THE LEGEND

OF
THE BAMBOO TREE

A very long time ago on the certain island there lived a family
who was well known and highly respected by the people. They ruled
the entire village and whatever law they made were followed by the
people. In fact , The villagers readily obeyed the laws that were just
and fair which made them very powerful. This power was enjoyed
and passed on to all their descendants.

After a long period of time, there arose a new heir to the

throne whose style of government was a complete reversal of his
predecessor’s. He was a very cruel. His punishments were harsh
and he showed no respect for anyone.

One day, there came an old man into the palace. The old man
came to beg and asked the king to pity him and spare him any food
to eat.

Rajah Kawayan, which was the name of the king, got angry. He
even shoved him away and ordered him out of the place.

“You’re lazy, shame on you for not wanting to work. All you
ever did was beg and beg,” shouted Rajah Kawayan who at the
same time push away the pitiful old man from out of his way.

At the king saying,” I pray you would change your mannerism

and learn to respect others, especially to the old and weak.”

Upon uttering these words, the old man disappeared. Rajah

Kawayan himself became weak and sickly from then on. Not long
afterwards, the king died. Nobody went to lament his death because
he treated everyone badly when he was still alive.

It did not take too long grew a strange plant on the site of his
grave. He plant became big. It grew tall, but one thing noticeable
about it was that it had a bending posture. It was always bowing to
the wind and everything around it which on lookers say reminded
them of Rajah kawayan whom they say has finally learned his lesson
of humility and respect for others.

The plant further grew into a tree and was named

“Kawayan”(=bamboo, in English) after the cruel king’s name as we
still refer to it today.

THE LEGEND
OF
BINANGONAN
In the early days before the Spanish occupation, there was a
piece of land lying next to the laguna lake. The particular territory
was govered by a lakan(=chieftain)reknowed for his bravery. And
because of his many admirable qualities and his having a daughter
who was a very beautiful, he was highly revered by his subjects.
Incidentally, his daughter’s named was Gloria.

Gloria engaged in many charitable works and because of her

many goods deeds, she was highly esteemed by her people. She
even showed the great compassion and mercy to surrounding
tribesmen who were conquered by his father, prompting their early
release from the scourges of prison life and turning them willing
subjects of his father’s kingdom.

One day , the sky darkened, the winds blew hard and then
rain started to pour down heavily on the land. The water level of
laguna lake rose, while the gushing wind cause high tides that
overturned many seafaring vessels out at the sea that day.

After sometime, the rain stopped and the wind calmed down .
A fishing boat was spotted shipwrecked on the shore. As the boat
was different from those of their own, the people informed the
lakan about what they saw. The chieftain quickly summoned them
to rush down to the lake and seek out the boat. The people acted on
order at once. when they saw what was inside the boat. They were
amazed to see a man lying down on his face.

He looked very feeble as he called out for help in a rather

whining voice. They took pity on him and carried the stranger back
to the village. He was brought before the chieftain, who seeing his
condition, immediately ordered the men around him a day or two of
rest and medication, the young lad got around to talk to the
chieftain, who seeing his condition, immediately ordered the men
around him to bring him to the village doctor to look after him. A
day or two of rest and medication, the young lad was able to quickly
recover his strength.

When the young lad going around to talk the chieftain, he told
the lakan his name. he confess his named is bayani who came from
the other side of town. He mentioned that he and his companions
were enroute to manila. When the typhoon hit them, their boat
capsized and his fellow companions all drowned in the lake.
Meanwhile he managed to hang on to the boat boat until he was
washed ashore. Since he was now alone, being the sole survivor ,he
requested the chieftain to allow him to stay in the village.

Persuaded by Gloria, the chieftain readily agreed to have

bayani stay. The young lad served the chieftain loyally and was well
liked by his peers because of his peers because of his natural good
character.

Gloria often took a stroll along the lake and bayani often
accompanied her. They were like two sibling who shared good
relationships. With time, the two outgrew their childish fondness for
each other, and having become grownups they fell in love with one
another and even swore to love each other for the rest of their
lives.

As bayani was an honest man, he thought he confessed to the

chieftain the vows he made with Gloria and even asked that he be
allowed to marry Gloria.

While the chieftain acknowledgement his loyalty to him, he

also let it be known to the young man of his refusal to allow the
marriage as he other plans for his daughter. He advised the young
man to foget Gloria and to depart from the land at once.

