Nueva Valencia National High School As a

WARMING UP
Workbook Affording Reinforcement Materials for Individual Needs Geared for Understanding and Progress
An English Workbook for the First Year

NVNHS

Poblacion, Nueva Valencia, Guimaras

Table of Contents First Year Curriculum..................................................................................................5

The First Quarter: Narratives ..................................................................................6 Wedding Dance....................................................................................................7 The Monkey and the Turtle................................................................................11 How My Brother Leon Brought Home a Wife......................................................13 Mariang Makiling................................................................................................17 The Story of Magayon........................................................................................18 The Legend of the Banana.................................................................................20 Juan Tamad Escapes a Beating..........................................................................20 The Monkey and the Crocodile ........................................................................................................................... 21 The Donkey in the Lions Skin............................................................................22 The Story of Creation.........................................................................................22 The Intelligent Frog............................................................................................23 My Brothers Peculiar Chicken............................................................................23 The Legend of the Sampaguita..........................................................................27 The Prowess of Aliguyon....................................................................................28 The Creation......................................................................................................30 Malakas and Maganda.......................................................................................31 The Second Quarter: Drama..................................................................................33 The Adarna Bird (Ibong Adarna).........................................................................34 The World is an Apple........................................................................................37 Laarni a Dream................................................................................................39 Shadow on Solitude............................................................................................42 A New Yorker in Tondo.......................................................................................58 The Third Quarter: Poetry......................................................................................68 The Sea..............................................................................................................69 Man Upon the Cross...........................................................................................69 Ballad of a Mothers Heart..................................................................................70 Maria Claras Song.............................................................................................71 A Sigh in the Dark..............................................................................................71 These Lovely Things...........................................................................................72 To the Philippines...............................................................................................73 Allegorical Quatrains..........................................................................................73 Unending Thanks...............................................................................................74 No Greater Love Than Yours..............................................................................75 Summer Song....................................................................................................75 Rice Planting Song.............................................................................................75 Storm................................................................................................................. 76

My Last Farewell................................................................................................76 The Fourth Quarter: Essay.....................................................................................79 I Am a Filipino.................................................................................................... 80 Man in Dapitan...................................................................................................81 My Home............................................................................................................ 83 The World in a Train...........................................................................................84 Siestas...............................................................................................................86 The Tarlac Dike..................................................................................................87 A Letter to His Parents.......................................................................................88 Language Focus.................................................................................................... 89 Past Tense..........................................................................................................90 Time Markers..................................................................................................... 93 WH Questions.....................................................................................................95 Subject-Verb Agreement....................................................................................97 Direct Discourse...............................................................................................100 Reported Speech..............................................................................................101 Types of Sentences and Their Functions..........................................................103 Coordinators....................................................................................................106 Coordinating Conjunctions...............................................................................109 Subordinating Conjunctions.............................................................................110 Adjectives........................................................................................................113 Past Participle.................................................................................................. 115 Prepositional Phrases.......................................................................................117 Relative Clauses...............................................................................................121 Transition Markers...........................................................................................123 Skills Worksheets................................................................................................125 Making Predictions and Drawing Inferences.....................................................127 Fact or Opinion.................................................................................................136 Subject and Predicate......................................................................................137 Nouns and Adjectives.......................................................................................138 Prefixes............................................................................................................140 Prepositions.....................................................................................................142 Homonyms and Homophones..........................................................................144 Synonyms and Antonyms.................................................................................147 Identifying the Mood........................................................................................148 Future Tense....................................................................................................149 Reflecting on an Essay.....................................................................................150 Main Idea......................................................................................................... 152 Recognizing the Authors Craft: I am a Filipino................................................155 Authors Purpose..............................................................................................156

Im Glad Im a Little Guy..................................................................................157 Journal Writing.................................................................................................161 Figures of Speech.............................................................................................162 Remedial Reading Resources.................................................................................165 Assessments .......................................................................................................166 San Diego Quick Assessment...........................................................................173 Reading Activities................................................................................................174 Short Paragraph Comprehension.....................................................................175 The Lost Balloon...............................................................................................176 Mothers 40th Birthday....................................................................................178 Talias Special Day...........................................................................................182 Carlsbad Cavern...............................................................................................185 The Colors of the Rainbow...............................................................................189 Chicago............................................................................................................190 How Many Cavans?..........................................................................................191 My Rocket Ship................................................................................................ 192 Running Late!...................................................................................................193 A Ghost Outside Our Window!..........................................................................197 TJ Visits the Farm.............................................................................................198 The Legend of Maria Cristina Falls...................................................................200 Going Fishing................................................................................................... 202 Graphic Organizers.............................................................................................204 Prediction Worksheet.......................................................................................205

