| "Once upon a time there lived a princess. She was a very
tall, lovely girl, with dark eyes and dark hair. She had all the clothes
and jewels her heart could wish for. Many suitors wanted to marry her but
she was never happy.
"Every day she sat along the river bank crying and sighing
as if her heart was breaking. Her mother asked her about her situation.
However, she only shook her head mournfully. One day, she sat weeping by
the river. A fairy appeared before her asking, "Who are you? Why do
you sit day after day beside my river house and weep and weep salt tears
into it?" Now the hair of the fairy is tangled up. Still the princess
never said a word. The fairy asked her again and again but the princess
shook her head mournfully and began to sigh and weep again. The fairy
became very angry. She raised her hand over the princess' head and said,
"May you sigh and sigh until the seas run dry!" As she said
this, the princess turned into a leafy bamboo tree, tall and slender. It
stood by the river side. Its leaves hang over the cool water sighing when
the wind passes by.
*C.C. Lutero, "Blaan Folk
Literature," p. 35. Narrated by P. Tulio who heard the story from a Blaan of Polomolok, South Cotabato.
This legend was taken directly out of:
"Philippine Folk Literature: The Myths"
Compiled & edited by Damiana L. Eugenio
Published by the University of the Philippines Press,
copyright 1993.
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