The story of Lumawig

King of the sky had three sons. The oldest and the youngest c happy working in their father's fields. But the second son, Lumawig, did not want to work as a farmer.

"What do you want to do?" his father asked him.

"I want to go down to earth and live with human beings.

"If you must go down to earth," his father said, "please take all your things with you."

Lumawig then came down to earth. While he was resting the side of a hill, he saw two girls working in the fields. He rated to find out who worked the hardest. "Shine brightly!" ordered the sun.

It soon became very hot.

Lumawig saw that the older of the two girls began to work e slowly. But the younger one continued to work as hard as before.

Lumawig called out to the younger one. "What's your name?"

"Fucan," the girl answered.

"Please give me a bean. "'

Lumawig touched the top of the basket Fucan was carrying It it. The basket immediately became filled with beans. "Who are you?" asked Fucan. "And where do you come from?”

"I am Lumawig, son of the king of the sky. From now on, your name will be Cayapon."

"Why?" Fucan wanted to know. "Who asked you to change my name?"

"Oh, I can do that," said Lumawig. " I'am going to be your husband."

"My husband?" Fucan asked. She was surprised to hear him say that.

"Yes. Please go home and tell your father."

Fucan returned home with her elder sister. She quickly told her father, Batanga, what had happened.

"But do you love this Lumawig?" her father asked. "Yes, father."

"Fetch him here then," Batanga said.

And so the two sisters went back to fetch Lumawig. He was very pleased to hear the news. He picked up a stone which was as large as a house and carried it by himself all the way to the village.

Lumawig sat down by the side of the road. "I'll stay here until your father asks me to meet him."

The girls went home and told their father. He put down the ladder of their house as a sign that Lumawig was welcome.

He liked Lumawig because Lumawig asked for some water as soon as he entered the house. This was a sign of good man­ners among Batanga's people.

Batanga was surprised when he heard that Lumawig could do so many wonderful things.

He had only one pig. But when Lumawig fed it, suddenly it changed into twenty pigs. When Lumawig fed his chickens, they doubled in number.

Not long afterwards, Lumawig and Fucan were married. Fucan's name was changed to Cayapon. They soon became rich because of Lumawig's magic and Cayapon's hard work.

Soon Cayapon's relatives became jealous of Lumawig. "You are a miser," they said. "You have so many pigs but you don't give even one to us."

"Be patient!" said Lumawig. "In a few days, I'll invite you to a big dinner."

When the guests came to the dinner, there was no food or drink. But Lumawig had ordered ten fires and large saucepans to be made ready.

"Is Lumawig joking with us?" they asked one another.

But Lumawig only wanted to show them what he could do.

He clapped his hands. "Let's have some rice!" he said. Five of the saucepans became filled with rice. "Let's have some pigs! " Immediately some animals ran out of the forest towards him. But they were not pigs; they were deer.

"I asked for pigs," Lumawig said. "Go back to where you came from! "

Then Lumawig repeated, "Let's have some pigs!" This time some pigs ran out of the forest towards him. Lumawig smiled. "Since there are so many pigs, each guest may have one for himself."

Everyone ran after the pigs. Before long, each guest had a pig except Cayapon's relatives. "As you were not happy with me," Lumawig told them, "I made it impossible for you to catch a pig."

But later he felt sorry for them. He allowed each of them to catch a pig for himself.

Soon the other five saucepans were full of pig's meat.

After dinner, the women, children and the younger men went home. But the older men remained. They prayed for Lumawig. When they had finished, Lumawig gave them a pig.

After Lumawig had been living in the village for some time, he taught the villagers many things so that they could live bet­ter lives. He showed them how to fish, hunt, and plant rice. He taught them how to make baskets and cloth.

He advised them not to fight but to live in peace with each other and work together.

Finally, Lumawig decided that he had taught them enough. It was time for him to return home.

He told his wife and she agreed to go with him. All the vil­lagers tried to stop them but he said, "My father is waiting for me. He wants to meet my wife. I have now taught you every­thing I know. We must go."

The woman in the moon

There was once a farmer called Gatan. He owned more than ten buffaloes and several large rice fields.

One day, he went to plant rice. He was surprised to find that the rice field had changed into a pond. The water was a beautiful golden colour.

Some people said it was very lucky, but others said that some trouble would come to Gatan.

The next morning, when Gatan went to visit the pond, he heard some girls singing. As there were no girls living near his farm, he hid behind some bushes-, to watch. Soon he saw several lovely girls approaching the pond. They were wearing long red dresses with wings fixed to the back. They took off their dresses and jumped into the water. He watched them laughing, singing and playing with each other for some time.

Suddenly, he stood up. "Hey! Who are you?" he shouted. "What are you doing here?"

The girls hurriedly jumped out of the water and put on their clothes. They looked like large butterflies. They all flew away except one. She was unable to fly because one of her wings had become caught in some long grass.