First Year Curriculum

The First Quarter: Narratives

Wedding Dance
By Amador Daguio Awiyao reached for the upper horizontal log which served as the edge of the headhigh threshold. Clinging to the log, he lifted himself with one bound that carried him across to the narrow door. He slid back the cover, stepped inside, then pushed the cover back in place. After some moments during which he seemed to wait, he talked to the listening darkness. "I'm sorry this had to be done. I am really sorry. But neither of us can help it." The sound of the gangsas beat through the walls of the dark house like muffled roars of falling waters. The woman who had moved with a start when the sliding door opened had been hearing the gangsas for she did not know how long. There was a sudden rush of fire in her. She gave no sign that she heard Awiyao, but continued to sit unmoving in the darkness. But Awiyao knew that she heard him and his heart pitied her. He crawled on all fours to the middle of the room; he knew exactly where the stove was. With bare fingers he stirred the covered smoldering embers, and blew into the stove. When the coals began to glow, Awiyao put pieces of pine on them, then full round logs as his arms. The room brightened. "Why don't you go out," he said, "and join the dancing women?" He felt a pang inside him, because what he said was really not the right thing to say and because the woman did not stir. "You should join the dancers," he said, "as if--as if nothing had happened." He looked at the woman huddled in a corner of the room, leaning against the wall. The stove fire played with strange moving shadows and lights upon her face. She was partly sullen, but her sullenness was not because of anger or hate. "Go out--go out and dance. If you really don't hate me for this separation, go out and dance. One of the men will see you dance well; he will like your dancing, he will marry you. Who knows but that, with him, you will be luckier than you were with me." "I don't want any man," she said sharply. "I don't want any other man." He felt relieved that at least she talked: "You know very well that I won't want any other woman either. You know that, don't you? Lumnay, you know it, don't you?" She did not answer him. "You know it Lumnay, don't you?" he repeated. "Yes, I know," she said weakly. "It is not my fault," he said, feeling relieved. "You cannot blame me; I have been a good husband to you." "Neither can you blame me," she said. She seemed about to cry. "No, you have been very good to me. You have been a good wife. I have nothing to say against you." He set some of the burning wood in place. "It's only that a man must have a child. Seven harvests is just too long to wait. Yes, we have waited too long. We should have another chance before it is too late for both of us." This time the woman stirred, stretched her right leg out and bent her left leg in. She wound the blanket more snugly around herself. "You know that I have done my best," she said. "I have prayed to Kabunyan much. I have sacrificed many chickens in my prayers. "Yes, I know."

"You remember how angry you were once when you came home from your work in the terrace because I butchered one of our pigs without your permission? I did it to appease Kabunyan, because, like you, I wanted to have a child. But what could I do?" "Kabunyan does not see fit for us to have a child," he said. He stirred the fire. The spark rose through the crackles of the flames. The smoke and soot went up the ceiling. Lumnay looked down and unconsciously started to pull at the rattan that kept the split bamboo flooring in place. She tugged at the rattan flooring. Each time she did this the split bamboo went up and came down with a slight rattle. The gong of the dancers clamorously called in her care through the walls. Awiyao went to the corner where Lumnay sat, paused before her, looked at her bronzed and sturdy face, then turned to where the jars of water stood piled one over the other. Awiyao took a coconut cup and dipped it in the top jar and drank. Lumnay had filled the jars from the mountain creek early that evening. "I came home," he said. "Because I did not find you among the dancers. Of course, I am not forcing you to come, if you don't want to join my wedding ceremony. I came to tell you that Madulimay, although I am marrying her, can never become as good as you are. She is not as strong in planting beans, not as fast in cleaning water jars, not as good keeping a house clean. You are one of the best wives in the whole village." "That has not done me any good, has it?" She said. She looked at him lovingly. She almost seemed to smile. He put the coconut cup aside on the floor and came closer to her. He held her face between his hands and looked longingly at her beauty. But her eyes looked away. Never again would he hold her face. The next day she would not be his any more. She would go back to her parents. He let go of her face, and she bent to the floor again and looked at her fingers as they tugged softly at the split bamboo floor. "This house is yours," he said. "I built it for you. Make it your own, live in it as long as you wish. I will build another house for Madulimay." "I have no need for a house," she said slowly. "I'll go to my own house. My parents are old. They will need help in the planting of the beans, in the pounding of the rice." "I will give you the field that I dug out of the mountains during the first year of our marriage," he said. "You know I did it for you. You helped me to make it for the two of us." "I have no use for any field," she said. He looked at her, then turned away, and became silent. They were silent for a time. "Go back to the dance," she said finally. "It is not right for you to be here. They will wonder where you are, and Madulimay will not feel good. Go back to the dance." "I would feel better if you could come, and dance---for the last time. The gangsas are playing." "You know that I cannot." "Lumnay," he said tenderly. "Lumnay, if I did this it is because of my need for a child. You know that life is not worth living without a child. The man have mocked me behind my back. You know that." "I know it," he said. "I will pray that Kabunyan will bless you and Madulimay." She bit her lips now, then shook her head wildly, and sobbed.

