people call Johnny, my dad's brother, Uncle Johnny, who some people call Juan or John, Uncle Francisco's brother, Juan, who my family called John and Juan. There's a few Juanitas, lots of Jonathan's, Johnnies, and Johns, and even a John Guam. See, I'm doing it now, I can't help it. Whenever I see an Uncle Juan or a cousin John, I can't help but chuckle, a little giggle to myself. Because I think about the legend, the Chamorro legend of Juan Malo. Juan Malo appears in Chamorro's stories during the Spanish occupation and the Marianas Islands, which began in the early 1500s and lasted for over 300 years. Yeah, 300 years. The way I see it, Juan Malo is not like his name suggests. Malo meaning bad in Spanish. Nah, not at all. Juan Malo is a trickster who made the Spanish governor of the Marianas look like a fool and had it in with the governor's daughter. What if the stories of Juan Malo were real? Did he trickster his way to others and across the islands? Do you think he had kids? Is he why I'm so damn mischievous? And I just can't help it? Maybe. Here's Kolos Tambot, told by Påle' Eric Forbes.

No one was more clever in stealing than Kolos Tambot. He went into the confessional, and while Father was hearing the confession of the other person on the other side.

Kolas put his hand into the crack of the wall that separated him from the priest. And reached into Father's pocket and stole a watch. When the priest opened the window to hear Kolas's confession, Kolas said, Father, here is a watch I stole. Take it. Father replied, I don't want it. Give it to the person you stole it from. Kolas replied, I tried to give it back, but the person didn't want it back. Father said, In that case, you can keep the watch for yourself.

Ha ha! Got him! Oh well, look, let's look at it like this. Not every story of the Chamorro legend of Juan Malo is of him stealing something. Not every story about Juan Malo is bad. He is a legend that is created out of oppression. A quote from a critical commentary by Robert Tenorio Torres, a Saipan. "Because Chamorros had been defeated and were controlled by the Spanish, the character of Juan Malo surfaced as they do among oppressed people everywhere. On the surface, Juan Malo is a humorous trickster figure who embodies the mentality of the new Chamorro who resents the power of the Spaniards. He is a symbol of resistance and an example of the Chamorro who can no longer battle physically, but must defeat his conquerors by outwitting them." Is Colas Tambo a tricky little descendant of the legend of Wam Malo? Are you?

I absorb you from your sins in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Go in peace.