But the young man responded saying he would find it sweeter

to die than be separated forever from Gloria. His remarks angered
the chieftain so much, the lakan ordered his dead cut off right
away. His men immediately executed the sentence pronounce upon
bayani. The instant Gloria heard about it, she quickly rushed to
where bayani was. Bayani had already lost his head when she saw
him. She turned mad, crying one moment and laughing the next
moment when she saw the horrible condition of her lover. She got
down on her knees and then and then picked the head of bayani.
Then she laid it on her shoulder and then began to kiss and kiss the
cheek of bayani. Suddenly, she drew out a shining dagger tucked on
the side of her body and stabbed it right into her heart, and at once
she stopped breathing.

From that time on, dishearted by the incident, many of thr

tribesmen moved out of the village. But still, they claimed that
during the night they could see from a distance two spirits
arose(=nagbangon, in the local dialect) on the very spot on the
ground upon which the two lovers met their death.

From the colloquial term” nagbabangon” an action word, it

was in time slightly change to ”Binangnan” a noun, which came to
be the name of the town as it exists today, still reminiscent of the
legend that recounts the tragedy that had befallen the two lovers.

THE LEGEND
OF THE
BLIND MAN & THE HUNCBACK
 Once upon a time, there were two very good frieds who wee
born handicapped. One was blind, while the other was a hunchback.
They depended on each other especially when they needed to go
the places. The hunchback would lead the way as the blind man
could not see the way. On the other hand the blind man would carry
the hunchback on the backs of his shoulders since on account of his
weak body the hunchback tires easily.

Once they happened to pass by a coconut tree that was

teeming with ripe fruits. When the hunchback saw it he told his
blind companion about it which interested his friend that both
decided to stop for a while to picked some of coconut home for
dessert. At first day were a bit resistant who between the two of
them would do the climbing. The blind man quickly excused himself
for he could not see his way up and might slip and fall even before
reaching halfway up the tree. Neither was the hunchbacks confident
he could climb all the way up to the top of the tree for he was too
weak to walk, lest climb . but the thought of enjoying the sweet
juice and delicious white meat of the other to do the climbing. In
the end , the hunchback agreed to take his chance at climbing.

“Alright! I’ll do it!” the hunchback spoke with hesitation, “but

just make sure no one steals the fruits I will drop down, I want you
to count aloud when they hit the ground so we could keep count “.

Moments later , the blind man heard a thug. “One,” he said.

The hunchback explained to his blind friend that it was he and

not the coconut that fell, and so he instructed him to count from the
very start.

“Oh, sorry to hear that,” said the blind man,” Are you all right? Are
you alright? Are you hurt?” “No, no. I’m fine,” responded the
hunchback who struggled for some time before finally getting up on
his feet on his own. He brushed the dust off the side of his pants
with his hands then readed himself to try and climb up the way.

“two!” countad the blind man.

The hunchback got irked with the strange way his blind friend
counted ,” I haven’t pick any fruits yet. The first noises was me. The
second is still me. Now , I’m going to try climb again. And you better
start counting from one.”

It had occurred to the blind man to treat the falls of the

hunchback off as laughing matter. Thus , he readied himself with
still another joke , that if he heard another loud noise, he would
tease his friend by shouting “three” on purpose.

The hunchback struggled up the tree once again, but fell off
again . his blind friend nonetheless shouted”three” then gave a real
big laugh. He cold not control himself that kept giggling and
chuckling. The hunchback suspected his fried has been making a
fool of him with the counting. He was so very furious approached
his blind friend and smacked him hard on the face. The slap hit the
eyes of the blind man, and as a result his eyes opened up and was
able to slowly see.

As he could now see, the blind man took his revenge and
kicked the hunchback from behind. It hit his back and as a result
his back straightened up.

Incredible as it may seem , they both got cured of their

ailments. They were so glad glad with what had happened that their
friendship further strengthened instead of what could have been
the end of a long friendship after the quarrel they went through.
They each climbed the three by turns and gathered many coconuts
which they brought home for feasting.
 THE LEGEND
OF THE
CHOCOLATE HILLS IN BOHOL
In the very early days in the island of bohol in the visayas
region, the area covering most of its ricefields was originality flat
land. What bothered the farm folks at length even up to now, is the
extreme climatic changes affecting the region which have caused
untold difficulties for them. During the onset of the dry seasons,
much of the ground there would be extremely dry and hard , they
nearly always broke their backs trying to plow the fields. Even more
troublesome was that the local farmers had to force themselves to
work the fields. Even more troublesome was that the local farmers
had to force themselves to work the fields while sweating
continuously under the tremendous heat of the sun. on the other
hand, during the progress of the rainy seasons, the fields and the
roads would be extremely muddy, it was slippery to walk around . It
was only during the autumn harvest time that the ricefields come
alive once more with the tall palay shoots growing everywhere that
makes the whole terrain looked verdant green- so pleasant a sight
to see, one readily forgets about the hardships one had to go
through in the previous months.

