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.
Chocolate Hills
The legend relates of two quarrelling giants who threw mud, rocks, boulders and sand to each other. Nobody knows what the reason behind their feud was only that it lasted for a few days leaving them weak and exhausted in the end. Without their knowing it, some of the boulders, stones, sand and mud stuck to each other and formed mounds. Thousands of years of wind and rain erosion eventually formed the hills into what it is now.
Legend 2Legend 2 is much more romantic. It relates of Arogo, an extremely powerful and youthful giant falling in love with a mortal maiden named Aloya. They lived together and were happy for a time until Aloya got sick and died causing much pain and misery to Arogo. In his sorrow, he cried and cried, and every time his tears fell on the ground it dries up and form into mounds, thus the Chocolate Hills.
Legend 3
This legend is my favorite. It was related by my mother who is a Boholana and who is fond of webbing stories to us when we were small. It relates that the flatland of Carmen, extending outwards, was the playground of giant children. That day the children where pretending that they were baking cakes, molding and forming them from mud and sand in a half shell of a giant coconut and letting them “bake” under the heat of the sun. It was a contest. The one who makes the most wins. After a time, the children were called home. When they came back to play, they found their cakes “cooked” and were very happy and did not have the heart to destroy their masterpieces and so left them as is.
Legend 4 How the Chocolate Hills Came to Be This legend was written by my aunt, Mrs. Frances “Mimi” Bacareza of Maribojoc, Bohol. The story was initially laid in print in a magazine, titled “God’s Sunbeam” of the Phil. Sunbeam Children’s Ministries, Inc. I am given full authority by Tia Mimi to reprint this story in the Bohol-Philippines.com website. Hope you will enjoy this interesting tale!
