The Legend Of Sampaguita

A long time ago, there were neighboring Baranggays named Balintawak and Gagalangin. Between the two baranggay, is a very sturdy fence made up of dried bamboo. Every five years, they destroy it and build a new fence. Sometimes, the guardsmen from Balintawak watch over the fence, oftentimes the guardsmen from Gagalangin. Everything is working according to the rules of each datu. The datu of Barangay Balintawak has a daughter with incomparable beauty and kindness. Her name is Rosita. Her mother died when she was young, however, she has four maids to assist her every need. There are a lot of handsome young men who admires her. But the only man who captured her heart is the son of Gagalangins datu, whose name is Delfin. The conflict between their parents did not stopped Delfin and Rosita from loving each other. At the end of the bamboo fence lies there secret lair. Every night when the moon is bright, they meet at the end of the fence and stroll along with Rositas maids. Their relationship is hidden from both of their datu parents. One day, the datu of Gagalangin heard that the fence is being destroyed by the servants of datu Balintawak so that they can build a new one. He asked one of his guards to watch at the said fence-making. When the guard came back, he told the datu that the new fence was moved. He was mad because the datu of Balintawak took five meters of their land. Immediately, he sent a man to the datu of the neighboring baranggay. Tell the datu of Balintawak to put the fence back where it is supposed to be. They are being unlawful and stealing ones land is a crime! said the datu of Gagalangin. When the datu of Balintawak heard about it, he became furious and asked the servant to give a message to their datu. Tell your datu that I never stole anything from him. I just placed the bamboo fences at its right place according to the documents that I discovered, written by my ancestors. Delfins father was very much displeased with the other datus response. This kind of conflicts usually results bloodshed among the two baranggays. The datu of Gagalangin prepared his unit for the upcoming battle. He needs to get their baranggays stolen land even by violent means.When the news reached the datu of Balintawak, he eagerly prepared his battle unit as well. The two leaders are now ready for a never-ending war. A few days before Gagalangins planned to attack the Balintawak, the datu got sick. He became seriously ill that lead him to his death. The responsibility was then handed to Delfin. He will be the one to lead the battle troops of baranggay Gagalangin. The female servants told Rosita what was about to happen and she started to become frightened. Delfin is so young and does not have any experience when it comes to war. His father, on the other hand, had been trained to fight since he was still a child. She worried too much. She wanted to talk to Delfin and ask him to forfeit the war and simply talk to his father and settle the conflict peacefully. However, they do not have time to converse anymore. Tomorrow is the start of an endless battle between the two baranggays. Both parties lost so many lives. Delfin was badly hurt and shed a lot of blood. He started to be blurry. He was half conscious when he fell to the ground. Before his last breath, he

told one of his comrades to bury him near the end of the fence where he and Rosita used to secretly see each other. Nobody can ever tell what really happened to the young lovers or the result of the war. All they knew is that Rosita became seriously ill when she knew that Delfin died in the battle. Her father called for so many doctors to make her feel well but neither one of them can treat Rosita. When she was about to die, Rosita told her father to bury her near Delfin, at the end of the bamboo fence. Though it is hard for the datu to do, she still obeyed her daughters last wish. Many years had passed and the existence of baranggays gradually disappeared. Spaniards came and the city of Manila was established. Balintawak and Gagalangin became populated. But all the people living in these two places were having a mysterious experience. During the month of May, especially when the moon is bright, they hear a mystical sweet voice of a lady saying Sumpa kita! ... Sumpa kita! (I swear, I swear) but nobody can see from whom it is coming from. It seems as if it comes from the bushes where little white flowers grow. Although the flowers are so tiny, it bursts out a different kind of scent that everybody loves to smell. Thats what usually happens every month of May, each year. Because everyone was so curious about the voice, they all decided to dig up the spot and uncover the mystery behind it. To their surprise, they found the roots of the bushes where the lovely flower grows, comes from the mouth of the two bodies buried not so far from each other. The elders remembered the memoir of the two lovers Delfin and Rosita. The story spread fast. The words Sumpa kita evolved as Sampaguita that signifies an everlasting love of Delfin and Rosita.

