004: Alamat ng Ampalaya by Augie D. Rivera, Jr. [ENG]

 

Copyright © 1995 Adarna House, Inc.

Story by Augie D. Rivera, Jr.

Drawings by Kora D. Albano

SYNOPSIS

This is an original story on the legend of the bitter gourd. The story excites the imagination of children and warns them against the evil of envy and greed.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

The idea to write an original story about the bitter gourd came when Augie realized that the vegetable wasn't in the Filipino folk song Bahay Kubo. Since Alamat ng Ampalaya was published, Augie has written more than 15 stories for children and has repeated won recognition from the Carlos Palanca Memorial Awards for Literature. He is one of the founding members of KUTING (Kuwentista ng mga Tsikiting), a group of Filipino writers of children's stories.

Source: Goodreads

REVIEW

For most Filipinos like me who grew up in a fully Filipino household, it was common for kids like me back then to have been told many fancy stories by our elders and parents.  Because we give our elders and parents high regard in Philippine society it was and continues to remain customary for us to listen to them and understand the stories they tell us regardless of how farfetched these stories sometimes can be.  Even so, the stories our elders and parents tell us also taught us many lessons in life that we can use.  In fact, the stories they tell were also meant to be warnings for what can happen if we live life with bad attitudes.

Among many different stories that I grew up listening to, Philippine folklore fascinated me a lot.  When I was a kid I was already curious of how things came into existence, and folk stories often provided me creative answers regardless of how weird they may be.  Because the oral storytelling is rich in Philippine society I grew up listening to famous folk stories including the existence stories of fruits and flowers like the banana, pineapple, and the Philippine Jasmine flower.  Today I will focus specifically on the legend of a vegetable infamous for its bitter taste. 

The bitter gourd has a really interesting legend behind it.  Unlike many legends passed on through centuries, this one wasn't necessarily passed down through word of mouth.  The author didn't realize that the bitter gourd wasn't in the popular children's song "Bahay Kubo", and I didn't so, too, until I read the book.  With that simple idea the author came up with a unique legend that I would come to love over the years.

It is often difficult for those who are insecure about their own bodies to blend with the crowd.  In the story, the envious and insecure bitter gourd,  suddenly sprouted in the little vegetable village where different colorful and fresh-looking vegetables lived.  Because the bitter gourd stood out for tasting bland and looking hairy he would often shut himself from the rest of the village.  He then wanted to become the most beautiful vegetable in the village, which led him later on to steal all their beautiful features to turn himself to a colorful, clown-like vegetable.

Eventually, the bitter gourd would be punished for his deceitful act.  All that he stole would eventually blend in his body as his punishment for his crime.  While the punishment seemed harmless to him at first it eventually led him to to becoming the wrinkly, green, bitter vegetable that he is.  He would eventually be contented with himself and live happily with his neighboring vegetables.

Now I may not be able to convince you to eat bitter gourd, but I do hope that the next time you look at one, you would forgive it for its wrongdoings.  Surely at one point in life we have been insecure about our own imperfections.  Just like the bitter gourd learned how to love his own imperfections we must also show love for ourselves especially during the unusual times we are living in at the moment.  May not our own faults and imperfections get in the way of living an emotionally, mentally, and physically healthy way of life.