The Legend of Guava

A long time ago, there's a king who ruled a rich, prosperous island. He had all the things a king could ever ask for: the
power, the wealth, and all the delicious foods one could only imagine.The king's name was King Barabas.

King Barabas is a rude king and overweight, indulging himself to all the foods available, hesitant to share. And his castle
is starting to become filthy. He would spend most of his time sitting and eating with his bare hands. As he eats, he drips
food on the floor and smile mockingly at the people around him, specially his servants.

People in the kingdom would approach with requests for his help, but he would always refuse. As he neglected his
kingdom, people started to complain and starve.

After some time, an old hunched-back woman showed up at the castle begging for food while the king was eating. The old
lady asked for food as she was starving.

"Go away! I don't have anything to give. Can't you see I'm eating?" said the king.

"Please, my king," begged the old woman. "I'm asking for anything, anything you could give me as I am so hungry. Even a
little piece of bread or fruit would do."

"Get out at once! You disgust me," the king belittled the old beggar.

The old woman stood up straight, casting aside her stooped posture. "I've heard much about you and how your kingdom
is suffering." The tone of her voice had changed. It was no longer the voice of a weak, old woman. "I asked for help, and
you shoved me away. You have a lot for yourself, but when I only asked for a little food, you belittled me. You are selfish.
No one loves you and no one will remember you when you are gone!"

And the beggar disappeared.

After a few more days, the king slowly weakened and became sick. No one knows what's wrong with him. He got weaker
and weaker and lost much weight. He looked older than his age. Soon after that, the king died. As unfortunate and
unexpected as it was, no one cried and nobody showed up at the king's burial. He died alone.

And where the king was buried, his people noticed a strange plant growing, a plant they had never seen before. The plant
soon grew into a tree, which bore rounded fruits that turned yellowish when ripe.

People also noticed that the fruit seemed to have a crown as it develops, which reminded them of their selfish, arrogant
king. The flesh of the fruit tasted a bit sour, just like the sour personality of the king towards them.

The people learned to eat the fruit, which helped them with starvation. And because the tree was from the grave of their
King Barabas and it has crown just like their king, they named the tree after him: barabas, which in time they
called bayabas.

The fruit is still called, as to this day, bayabas.

The Legend of Rice

When the world was still new, the rice plant has no value. It was just a mere grass. It has no grain or fruit. It doesn’t do
anything but to kiss the wind all day long.

One day, it happened that the Chinese goddess Kuan-yin went down to visit the Earth. In her excursion, she saw that
everywhere in the four corners of China are people dying of hunger. Her soft heart cannot endure the pain and poverty
that she sees and it seems as though her heart will melt with pity. She took a deep breath and said, “Aiya, Ai-ya, I need to
act and help these people.”

She silently observed her surroundings. She took interest in a worthless rice plant which sprouted in the alley. She
approached it and said, “I will use this humble plant to help my poor people.”

She opened her robe and exposed her white bosom. She squeezed her right breast with her hand and let out drops of
milk of life to the rice plant’s panicle. She also squeezed her other breast and let the milk drop on the plant’s empty hulls.

She squeezed her breasts until there’s no milk coming out anymore. She prayed, “Oh merciful heaven, bless me with a
little more drops of milk.” She massaged and squeezed her breasts again until she saw that some drops are coming out
but it is mixed with blood. The goddess gave all that she can. She was glad to see that all the panicles became full of rich
rice grains.

“Oh noble plant, may your panicle overflow. May we harvest a lot to eliminate hunger in this land.” After she has done her
duty, she happily came back to the heavens.

This is how the rice plant yielded its first rice grains. There are varieties which produce white rice as white as Kuan-yin’s
milk, and there are also some which yields reddish rice as a reminder of the blood mixed with the last drops of the merciful
goddess’ milk.
 The Creation
Igorot

In the beginning there were no people on the earth.

Lumawig, the Great Spirit, came down from the sky and cut many reeds. He
divided these into pairs which he placed in different parts of the world, and
then he said to them, "You must speak."
Immediately the reeds became people, and in each place was a man and a
woman who could talk, but the language of each couple differed from that of
the others.
Then Lumawig commanded each man and woman to marry, which they did.
By and by there were many children, all speaking the same language as their
parents. These, in turn, married and had many children. In this way there came
to be many people on the earth.
Now Lumawig saw that there were several things which the people on the
earth needed to use, so he set to work to supply them. He created salt, and told
the inhabitants of one place to boil it down and sell it to their neighbors. But
these people could not understand the directions of the Great Spirit, and the
next time he visited them, they had not touched the salt.
Then he took it away from them and gave it to the people of a place called
Mayinit. These did as he directed, and because of this he told them that they
should always be owners of the salt, and that the other peoples must buy of
them.
Then Lumawig went to the people of Bontoc and told them to get clay and
make pots. They got the clay, but they did not understand the molding, and the
jars were not well shaped. Because of their failure, Lumawig told them that
they would always have to buy their jars, and he removed the pottery to
Samoki. When he told the people there what to do, they did just as he said, and
their jars were well shaped and beautiful. Then the Great Spirit saw that they
were fit owners of the pottery, and he told them that they should always make
many jars to sell.
In this way Lumawig taught the people and brought to them all the things
which they now have.