Legend, Myths and Folktales in Region 8

Lengends:

The Legend of Mount Danglay

 Long time ago, a young couple Dang and mulay lived in the swampy shores of Kabatok, their livelihood was catching crabs and shellfish and crossing the Bay to a village in Samar island.

One Day, Dang ventured into the bay and said to himself he gathered a pearl. He took a dive depth into the pacific ocean. He noticed that the ocean floor was moving and he was surprised to find the giant crab as big as hill.

Dang hurriedly back to kabatok and tell his wife Mulay and they planned to catch the giant crabs. They built a crab basket that big as a hill.

That night, they capture the huge crab and they towed the big basket with all their might. They were so triumphant and forgot one thing, a cover for the basket. Suddenly, Dang and Mulay  fall to sleep. The big sea crab climbed out.

The Couple awake and Dang attempt to kill it but its shell was too hard. The crab pinned the couple and dashed them against the rocks. In her terror, Mulay shout the word:   “TAKLUBAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!”  . . . . . . .

The next day, the people in the nearby town  found out a dead bodies of the couple , Years passed, the site where the bodies buried they grew mound, a hill, then a mountain. The people called the mountain “Danglay” means Dang and mulay .

The swampy sitio where the couple lived was called “Takluban” as the last scream of Mulay and become tacloban.

The Legend of the Mermaid

The legend of the mermaid has, in its way, endured and while few people may believe mermaids actually exist, they still appear in our stories, pictures, sculptures and other cultural references. When you think about it, it's a curious myth - a woman who is half fish. Why half fish? Why not half-snake or half-gazelle or half-cat? Fish surely aren't the most glamorous or sexy of creatures to base a legend on, so where did the mermaid myth originate?

Well, mermaids of course are linked to the mysteries of the ocean and the conventional wisdom has it that the legend of the half-woman half-fish began with the sexual deprivation and poor eyesight of sailors or perhaps true to reputation, they were all too drunk to tell the difference between a manatee, seal, walrus or dugong. 

Myths:

Why Do Pineapple Fruits Have Many Eyes?

There was once a pretty little girl called Piña, who was loved dearly by her mother to the point of spoiling her. As Piña grew older, she had become lazy, inconsiderate and self-centered. Yet the mother didn’t mind her daughter’s behavior, because she wanted Piña to depend on her forever.

One day, the mother fell ill and could not bring herself to cook food for Piña, while the young girl kept complaining that she was hungry. This time, Piña's mother had to stay firm for the young gril's sake. On the other hand, Piña forced herself to go to the kitchen, grumbling and resentful that her mother was sick. The girl half-heartedly set out to cook “lugaw" or rice porridge the way her mother instructed her.

While in the kitchen, Piña kept asking where her mother kept the things she needed.

“Mother, where is the rice keeper?" The mother had to shout her answer several times over because Piña took ages before she could find whatever it was she was looking for.

“Mother, where are the woods for the stove?"

“Mother, where’s the soup ladle?"

Mother, where’s the salt?"

Mother where’s the bowl?"

Note that to all of Piña’s questions, the sick mother had to shout at the top of her lungs, which only made her feel worse. Feeling weak and exasperated with Piña’s unending questions, the mother finally lost her temper and let out a curse: “Heaven forbid child! But I call on all the gods to put eyes all over your face so you can see the things you’re looking for." Tired and weak Piña’s mother fell asleep.

When the mother woke up, the house was dark and quiet. She called Piña but there was no answer. The mother willed herself to investigate where Piña could be, but the mother only found the unfinished cooking task. The mother was saddened by the thought that Piña decided to leave her, because she was sick and could no longer take care of her daughter.

As she was about to leave the kitchen, she tripped on something that was lying on the floor, all the while thinking that it was one of Piña’s many things. She picked up the strange looking object, which was shaped like a human head with tufts of leaves atop its crown.

The mother had an uncanny feeling that the brown circles scattered all over the object reminded her of Piña’s beautiful brown eyes. Horrified, the mother remembered that she let out a terrible curse on her daughter before she fell asleep – in fact, she called on all the gods to put eyes all over Piña’s face. Thus, the strange looking fruit was called “pinya" or pineapple, since Piña simply vanished into thin air.

Why Does the Philippines Have 7,000 Islands?

At a time when there was only a single great mass of land between the great sky and an equally great water, a large prehistoric bird got bored of circling around the same area for millions of years. It had made several attempts to fly as far as it could, to discover what lies beyond the far horizons. However, the big bird was always forced to go back, because there was no other land on where he could rest his tired wings.

One day, the bird came up with a clever idea. The scheming bird told the water that the sky was irritated by the way the water keeps on copying the sky’s hue. If it decides to don a blue color, then water also becomes blue, if the sky is clear and white, the water becomes clear and neutral too. The sky hates it the most that the water imitates even the former’s dark mood, because the water also turns gray and somewhat murky. Water of course became indignant upon hearing this; and it heaved a deep breath to which great amounts of water rose up in the form of gigantic waves, high enough to reach the sky and fill its clouds with water.

The sky was puzzled at the water’s behavior because it seemed that it was intentionally pelting the sky. The scheming bird approached the sky and told the latter that the water was resenting the fact that the sky often made the decisions on what color they had to have. Even if water wants to try other colors, the sky keeps on reflecting itself on the water’s surface.

Sky, of course, was furious upon hearing this that it let out loud roars of thunder and flashes of lightning that hit not only water but also the large mass of land. It drained out all the waters carried in its clouds while water continued to pelt huge waves against the sky. All these affected the great mass of land because it slowly softened and weakened as sky and water fought against each other’s might.

Soon enough, the great mass of land started to break into little pieces much to the delight of the big bird. Sky and water saw what had happened, and as a result stopped fighting and tried with all their might to bring back the pieces of land together. It was too late because there were about 7,000 pieces of land that were too far away from the main land. The bird of course finally fulfilled his wish of travelling far and wide, beyond the horizons.

Folktales :

The Carabao and the Shell

One very hot day, when a carabao went into the river to bathe, he met a shell and they began talking together.

"You are very slow," said the carabao to the shell.

"Oh, no," replied the shell. "I can beat you in a race."

"Then let us try and see," said the carabao.

So they went out on the bank and started to run.

After the carabao had gone a long distance he stopped and called, "Shell!"

And another shell lying by the river answered, "Here I am!"

Then the carabao, thinking that it was the same shell with which he was racing, ran on.

By and by he stopped again and called, "Shell!"

And another shell answered, "Here I am!"

The carabao was surprised that the shell could keep up with him. But he ran on and on, and every time he stopped to call, another shell answered him. But he was determined that the shell should not beat him, so he ran until he dropped dead.

The Man with the Coconuts

One day a man who had been to gather his coconuts loaded his horse heavily with the fruit. On the way home he met a boy whom he asked how long it would take to reach the house.

"If you go slowly," said the boy, looking at the load on the horse, "you will arrive very soon; but if you go fast, it will take you all day."

The man could not believe this strange speech, so he hurried his horse. But the coconuts fell off and he had to stop to pick them up. Then he hurried his horse all the more to make up for lost time, but the coconuts fell off again. Many time he did this, and it was night when he reached home.