The Legend Of Makahiya

The Makahiya Once there lived a rich couple, Mang Dondong and Aling Iska who had a twelve-yearold daughter named Maria. Being dutiful, obedient and kind, Maria was loved by everyone. But shyness was one of her distinct feature, due to which she avoided interacting with people and used

to lock herself in her room. Maria had a beautifulflower garden, which was well known all over the town. She took care of her plants tenderly and patiently, as the plants were her source of happiness and enjoyment. One day a group of bandits raided the village and killed every man they found for money. When Mang Dondong noticed the arrival of the bandits, fearing his daughter's safety, he decided to hide Maria in the garden. Aling hid herself in the house. She trembled with fear and prayed " Oh my God! Save my daughter ". Then suddenly the door opened and the bandits entered the house. They hit Mang Dondong on the head, due to which he lost consciousness and fell on the ground. Aling tried to escape but was also hit by them on the head. The bandits pillaged the house and took away the money and jewelry. The bandits left the house to plunder some other village. When Mang and Aling regained consciousness they ran to the garden to look for Maria but she was not there. They searched again and again but Maria could not be found. Then suddenly something picked Mang's feet and he saw a tiny plant closing its leaves. Both Mang and Aling knelt at their knees and took a closer look at the plant. After looking at the plant for a long time, they came to know that the plant was there daughter Maria. Indeed, to save her from the bandits, God transformed her into a plant. Aling wept uncontrollably, and to their surprise, every tear got transformed into a small and rosy flower of the new plant that they found in the garden. After that, Mang and Aling tended the plant with immense care, as they knew that in reality the plant was their child Maria. The plant was as shy as Maria, so they named it 'Makahiya', which in Tagalog means shyness.

Legend of the Dama de Noche

Many years ago, there was a rich maharlika or nobleman, who spent his early bachelor days wining and dining in the company of nobility. He drank the finest wines, ate the most delicious food and enjoyed the company of the beautiful and bejeweled women of the noble class. After spending this kind of life for many years, he decided to settle down and get married to a woman of his choice. "But whom to marry?" he asked himself, "All the women I know are gorgeous and charming, but I am tired of the glitter of their jewels and the mellowness of their clothes!". Finally, he found himself

a simple charming girl whose name was Dama. They got married and lived happily. She loved and pampered him with the most delectable dishes and kept his home and clothes in order. But soon he got bored and began to long for his friend's company. He looked at his wife and thought, she is not beautiful, doesn't have the air of nobility and wisdom in her. And so, he returned to his world of glitter and pleasure. He started to spend his evenings sitting around with his friends, drinking and talking till the next morning. Seeing this, Dama felt that she was losing her husband. She wept and prayed, "Oh God! Help me. Give me a magic charm that would make my husband come home again and would never leave my side, forever!". At midnight he came home, opened the door of their bedroom and called for Dama to tell her to prepare his nightclothes. He shouted all around the bedroom and searched the whole house. But could not find his wife. Finally he returned to their bedroom, and when he opened the door, he stopped. A sweet and fragrant scent that he had never smelled before drifted to him. He went straight to the window from where it seemed to be coming. He was amazed to see a strange bush growing outside his window. The bush had thousands of tiny star-like white flowers, from which the heavenly and enchanting scent was coming. He stood there, completely enthralled by the glorious smell. "Dama..." he whispered softly, wondering, could this be Dama? The noble man sat by the window and waited for his loving simple wife to return. But she did not come back, only the fragrance of the flowers stayed with him, casting a spell over his entire life. In the moonlight, Dama of the night, or Dama de Noche would be in full bloom, capturing the rich maharlika and making him never want to leave her side, forever. These legends and myths were just few out of many. The Philippines has a rich collection of legends and myths from the mysterious distant past, which have fruitful lessons to teach and learn.