One day, according to the old folks there, there came two
giants from two opposite sides of the islands . one come from south
end the other from the north tip of the island. Fearing for their
lives! The people left and settled in remote areas of the island.

Hey!” you there! This is my land!” declared the giant from the
south , get out of my land at once” find your own elsewhere!”

“No! I am not going to leave. I came here first!” insisted the

giant from the north . “ you should be the one to leave!”No!’ I am
not going anywhere! Just get away from my land ! shouted the
furious giant from the north thumping his feet on the ground at the
same time. It just a rained a while ago that the field was muddy
everywhere. The giant from the north began to pick some of the
mud, made a ball out of it and then hurled it at the giant from the
south. It his left shoulder. Wanting to get even with him the giant
from the south quickly retaliated by throwing a similar ball of mud
right into the face of the other giant . For some time they kept
hurling these balls of mud at each other that hit their bodies then
fells to the ground that went on four hours. Then both went out of
their wits and charged towards each other. The people just stood
and watched the fist to fist fierce fighting between the two giants
with no one letting up. Finally , they punched each other out for
good. One after the other fell to the ground and died.

What was left of their fighting were hills upon of the round
balls of mud they hurled at each other. After the fight, the farmers
came back to the fields, first to burry the two giants , and then
went on to lead a peaceful farm life once again.

During the dried season, up to now you can see for himself
these brown hills ranges stretching for miles and miles across the
island that look like candy chocolates when watch from the elevated
viewpoint. These hills are now more popularly referred to as the
“CHOCOLATE HILLS” of bohol one of the marvels of nature, making
it one of the prime tourist spot, to wit. Nonetheless, as harvest time
comes, these chocolate colored hills that make up these fields,
giving everyone a renewed zest for living.
 THE LEGEND
OF THE COCONUT TREE
A long time ago in the mountains of cristobal there lived a very
kindhearted mother . she love her children tenderly and work very
hard to feed them and to provide them with everything they need.
But because she had ten children too many, she really had a
difficult time taking care of them.

One day, she got sick and suddenly just died. Her poor
children all wept deeply lamenting the untimely demised of their
mother. “Who will feed us now? Cried the eldest son.

Who will take care of us now? Asked the second eldest child.
Who will wash our clothes for us now on? Asked the third eldest
child.

While they were crying, there came to them a strange lady

whom they have never seen before. She was very beautiful and soft
spoken.

“don’t cry little children,” she said to comfort the children.”

Your mother won’t abandon you you. Bury her right away. Then
guard over her grave. Soon you will see a strange tree that will
suddenly grow there. The tree will be your source of food for your
daily needs.” Having said, she suddenly disappeared that left the
children wondering whether it ws only just a dream.

Nevertheless, the ten kids obeyed what the white lady

instructed them to do . after burying their mother, they kept close
guard over her grave all day and all night. A few days later, they
woke up to find a strange young tree growing beside the grave. It
grew fast and tall before their very eyes. Shortly, the tree bore
fruits much to the delight of the children.” I’ ll climb up the tree,”
volunteered the eldest child who started to climb all the way up to
the tree as his brothers and sisters watched him from below with
mouths opened, fearing he might miss a step and fall.

Fortunately, he got up safely. When within reach of the fruits,

he shouted back at them,” Get out of the way I’ll throw down some
of the fruits. Open up the fruits to see what inside them.”

A number of fruits fell. The second child got hold of one and at
once punched a hole, then another one, with his knife , and lo! A
sweet smelling juice came out of it.

“Hey! There a juice coming out it” said the third child who
took a sip of the juice.” It’s very sweet. Try tasting it,” he said as he
offered it to his younger brother.

“It sure tastes very sweet,” said the fourth child ho was so
thirsty he drank it all.

“Knowing it was edible, the eldest son fell a number more of

the fruits.

Later on, they broke open the rest of the fruits and found it had a
white delicious meat inside. . hungry as they were, they opened
more of the fruits and ate and drank from it. Curious , they planted
some of the coconut fruits and found to their surprise that not long
they each produce shoots and took rot on the ground and became
known as the first coconuts or niyog as the people in the region
had it called .

Today , we continue to enjoy the juice that comes out of the

cocnut, as well as its white meat which is eaten as a favorite
dessert in many Filipino homes.