Gatan ran towards her. "I should cut off your head!" he said. "You have turned my rice field into a pond."

"Let me go!" said the girl. "Don't you know who I am? I am the daughter of King Kabigat, who lives in the clouds."

Gatan had heard of King Kabigat. He was the King of the Fairies.

Gatan took her home with him. She looked after his house, cooked his food and helped him with his work.

When later he asked her to become his wife, she said, "One day, I shall have to return to my father. He's not happy that I am living on earth. However, you are a good man and if you would like me to marry you, I shall do so."

They lived happily together for many years, and they had a lovely daughter whom they called Bugan. Gatan loved his daughter very much. He always played with her and taught her to read and write. Whenever he went out to work in his rice fields, she went with him.

One day, they did not have enough vegetables in the house for dinner, so her mother sent her to fetch some from the store-room.

There she found her mother's old dress with the wings still fixed to it. She put it on and ran back to see her mother, flap­ping the wings like a butterfly.

As soon as her mother saw her, she put her hands to her mouth. "Oh! Where did you find that?" she asked. "It's the dress I wore when I first met your father. You'd better not tell your father. He doesn't know that I've kept it all these years."

When Gatan returned home that evening, his wife was crying.

"What's the matter?" he asked.

"Dear husband," she said, "I've just heard from my father that my mother is very ill. He wants me to go back to see her."

"How can you?" her husband said. "We've been so happy together. If you have to go, let's all go together."

"But my wings are not strong enough to carry all three of us," his wife replied.

"Where are your wings?" Gatan asked. "I thought you had thrown away your dress with the wings a long time ago."

"Please don't be angry," his wife said, "but I have kept the dress all this time in the store-room. Anyway, I told you before we married that I would have to return one day to my father's home."

Gatan ran to the store-room. He looked everywhere but he could not find his wife's dress.

"Your dress is not here," he said. But just as he was speaking, he saw his wife flying out of the window. She was wearing her dress with the wings, and carrying their daughter in her arms.

"Come back!" he cried.

"I'm sorry, dear husband, I can't. It's time for me to return to my parents. My mother is old and sick."

Soon his wife and daughter were only tiny dots in the sky.

That evening, when Gatan looked up at the sky, he saw the moon. There was something new in it. There was a woman holding a child. The woman was crying.

Gatan knew that the woman in the moon was his wife. $he had returned to her parents' house. But she was crying be­cause she was sad at leaving her husband behind.

Why snails climb up grass

Why snails climb up grass

(Favourite story from Philippines)

Fable for kids

Long long ago, Mr. Fish, Mr. Fly, Mr. Wasp and Mr. snail lived together in a small house. They divided the work among themselves. Mr. fish was the biggest and strongest. He was made the head of the house and his job was to find food. Mr. Fly, who could fly very fast, was made a messenger. Mr. Wasp was made a guard because of his painful sting. And Mr. Snail, who could only move slowly, looked after the house.

Fable for kids 

Early one day, Mr. Fish went out to look for food. He swam slowly in a nearby river. Suddenly, he saw something moving in the water. It was a big frog. “What a lovely  meal.” He thought. He quickly seized the frog in his mouth and started to swim home. But he did not know there was a hook inside the frog which was tied to a string. Someone pulled the string and soon Mr. Fish found himself inside a fisherman’s basket. The fisherman took him home and ate him.

Fable for kids 

Of course, his friends did not know what had happened to him. They waited for him for several days. By this time, they all felt very hungry. Then Mr. Fly was sent out to look for Mr. Fish. Suddenly, he saw something moving in the water below. It was a fish whose lips moved in and out on the surface of the water.

Mr. Fly was angry. He thought the fish was laughing at him.

Fable for kids 

“Don’t laugh me!” he cried, “I’m looking for my friend Mr. Fish, have you seen him?”

Fable for kids 

But the fish still seemed to laugh at him. Mr. Fly flew lower and lower as he wanted to bite the fish. Suddenly, he felt very weak. He had not eaten any food for such a long time. His wings became heavier and heavier. “Plop!” he fell into the water and the fish swallowed him in a second.

Fable for kids 

Mr. Wasp and Mr. Snail were still waiting for Mr. Fish and Mr. Fly to return. Although they were both hungry, Mr. Snail was not as hungry as Mr. Wasp. He could eat mud while Mr. wasp  could only tighten his belt. At last, Mr. wasp could not stand it any longer.

Fable for kids 

He flew out of the house to look for Mr. Fish and Mr. Fly. While he was flying, his hunger became worse. He tightened his belt again and again until finally he broke into two. That was the end of Mr. Wasp.

Fable for kids 

Now only Mr. Snail was left. He left the house to look for his three friends. He was crying because he felt so lonely. Whenever he found some grass, he would climb up it to look around for his friends. Even today snails still cry, and whenever they see any grass they will climb up it and look around for their old friends.

Fable for kids