LEGEND OF PINEAPPLE

2. (A Philippine Folktale)

3. Once upon a time there was a woman
who lived with her daughter Pina in a tiny
hut village. They were very poor and the
mother worked very hard day and
night.Pina was a lazy girl who wanted to
just play all the time. She didn’t want to
do her school homeworks. She didn’t
want to help her mother at home. She just
wanted to play. Whenever the mother
asked for help, Pina would always make
excuses.

4. One day, the
mother got sick.
She called out
Pina,
“Pina, come here. I am very
sick. Can you cook some rice
and soup for me, please?”

5. Very angry that her
playing was
interrupted, Pina
went to her
mother’s bedroom
and said,
“What do you want, Nanay?
You really expect me to
cook? I can’t even fnd the
rice!”

6. The mother felt very
sad and asked instead
if Pina could bring
her a glass of water.

7. Once again, Pina
became very
annoyed at her
mother and said,
“Nanay, I can’t find
where the glasses are!”

8. The mother was
disappointed. And
to her sadness
she said,
“I wish you would grow a
thousand eyes! Then you
can find what you’re looking
for. And maybe then you
won’t have many excuses!”

9. The next day, the mother
could not find Pina. She
went all over the house and
the backyard, but there was
no sign of Pina. She feared
that her daughter might
never come back.

10. She noticed that there is a plant
growing in the garden. With
horror, she remembered the
angry words shae said to Pina.
She realized that her anger
cursed her daughter. Pina had
turned into a plant with many
eyes.

11. To honor the memory of
her beloved daughter, she
named the fruit “pinya”.
She took care of the plant
and the fruit flourished all
over the town. It became
popular in the village and
then in the entire country.

12. And that is how the Pineapple came to be.