BIAG NI LAM-ANG
Don Juan and his wife Namongan lived in Nalbuan, now part of La Union in the northern part of the Philippines. They had a son named Lam-ang. Before Lam-ang was born, Don Juan went to the mountains in order to punish a group of their Igorot enemies. While he was away, his son Lam-ang was born. It took four people to help Namongan give birth. As soon as the baby boy popped out, he spoke and asked that he be given the name Lam-ang. He also chose his godparents and asked where his father was. After nine months of waiting for his father to return, Lam-ang decided he would go look for him. Namongan thought Lam-ang was up to the challenge but she was sad to let him go. During his exhausting journey, he decided to rest for awhile. He fell asleep and had a dream about his father's

head being stuck on a pole by the Igorot. Lam-ang was furious when he learned what had happened to his father. He rushed to their village and killed them all, except for one whom he let go so that he could tell other people about Lam-ang's greatness. Upon returning to Nalbuan in triumph, he was bathed by women in the Amburayan river. All the fish died because of the dirt and odor from Lam-ang's body. There was a young woman named Ines Kannoyan whom Lam-ang wanted to woo. She lived in Calanutian and he brought along his white rooster and gray dog to visit her. On the way, Lam-ang met his enemy Sumarang, another suitor of Ines whom he fought and readily defeated. Lam-ang found the house of Ines surrounded by many suitors all of whom were trying to catch her attention. He had his rooster crow, which caused a nearby house to fall. This made Ines look out. He had his dog bark and in an instant the fallen house rose up again. The girl's parents witnessed this and called for him. The rooster expressed the love of Lam-ang. The parents agreed to a marriage with their daughter if Lam-ang would give them a dowry valued at double their wealth. Lam-ang had no problem fulfilling this condition and he and Ines were married. It was a tradition to have a newly married man swim in the river for the rarang fish. Unfortunately, Lam-ang dove straight into the mouth of the water monster Berkakan. Ines had Marcos get his bones, which she covered with a piece of cloth. His rooster crowed and his dog barked and slowly the bones started to move. Back alive, Lam-ang and his wife lived happily ever after with his white rooster and gray dog.

Legend Of Mariang Makiling

Mariang Makiling There are many stories woven about this guardian spirit. Most of them deal with her helping the poor and the sick, in the guise of a peasant girl. The precious things she lend the country folk are said to be returned to her, along with the offering of a young pullet with feathers white as milk. A hunter has recounted a face-to-face encounter with the enigma herself. He was hunting a wild boar, he said, deep into the forest where Mariang Makiling lived. The boar suddenly crashed into some bushes and the hunter, fearing that he would not find it again, dived in after it. When he came to his feet he saw a small hut, and witnessed his prey entering it. He followed the boar into the hut, thinking it deserted, and then he came face to face with a beautiful maiden standing by the boar, who was meek in her presence. The maiden said "This boar is mine and you must not harm it. But I see that you are tired and hurt. Come in, eat, and then go your way."

The hunter felt compelled to obey her. He sat down at her table, and she served him a porridge that he found was unlike anything he had ever tasted. It invigorated him, and after eating, he felt healed. As a parting gift, Mariang Makiling filled his peasant hat, called a salakot, with yellow ginger. The hunter, on his way home from the forest, found that his salakot was growing heavier and heavier, and so he broke a few pieces of ginger in half and threw some bits away. Upon coming home, he handed Maria Makilings gifts to his wife, who found that the salakot, instead of containing ginger, as her husband claimed, contained gold. The hunter regretted having thrown away a few bits of ginger/gold along the way. Mariang Makiling is said to be more than compassionate. Once, there lived a young farmer who always seemed to be blessed. His fields were never touched by any calamity, and his livestock were always in good health. The people of his village say he is endowed with a charm, or mutya, as it is called, that protected him and his from harm. The young man himself was good at heart and simple in spirit. But he was quiet and secretive, and would not say much of his stranger activities, which included frequent visits into the wood of Mariang Makiling. But there came a terrible time for him and his family. War had come to his fair land, and army officers came, recruiting unmarried young men who were in perfect health. So that the young man would stay safely in the village, his mother arranged for him a marriage with a most beauteous daughter of a wealthy family. Upon finding this out, the young man became more sullen than ever. He visited Mariang Makilings wood one last time, a few days before his marriage. Mariang Makiling lent him a dress and some jewelry, for his wife to wear on their wedding day. "I would that you were consecrated to me," she said sadly, "but you need an earthly love, and you do not have enough faith in me besides. I could have protected you and your family." This having been said, she disappeared. The young man went back to his village with Mariang Makilings gifts, and presented them at once to the girl he would marry. But the girl did not care for Mariang Makilings gifts. Instead she wore the pearls and dresses her mother had handed down. Mariang Makiling was never seen by the peasants again, nor was her humble hut ever rediscovered.

