The Crow and the Golden Trees

The liver of the crow is “medicine” for many pains and for sickness. On this account
the Bagobo kills the crow so that he may get his liver for “medicine.” The liver is
good to eat, either cooked or raw. If you see a crow dead, you can get its liver and
eat some of it, and it will be “medicine” for your body.

The crow never makes its nest in low-growing trees, but only in tall, big trees. Far
from here, the old men say, in the land where the sun rises, there are no more living
trees; for the scorching heat of the sun has killed them.all, and dried up the leaves.
There they stand, with naked branches, all bare of leaves.
Only two trees there have not died from the heat. The trunks of these trees are of
gold, and all their leaves of silver. But if any bird lights on one of these trees, it falls
down dead. The ground under the two trees is covered with the bones of little birds
and big birds that have died from perching on the trees with the golden trunks and
the silver leaves. These two trees are full of a resin that makes all the birds die. Only
the crow can sit on the branches, and not die. Hence the crow alone, of all the birds,
remains alive in the land of the sunrise.

No man can get the resin from these trees. But very long ago, in the days of the
Mona, there came a Malaki T’oluk Waig to the trees. He had a war-shield that shone
brightly, for it had a flame of fire always burning in it. And this Malaki came to the
golden trees and took the precious resin from their trunks.
The Story of the First Durian (The Hermit’s Three Wishes)

Barom-Mai was an old and ugly king who lived in a kingdom called Calinan in the
Visayas hundreds of years ago. Although he was powerful, he was helpless when it
came to winning the love of his young bride, Madayaw-Bayho (daughter of Tageb,
king of the pirates).
Barom-Mai asked his advisers to help him win his bride’s love, and Matigam (the
wisest of advisers) told him about Impit Purok, a hermit who lived in a cave in Mt.
Apo.

They went to the hermit and he asked for three things: the egg of the black tabon
bird, twelve ladles of fresh milk from a white carabao without blemish, and the
nectar from the flower of the tree-of-make-believe.
The egg will be used to soften the bride’s heart; the milk, to make her kind; and, the
nectar, to make her see Barom-Mai as a young and handsome king.
The king finds the egg through the help of Pawikan, the king of the sea turtles. He
luckily gets milk from a white carabao the following breakfast, thanks to his cook.
Hangin-Bai, the nymph of the air, leads him to her sister, the wood nymph who had
the magic flower in her hair.
Barom-Mai gives the three things to Impit Purok, who asked him to prepare a big
feast after Barom-Mai wins his queen back, and to invite Impit Purok as the king’s
guest of honor.
Impit Purok mixes the three ingredients and instructs Barom-Mai to plant the mixture
in the royal garden. The morning after it was planted, a tree grew. It had a sweet
smell and tasted good. When Madayaw-Bayho was given the fruit, she fell in love
with Barom-Mai.

The king throws a big feast but forgets to invite Impit Purok. In retaliation, Impit
casts a curse upon the fruit: The sweet smell was replaced with a foul odor while the
smooth skin of the fruit was covered with thorns, which is how the durian smells and
looks today.
The Boy Who Became a Stone
A Tinguian Folklore
One day a little boy named Elonen sat out in the yard making a bird snare, and as he
worked, a little bird called to him:

“Tik-tik-lo-den” (come and catch me).

“I am making a snare for you,” said the boy; but the bird continued to call until the
snare was finished.

Then Elonen ran and threw the snare over the bird and caught it, and he put it other
boys to swim.
While he was away, his grandmother grew hungry, so she ate the bird, and when
Elonen returned and found that his bird was gone, he was so sad that he wished he
might go away and never come back.

He went out into the forest and walked a long distance, until finally he came to a big
stone and said:
“Stone, open your mouth and eat me.” And the stone opened its mouth and boy.

When his grandmother missed the boy, she went out and looked everywhere, hoping
to find him. Finally she passed near the stone and it cried out:

“Here he is.”

Then the old woman tried to open the stone but she could not, so she called the
horses to come and help her. They came and kicked it, but it would not break.

Then she called the carabao and they hooked it, but they only broke their horns. She
called the chickens, which pecked it, and the thunder, which shook it, but nothing
could open it, and she had to go home without the boy.
 THE BOY WHO BECOME A STONE
TONE: SOMBER

The part where the boy left for his bird

was gone, and decided to have himself be
eaten by a stone showed a somber tone for it
expresses the situation where the boy got in a
great deal of grief and depression.

MOOD: GLOOMY (depressing)

The end part where the grandmother

desperately wanted to leave her grandson
back, but she couldn’t no matter how hard she
tried, and in the end she just went home
without his beloved grandson made the reader
feel gloomy or extremely sad.
 THE CROW AND THE GOLDEN TREE

TONE: THREATENING

The sentences “But if any bird lights on one of these

trees, it falls down dead. The ground under the two trees is
covered with bones of little birds that have died from
perching on the trees with golden trunks and silver leaves,”
are expressed in such a way that it threatens one not to get
into the tree, or else he\she would get the same share of
misfortune the birds had.

MOOD: pEsSIMISTic

The author made the reader feel pessimistic and see the
negative side and effect if one gets onto the tree. Though
the benefits one would get from the resin was described, the
negative feeling or getting into serious trouble prevailed
more. Thus, causing the reader to focus on the harm of the
tree could inflict, rather than on the help the resin could
gave.
 THE STORY OF THE FIRST DURIAN

TONE: IRONIC

The tone was really ironic, for just when you

thought that the story would end in favor of the main
character who did all he could to succeed, posed a
minor problem cam turned everything otherwise. The
author showed the character’s success in all the
challenges given to him and ended the story with his
very pretty shortcoming.

MOOD: CHAOTIC

The author made the reader feel chaotic

and in desperate madness because despite all
the accomplished tasks of the character, a
random, and a minor issue (terribly) changed
the ending.
Vrianna Joie M. Soriano
Grade 7- Pascal
Ms. Mirasol Cabadsan