Lengua Para Diablo (The Devil Ate My Words)

By: Merlinda Bobis

I suspected that my father sold his tongue to the devil. He had little to say in our house. Whenever he felt like
disagreeing with my mother, he murmured. ‘The devil ate my words’. This meant he forgot what he was about to
say and Mother was often appeased. There was more need for appeasement after he lost his job.

The devil ate his words, the devil ate his capacity for words. The devil ate his tongue. But perhaps only after
prior negotiation with its owner what with Mother always complaining, I’m already taking a peek at hell!’ when it
got too hot and stuffy in our tiny house. She seemed to sweat more that summer, and miserably. She made it
sound like Father’s fault, so he cajoled her with kisses and promises of an electric fan; bigger windows, a bigger
house, but she pushed him away, saying, ‘Get off me, I’m hot, at this hellish life!’ Again he was ready to pledge
relief, but something in my mother’s eyes made him mutter only the usual excuse, ‘The devil ate my words,’ before
he shut his mouth. Then he ran to the tap to get more water”

Lengua para diablo: tongue for the devil. Surely he sold his tongue in exchange for those promises to my
mother: comfort, a full stomach life without our wretched want…But the devil never delivered his side of the
bargain. The devil was alien to want. He lived in a Spanish house and owned several stores in the city. This Spanish
mestizo was my father’s employer, but only for a very short while. He sacked him and our neighbor Tiyo Anding,
also a mason after he found a cheaper hand for the extension of his house.

We never knew the devil’s name. Father was incapable of speaking it, more so after he came home and sat in
the darkest corner of the house, and stared at his hands. It took him two days of silent staring before he told my
mother about his fate.

I wondered how the devil ate my father’s tongue. Perhaps he cooked it in mushroom sauce, in that special
Spanish way that they do ox tongue. First, it was scrupulously cleaned, rubbed with salt and vinegar, blanched in
boiling water, then scraped of his white coating – now imagine words scraped off the tongue, and even taste, our
capacity for pleasure. In all those two days of silent staring, Father hardly ate. He said he had lost his taste for food,
he was not hungry. Junior and Nilo were more than happy to demolish his share of gruel with fish sauce.

Now, after the thorough clean, the tongue was pricked with a fork to allow the flavors of all the spices and
condiments to penetrate the flesh. Then it was browned in olive oil. How I wished we could prick my father’s
tongue back to speech and even hunger, but of course we couldn’t, because it had disappeared. It had been served
on the devil’s platter with garlic onion tomatoes, bay leaf, clove, peppercorns, soy sauce, even sherry, butter, and
grated Edam cheese, with that aroma of something rich and foreign. His silent tongue was already luxuriating in a
multitude of essences, pampered into piquant delight.

Perhaps, next he should sell his esophagus, then his stomach. I would if I had the chance to be that
pampered. To know for once what I would never taste. I would be soaked, steamed, sautéed, basted, baked,
boiled, fried and feted with only the perfect seasonings. I would become an epicure. On a rich man’s plate, I would
be initiated to flavors of only the finest quality. In his stomach, I would be inducted to secrets’ I would be the
‘inside girl,’ and I could tell you the true nature of sated affluence.

I.
A. Merlinda bobis (November 25, 1959)
 Award winning writer Merlinda bobis grew up in albay, Philippines at the foot of an
active volcano, which figures prominently in her writing and performance. As a child her
main interest was painting, but at age ten she began writing poetry, because 'painting with
words' was cheaper. She has published novels, short stories, dramas and poems.

B. Lengua Para Diablo was written when many filipino citizens were suffering from
poverty. The story shows how poverty and unemployment affect Filipino families. In the
story, a father lost his job and has lost his courage to talk to his wife and ask for opinions
about their situation, because he is no longer capable of supporting his family financially

II.
The story is trying to prove to us how our society is facing the inequality between the
rich and the poor, with the poor getting poorer and the rich getting richer. It shows how
the rich took advantage of the poor and it's an eye opener for the poor to not let
themselves stay in that situation. The story involves a family that is experiencing poverty or
lack of money and the father is the only one who's sustaining their daily and family needs.
But life is not just fair, sooner or later, they soon witness how hard life could be. As the
story goes on, the father is struggling to earn money and fulfill the needs of his family to
give them a better life that they deserve.

III.
A. Characters

 Father- lost his tongue to the devil

 Mother- always complains about their life status
 Little girl- narrates the story
 Spanish Mestizo- employer of the father (the devil)

B. Setting

Somewhere in their house

(Neocolonialism Spaniards)

C. Conflict
 Man Vs. Man- Conflict between the father's being unemployed and the mother, who
constantly complains about their situation, which contradicts the father's promises that he will
support them. In the end, the wife seems to mock the father for not being able to support his
family financially.

Man Vs. Himself- The father seems to have little or no dignity left anymore after he lost his job,
which makes him the head of the family and has so much to say about the things happening to
them. He lacks confidence in expressing his own ideas and is despised by his children.

Man Vs. Supernatural- Conflict between the father and the "devil" The Spanish Mestion, the
employer, is represented as the devil in the story. He seems to indicate that he ate his words
whenever he had something to say. The father's family are made miserable as hell by the
"devil" who wants to take over their lives.