The Legend of the Pineapple Fruit

There was a pretty little girl called Pina who was pampered by her mother as an only child. Everything that Pina asked for, Pina got. Everything that Pina scoffed at was taken away. No one in her village was ever so spoiled as Pina. No one was ever such a snobbish child. She was so lazy, and she had never stirred a finger to work in her life. Pinas mother was perfectly happy that way, for Pina remained dependent on her as a spoiled child. But one day, Pinas mother fell ill and there was no one to take care of Pina. She resolved that she would get well immediately for Pinas sake but she knew she would need help. "Pina, Pina," she called weakly, from her cot. "Come here a moment. I have something to ask of you." Pina had never been asked to do anything in her life, and she was quite prepared to refuse, but she said anyway, "What is it, Mother?"

"Pina," said the doting mother, "I am too sick to make you anything to eat. I am too sick to eat anything solid. I need you to cook lugaw for me, Pina. It is very easy: just put some rice in a pot, pour some water in with it, add a pinch of sugar, and leave the mixture to boil for a while." "Oh, thats too hard! I wont do it," Pina said firmly. "You have to, Pina!" her mother pleaded. "What will your poor Nanay eat?" But Pina was immovable. At length her mother resorted to shouting if only to catch her attention. Moping, Pina dragged her heavy feet down the stairs to gather the things she needed to make lugaw. She managed to find the rice, the water, the bowl, the sugar but she could not find the ladle anywhere. How was she supposed to cook lugaw without a ladle? "Nanay, where is the ladle?" Pina shouted. "It is beside the other kitchen utensils, Pina, you know where I keep them," her mother weakly shouted back. But the ladle was not anywhere near the other kitchen utensils, and Pina was too lazy to look for it elsewhere. "I cant find the ladle, mother," she complained. "I guess I wont be cooking without the ladle." "Oh, you lazy child," Pinas mother wept. "You wont even look! I hope you grow a thousand eyes so youll be able to find it!" After saying these words, Pinas mother noticed that the house had fallen silent. Pina was no longer griping downstairs! That was a marvel. Perhaps she was already cooking. Pinas mother would be happy if the child would cook her anything, even if it were burnt. But a long time had passed, and still the house was silent, and still Pinas mother could not smell the cooking coals burning. She began to get worried. With all her meager strength she called out for Pina. Pina did not come, but the neighbors heard her pitiful cries, and they decided to drop by to see what was wrong. They took care of Pinas mother in the childs place. "Where is Pina?" Pinas mother asked at once. "Where is my child?" "Oh, you know that girl," they assured her, "she must be in some friends house, having a good time. She hates responsibility. She may only be a little angry at you because you had asked her to work. It will pass, and she will come home." Pinas mother rested easily with that thought, and she recovered quickly. But she was up and about and asking all around town for her precious little child, and still Pina had not returned. One sunny day, while Pinas mother was cleaning their back yard, she saw a strange yellow fruit about as large as the head of a child that had sprung up from the ground. "How curious!" she thought, and bent to examine it. The strange, spiny yellow fruit, she saw, had a thousand black eyes. "A thousand eyes...!" she gasped, remembering a mothers curse carelessly let out. "My Pina!" But there was nothing to be done. Imagine a thousand black eyes and not one of them seeing, and not one of them being able to shed a tear. Pinas mother, who still loved the child more than anything in the world, decided to honor her memory by taking the seeds of the strange yellow fruit and planting them. When after a

while there was more of the fruit, Pinas mother gave her harvest away to everyone she knew. Thus Pina, in another form, became generous to others. To this day the Filipinos call the yellow fruit pinya, after the pretty spoiled child.

The Cow and the Carabao

It is said that a long time ago, the first cow and the first carabao wore skins that fit them exactly. They could both walk on only their two hind feet then. They both served a farmer who demanded much of them as beasts of burden. But the cow and the carabao were thinking that he made them work too much. "No one should work this much under the heat of the sun!" the cow remarked. "We deserve a vacation!" "What say you we play hooky one noon," the carabao proposed, "while the farmer is resting in the shade, as he always does when the sun is at its most furious?" So it was that one noon, while the farmer who owned the first cow and the first carabao was fast asleep, the two friends shrugged off the plow and raced to the nearby river. They took off their skins, hung them on the low branch of a tree at the riverbank, and dived underwater. But alas, as they were having their fun, the farmer woke up, saw that his two beasts were missing from the fields where they belonged, took up his whip and went out searching for them. By following their footprints he found them almost immediately, bathing in the nearby river. The farmer frightened the two beasts with his whip and made them scramble up to the bank. In their haste to appear decent before their master, the cow and the carabao switched skins, but then they were not able to get the false skins off again. As the carabao was larger than the cow, his skin sagged at the cows belly, and the cows skin clung tight to his flesh. And then it was impossible to retain their pride. They came before

