Three mythologies from different places in the Philippine Literature

1. THE LEGEND OF THE COCONUT 3 stories
- Tumana, Wenlie Jean

2. 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

3. 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-

4. 1. A YOUNG MAN IS IN LOVE
WITHa 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

5. "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

8. 2. ONCE UPON A TIME, THERE
LIVEDin 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.

9. 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.

10. 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.

12. 3. ONCE THERE WAS A KINGDOM IN
MINDANAOknown 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,

13. 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.