PHILIPPINE

LITERATURE
 Members;

Dayanara C. Odin

Bobbie M. Ruste

Norfaida O. Ismael

Naztra A. Arajain

Bagolor C. Mayflor

Arsenia Abiso

Ivan Gel Mandeg

 LEGEND OF MAKAHIYA

The Makahiya plant has a famous old legend in the Philippines. According to old stories, there once lived
a wealthy couple who had a very kind daughter. Her name was Maria and she had all kinds of good traits in
personality and character. But along with those good assets was an intense shyness. Because of this she
had a trouble speaking with other people and would avoid them even. And because of it too, she had made
for herself a garden where she would spend most of her time.
One day, thieves came to the village and out of fear, Maria’s parents hid her in that garden and prayed
for God’s protection. When the bandits arrived they took everything they could from her parents. They also
knocked them down in the process. When her mother woke up, she went into the garden to look for Maria
but she could not find her. Tired and hopeless she started to believe that the thieves took her daughter with
them. But then she felt a flower on her feet. And looking down at it convinced her that it was Maria. She had
turned into a flower as God answered their prayer to protect her. Her mother cried and each plant that was
touched by her tears transformed them into the same flower. It was the same as Maria who was so shy.
 The Legend of Makahiya

Philippines
Once upon a time, there were a rich couple named Dondong and Iska. They had a 12 year old daughter
named Maria whom they love deeply.

Maria was a responsible daughter, hard working and kindhearted. Because of her traits, everybody loved
Maria.

Maria was also a shy young lady and because of her shyness, she was not fond of speaking with other
people. She would blush every time somebody would greet her and she would just nod her head and
wouldn’t utter a word. Because of this, she would often hide herself in her room so she wouldn’t have any
chance of mingling with other people.

Maria loved taking of her flowers. She had a beautiful flower garden that was popular in their town. She
took good care of the flowers in her garden. She loved it there; it’s in her garden that she found refuge and
happiness.

One day, the townspeople heard horrifying news. A group of bandits came to a nearby town and killed all
the people who tried to hide their money and other belongings from them. The next day, the group of
bandits had reached the town where the family of Dondong, Iska and their daughter Maria lived. Dondong
saw the group of bandits were heating towards them, so he decided to hide Maria in her flower garden to
protect her from being killed by the bandits as well.

Iska and Dondong hid inside their house, frightened and shaken. She heard the bandits crushed their door
and at that moment she silently prayed to protect them from whatever the bandits will do to them.

Iska cried out, “Oh Lord, my Lord, please save my daughter Maria.” At this time, the bandits had already
broken down their door. They went in and hit Dondong on his head, he lost consciousness and fell down on
the floor. Iska, on the other hand, tried to run and escape but she too was hit on her head and fell down and
also lost consciousness.

The bandits knew they had a daughter and they searched the whole house to find the little girl but to no
avail they couldn’t find Maria. They took all their money and jewelries and they left.

When Dondong and Iska regained consciousness, the bandits had already fled. They immediately ran
towards the flower garden to find their young daughter Maria. Much to their surprise, Maria was gone! They
tried to look for her everywhere but still they did not find Maria. They went back to the flower garden and
searched on every corner but they didn’t find Maria.
“My daughter! They took away my daughter!” Iska was frantic and scared.

Suddenly, Dondong felt something pricked his foot. He was shocked with what he saw. He saw a small
plant that quickly closes its leaves. It was the first time they ever saw such a unique plant. He stooped
down to look at the plant more closely; Iska did the same thing too. They saw that the plant would open up
and will close its leaves again once touched. Because of this, they believed that the plant was Maria. God
made Maria into a plant to save her from those bandits.

Both Dondong and Iska couldn’t stop their tears from falling. As their tears dropped on the plant, they
became little flowers that looked like little roses.

From then on, Dondong and Iska took good care of the plant. They believed and they knew that the plant
was indeed their daughter Maria. Just like their daughter, the plant was also quite shy. Because of that,
they called the plant “makahiya”, because they believe the plant was as shy as Maria. And from then on,
the plant had been called “makahiya”.