their master on all fours, begging to be forgiven. The farmer said they were forgiven, but they could no longer walk on only two legs, and they could never take off the false skins they wore. The cow and the carabao accepted their fate timidly, and handed down to their offspring their symbols of shame. The Legend of the Sun, Moon, and Stars ( Why the Sky is High ) Long ago, our elders say, the sky was so close to the earth that one could touch it. But there were only two people who could avail of that fact. They were the first man and woman. It has been said that the first woman was so vain. She wore so much jewelry and despised work. Whenever the first man would ask her to do something, she would pout. She pouted when he asked her to clean the house. She pouted whenever he asked her to cook. She pouted whenever he asked her to grind the rice grains everyday for their food. "But if you dont grind the rice, we dont get to eat," the first man reasoned, and even the vain first woman could not dispute that. But it was so much work grinding the rice with a little pestles and mortars. So she poured all their rice for the day into a very large mortar and took up a very large pestle to grind it with. The pestle was so tall that when it hit the mortar, it touched the sky. The first woman was oblivious to this. She only knew she had to grind all the rice before her husband came home for supper. She still wore all her jewelry. She noticed that her jewelry kept falling off or hampered her in any other way whenever she worked. So she hung her larger pieces of jewelry upon the sky, which were her silver comb, her gold ring, and her long pearl necklace. And then she went to work with the huge pestle, unknowing that as one end of the pestle pounded onto the rice grains, the other end was pounding onto the sky. The first woman only knew that having the sky so low only made her task more difficult. So she pounded harder and harder on the rice. Higher and higher the sky went, until with one enormous stroke, the first woman sent the sky flying up, never to come so close to the earth again. She sensed a draft behind her neck and looked up. She was astonished to see that the sky had risen so high and taken her most precious things with it! She could see her silver comb shining where the moon is now, and the beads of her lovely necklace twinkling all around it. Her golden ring was nowhere in sight. The first woman grumbled, "I would have worn those things again if Id known they would go to waste."

The Legend of the Lizard

Long ago, there was a mother who loved her only son deeply. She was a pious woman and her son imitated most of her good deeds, which were many. Her son was good at heart, but young. The woman knew that he still had much to learn before he could fully adopt saintly ways. God decided to test this young sons piety and love for his mother. He sent a beautiful woman to capture the young mans eager heart. The beautiful woman urged the son to keep their meetings a secret from his mother, and though it pained the boy to do so, for he never kept secrets from his mother, he obeyed. But the real challenge had not yet been failed. The beautiful woman beguiled the boy so that she was able to make him promise that he would do anything she asked. She therefore asked that he should if he loved her as truly as he declared cut out his mothers heart and bring it to her. The young man, blinded by love, dutifully slaughtered his beloved mother. It was exactly six oclock in the evening, and his mother was reciting the Angelus then. He held the still-beating heart in his hands as he rushed to where he knew the girl stood waiting. But when he got to their meeting-place, the girl was not there. Nothing was there save for the realization of what he had done. The heart still beat, though it tarried long in the hands of the prodigal son. And then it began to speak. In his shock, the boy dropped the heart, and it fell into a crack in the ground. "Are you in pain, my child?" the mothers heart inquired. "Let me sing you a lullaby, to soothe you to sleep." The heart softly started singing, as lovingly as its owner would have done. And in the sons remorse he fell flat on his belly and kissed the ground that the heart lay on. The boy was so filled with guilt and grief that he did not notice himself changing, growing smaller, losing all his hair

and clothing so that he was a tiny web-footed thing, that kissed and kissed at the ground as if begging for someones forgiveness. At exactly six oclock every night, when the Angelus strikes, the lizard comes down from the walls of the house, and crawls down to the floor, where it would make slight ticking sounds like quick kisses. It has been said that the lizard has not yet redeemed itself in its own eyes, and that with its tiny ears it could hear an ancient beating, and a lullaby that does not end.

