THE LEGEND OF THE COCONUT

3 stories- Tumana, Wenlie Jean

BACKGROUND Origin: Found in Tropical Countries like the Philippines Scientific name: Cocos nuifera Known as “The Tree of Life” Considered by some as the second national tree, the coconut tree is as versatile and useful as the Narra tree. From roots to leaves, the coconut is valuable. But how did it come into being?

WHY IS A COCONUT TREE CALLED “THE TREE OF LIFE”?

Because of the endless list of products and by-products derived from its various parts (from its roots to tips (leaves) (from culinary to non-culinary)

1. A YOUNG MAN IS IN LOVE WITH a beautiful young woman who also live in the island where he resides. Later on they became sweethearts. The young woman is pretty and kind-hearted and he loves her with all his heart.There's one problem though.The mother doesn't like the young man for her daughter. And she's thinking, " my daughter is one of the island's beauty and she should be finding someone better for her." And her problem was, the two cannot be separated no matter how she tries.So she seek the help of a sorceress.Days passed by and the young woman hasn't seen her beloved. She waited but he hadn't shown up to visit her. Then a heavy rain came that resulted in a flood. With the flood water, an earthworm appeared swimming towards her. It startled her to see that it seems to know its way

"Don't be afraid. It is me," it says to her. And before she could speak he added, " I was cursed. Your mother had seeked the helped of a sorceress. And the curse had turned me into this." Teary-eyed, the young woman gently picked up the earthworm and set it in her hands and said how sorry she was for what her mother did. "Hurry and bury me into the soil," it said to her. "I want to keep watching over you even when I'm gone, and for you to have something to remind you of me." And so she did buried the earthworm into their yard. Weeks passed, and she missed him so much. Then months went by. And one morning to her surprised, she saw a strange plant sprouted exactly on where she had buried her cursed sweetheart. In memory of him, she waited and took cared of the strange plant. It took some time but the sprout grew to be a tall tree without any branches. And it flowered and had fruits. When one fall off the tree, she decided to see how the inside of the round fruit looks like. And to her surprised, when husked, the shell seems like a head with two eyes and a mouth! She then thought of her young man and maybe it's his way of fulfilling his wish. And she remembered when he said, "Hurry and bury me into the soil. I want to keep watching over you even when I'm gone."

2. ONCE UPON A TIME, THERE LIVED in one of the barrios of Bago, Negros Occidental a very rich couple and their young daughter.

Their daughter was so beautiful.  She had such a sweet face and most of the time she was so even-tempered.  She often wandered around smiling, singing, skipping and dancing. The couple spoilt her; what she wanted, she got – most of the time!!!

But now and again she would throw a tantrum when she doesn’t get what she asked for.

The couple had a huge land attached to their equally huge farm-house.  A large part of the land was turned into an orchard where all sorts of fruit bearing trees grew, beautifully scented flowering trees were also in abundance as well as majestic shady trees.

One day the couple were out in the orchard tending to their fruit trees when the girl came running to her father demanding that she be given a coconut.

The father gave her some ripened Spanish plums which were particularly sweet at that time of year.  The girl refused the fruits saying they were not coconuts.  She screamed her annoyance.

Her father looked at her indulgently, thinking that his wife must have planted this ‘coconut’.  He told her to go to her mother and ask her for the coconut. The girl ran to her mother who was busy at the guava grove.  “Mom, I want coconut!” Her mother picked the biggest, ripest, juiciest guava for her most beloved daughter. “This is not coconut!” And the girl hurled the guava as far as she could throw, much to her mother’s annoyance. But still she placated her daughter and gave her some other fruits.  She said she had never heard of coconuts.  She did not know what they were! “This is not coconut, I want coconut, I want coconut, I want coconut”Her daughter was turning purple with rage.  She was stomping her feet, she was waving her arms, she was shouting at the top of her lungs and in between cried and cried. Her father came to see what was the commotion was all about.  He was so alarmed to see their little angel so aggrieved and so frustrated. His wife had had enough and shouted to her daughter “God Almighty! All right, you better get the fruit yourself.”

All of a sudden there was thunder, there was lighting. Then the earth started quaking and shaking. It turned black as the night. And then their daughter vanished from where she stood. Her mother wept and wept.  They looked everywhere for her; she couldn’t be found. They looked and looked and looked some more until they were both too tired and can do no more. At the crack of dawn they went back to their orchard to look for their daughter again. What they saw was a plant growing in the very spot, where their daughter disappeared from. To alleviate their sorrow, they tended to the plant. Years passed and the plant grew and grew until it was more than twenty feet tall and started to bear fruit. The fruit has white meat which was sweet and the water  like tears.  The two holes like eyes and the third one the mouth. This fruit they called coconut, the fruit the girl wanted. And that was how the coconut came about.

3. ONCE THERE WAS A KINGDOM IN MINDANAO known as Bangonansa Pulangui (“kingdom by the river”), which was ruled by a just and kind sultan. The myth says the kingdom was known for Putri Timbang-Namat, the sultan’s only daughter. She was a most beautiful and charming woman. Her name meant “lady grace.” Putri’s admirers came from the seven seas, but she did not care for any of them. According to the myth, the kind sultan was touched by their persistence. One day, he tried to ask his daughter to choose from among them the man she would marry, the myth adds. ”I need a son to succeed me when I die,” the father said, “and I wish that before I die, I would see you married,” he added. The myth says the king thought of a contest for the princess’ hand. A tournament was held to determine who among the suitors was worthy of the princess’ love, the myth says. In the palace garden, meanwhile, the myth says the princess met a young and handsome gardener, Wata-Mama. The myth says Wata-Mama decided to reveal his past to her. According to the myth he was of royal descent but had been lost when he was three. His father was killed by his greedy uncle. The myth says that the princess said, “We love each other, that’s all that matters. ”

A general was very jealous of Wata. So, that night, in the dark corner of the palace, he and his aides waited for the young lovers. The myth says the general suddenly emerged, struck Wata-Mama and beheaded him. The princess, fearless, picked up Wata’s head. After Wata’s head was buried, early one morning, while the princess was watching the spot, she saw a tiny plant growing from the ground. Suddenly, it grew into a tree and reached the height of the window where the princess was sitting at. It produced a round fruit the size of a man’s head.