D. Point of View

First person POV (little girl's perspective)

E. Theme

Silence is the best answer to someone who doesn't value your words.

IV.
A. Timely: The reality is that our country has been experiencing poverty until now. Poverty
and unemployment affect not only the country but also a family.

B.Universal value: Relative poverty is found in all the countries of the world.

TURBAN LEGEND BY R ZAMORA LINMARK

(excerpt from Leche)

By the time Vince arrives at the Philippine Airlines departures terminal, it is already bustling with restless
souls who, with their balikbayan boxes, have transformed the terminal into a warehouse, as if they’re
returning to the motherland on a cargo ship rather than Asia’s first airline carrier. Comedians use these
durable cardboard boxes as materials for their Filipino-flavored jokes. “How is the balikbayan box like
American Express to Filipinos? Because they never leave home without it.”
 Everywhere Vince turns are boxes, boxes, and. more boxes. Boxes secured by electrical tape and
ropes. Boxes with drawstring covers made from canvas or tarp. Boxes lined up like a fortified wall behind
check-in counters or convoying on squeaky conveyor belts of x-ray machines. Boxes blocking the Mabuhay
Express lane for first-and business-class passengers. Boxes stacked up on carts right beside coach
passengers standing in queues that are straight only at their starting points before branching out to form
more-or converge with other-lines, bottlenecking as they near the ticket counter.
Boxes that ought to be the Philippines’ exhibit at the next World’s Fai1, Vince tells himself as he navigates
his cartload of Louis Vuitton bags in and out of the maze. An exhibit that should take place none other
than here, at the Honolulu International Airport, he laughs, as he imagines an entire terminal buried in the
Filipinos’ most popular-and preferred-pieces of luggage.
With a balikbayan boa Filipinos can pack cans of Hormel corned beef, Libby’s Vienna sausage, Folgers,
and SPAM; perfume samples; new or hand-me-down designer jeans; travel-sized bottles of shampoo,
conditioner, and body lotion gleaned from Las Vegas hotels; and appliances marked with first-world labels
that, as anyone who’s been to the Philippines knows, can easily be purchased at Duty Free right outside
the airport or from any of the crypt-like malls that are so gargantuan they’re a metropolis unto
themselves.
Filipinos will even throw themselves into these boxes, as was the case of the overseas contract worker
in Dubai. The man, an engineer was so homesick that, unable to afford the ticket-most of his earnings
went to cover his living expenses and the rest to his wife and children-he talked his roommate, who was
homebound for the holidays, into checking him in. He paid for the
excess baggage fee, which still came out cheaper than a round-trip airfare. En route to Manila, he died
from hypothermia.
Vince, who had heard the story from his older sister Jing, didn’t buy it. There were too many loopholes,
too many unanswered questions, like wouldn’t an x-ray machine in the Middle East detect a Filipino man
curled up inside a box? He simply dismissed it as a “turban legend.”
“You’re missing the point brother,” Jing said. “It’s not the mechanics that matter. It’s about drama. The
extremes a Filipino will go to just to be back home for Christmas with his family.”

I.

A. R. Zamora Linmark (April 7, 1968)

born in Manila, is a Filipino American poet, novelist, and playwright. He earned a

bachelor's degree from the University of Hawaii in Honolulu. He is the recipient of a Japan-
United States Friendship Commission, a winner of a National Endowment for the Arts
creative writing fellowship in poetry (2001), and was a Fulbright Foundation Senior
Lecturer/Researcher in the Philippines (2005-2006).

B. Turban Legend was written when the time that many of our fellow citizens are Overseas
Filipino workers Brain Drain is the result of the Philippine Diaspora. It is the lack of skillful and
intelligent workers. Poverty is the strongest reason why Filipinos go abroad.
II.
Balikbayan boxes symbolize love for the family and friends. To the Filipinos, Balikbayan
seems to be more important than their content because it means to the Filipinos that you will
always remember them even though you are very far from each other. The importance or
essence of the story is that in the Filipino culture, family is the most important thing on earth
and should always be remembered even though you are miles away from them. The things in
the balikbayan boxes that are expensive are not only a “gift” but represent the love of the
sender to their family.

III.
A. Characters

 Vince and Jing- main character of the story

 The man in luggage- he is the one experiencing Homesickness

B. Setting

• Philippine Airlines Departure Terminal

• The terminal where Vince arrived

C. Conflict

Man vs Himself- It was all about the man in luggage. He was feeling homesick despite all of
those problems that he encountered outside the country. He might go home to the
Philippines for a reason. He missed his family.

D. Point of View

Third person POV

F. Theme

Patience is not the ability to wait but the ability to keep attitude while waiting.

IV.
A. Timeless- Balikbayan boxes were invented in the 1970s. Until now, the good attitude of
Filipinos towards culture and family, even in small things like remembering them through
balikbayan boxes and souvenirs.

B. Universal value: Balikbayan boxes can be considered as universal values, perhaps

because there are Filipino citizens who work and live in other countries. Their culture has
spread to different countries and some countries have adopted it.