The First Bananas

Once upon a time, a very beautiful young woman was wooed by a handsome young man, whom she had never seen before, and who did not look like any other person she knew. His countenance was divine, his every movement graceful. Surely such a magnificent creature could not come from this world! "I live far, far away," was only what the stranger told her at the start. "In my land, everything is fair and good, reminding me of you." He enjoyed speaking about his land. Whenever he and the young woman were together, he spoke about such wonders and delights that the young woman was tempted to believe that he had not come from this world. At last she brought herself to ask "What are you?" The young man seemed to blanch at this question, and he did not answer it at once. He stood up and walked around. He looked troubled. When he looked back at the young woman, it was with a beautifully sad smile. "Alas," he said, "you have asked the question I had been warned to put from your mind. It is partly my fault for being so careless, I am sorry. This will be the last night for us to meet." The startled young woman asked at once, What did he mean? The young man readily answered "There is nothing more to hide. I am an elf-prince. I had only asked to be placed in the world of Man for some time. During that time I found the most radiant creature I have ever seen, and I fell in love with her. I made haste to tell my Father the King, who said If she loves you enough to accept you as you are without question, marry her. But if at the first opportunity, she asks, you must leave her, leave the world, and return home. " The elfprince shook his head sadly. "But I have done myself wrong. I should not have said so much about myself. I have made you curious of forbidden things." Dawn broke just as he was ending his story. "My kinfolk will be coming for me if I do not leave at once," he told the young woman. "I must go." But the young woman, who had fallen in love with him, held on to his hands until the sun was well into the sky. It was then that, all of a sudden, and in the middle of his gentle pleadings, the elf-prince disappeared. As the young woman could not disappear with him, he left his mortal hands behind, which the girl would not release even after he had gone.

But the girl knew that he would have to hide those beautiful fairy hands. Thus she dug a hole in the ground where the fairy prince had stood, placed the hands in the hole, and marked the place of their short burial with a stone. She came back to the same spot day after day, paying reverence to the only memory she had of her love. Then, one day, a plant started growing beside the rock she had set to mark the small "grave". She tended to it lovingly, until it blossomed to be a tall plant with cool, broad leaves, and sweet yellow fruit which grew in clusters. The girl noticed that the fruit looked like fingers, and it was then that she realized that the plant was, in fact, her lovers final gift to her and her kind.

The Legend of the Sun, Moon, and Stars

Long ago, our elders say, the sky was so close to the earth that one could touch it. But there were only two people who could avail of that fact. They were the first man and woman. It has been said that the first woman was so vain. She wore so much jewelry and despised work. Whenever the first man would ask her to do something, she would pout. She pouted when he asked her to clean the house. She pouted whenever he asked her to cook. She pouted whenever he asked her to grind the rice grains everyday for their food. "But if you dont grind the rice, we dont get to eat," the first man reasoned, and even the vain first woman could not dispute that. But it was so much work grinding the rice with a little pestles and mortars. So she poured all their rice for the day into a very large mortar and took up a very large pestle to grind it with. The pestle was so tall that when it hit the mortar, it touched the sky. The first woman was oblivious to this. She only knew she had to grind all the rice before her husband came home for supper. She still wore all her jewelry. She noticed that her jewelry kept falling off or hampered her in any other way whenever she worked. So she hung her larger pieces of jewelry upon the sky, which were her silver comb, her gold ring, and her long pearl necklace. And then she went to work with the huge pestle, unknowing that as one end of the pestle pounded onto the rice grains, the other end was pounding onto the sky. The first woman only knew that having the sky so low only made her task more difficult. So she pounded harder and harder on the rice. Higher and higher the sky went, until with one enormous stroke, the first woman sent the sky flying up, never to come so close to the earth again. She sensed a draft behind her neck and looked up. She was astonished to see that the sky had risen so high and taken her most precious things with it! She could see her silver comb shining where the moon is now, and the beads of her lovely necklace twinkling all around it. Her golden ring was nowhere in sight. The first woman grumbled, "I would have worn those things again if Id known they would go to waste."