She thought of the seven harvests that had passed, the high hopes they had in the beginning of their new life, the day he took her away from her parents across the roaring river, on the other side of the mountain, the trip up the trail which they had to climb, the steep canyon which they had to cross. The waters boiled in her mind in forms of white and jade and roaring silver; the waters tolled and growled, resounded in thunderous echoes through the walls of the stiff cliffs; they were far away now from somewhere on the tops of the other ranges, and they had looked carefully at the buttresses of rocks they had to step on---a slip would have meant death. They both drank of the water then rested on the other bank before they made the final climb to the other side of the mountain. She looked at his face with the fire playing upon his features---hard and strong, and kind. He had a sense of lightness in his way of saying things which often made her and the village people laugh. How proud she had been of his humor. The muscles where taut and firm, bronze and compact in their hold upon his skull---how frank his bright eyes were. She looked at his body the carved out of the mountains five fields for her; his wide and supple torso heaved as if a slab of shining lumber were heaving; his arms and legs flowed down in fluent muscles--he was strong and for that she had lost him. She flung herself upon his knees and clung to them. "Awiyao, Awiyao, my husband," she cried. "I did everything to have a child," she said passionately in a hoarse whisper. "Look at me," she cried. "Look at my body. Then it was full of promise. It could dance; it could work fast in the fields; it could climb the mountains fast. Even now it is firm, full. But, Awiyao, I am useless. I must die." "It will not be right to die," he said, gathering her in his arms. Her whole warm naked naked breast quivered against his own; she clung now to his neck, and her hand lay upon his right shoulder; her hair flowed down in cascades of gleaming darkness. "I don't care about the fields," she said. "I don't care about the house. I don't care for anything but you. I'll have no other man." "Then you'll always be fruitless." "I'll go back to my father, I'll die." "Then you hate me," he said. "If you die it means you hate me. You do not want me to have a child. You do not want my name to live on in our tribe." She was silent. "If I do not try a second time," he explained, "it means I'll die. Nobody will get the fields I have carved out of the mountains; nobody will come after me." "If you fail--if you fail this second time--" she said thoughtfully. The voice was a shudder. "No--no, I don't want you to fail." "If I fail," he said, "I'll come back to you. Then both of us will die together. Both of us will vanish from the life of our tribe." The gongs thundered through the walls of their house, sonorous and faraway. "I'll keep my beads," she said. "Awiyao, let me keep my beads," she halfwhispered. "You will keep the beads. They come from far-off times. My grandmother said they come from up North, from the slant-eyed people across the sea. You keep them, Lumnay. They are worth twenty fields." "I'll keep them because they stand for the love you have for me," she said. "I love you. I love you and have nothing to give."

She took herself away from him, for a voice was calling out to him from outside. "Awiyao! Awiyao! O Awiyao! They are looking for you at the dance!" "I am not in hurry." "The elders will scold you. You had better go." "Not until you tell me that it is all right with you." "It is all right with me." He clasped her hands. "I do this for the sake of the tribe," he said. "I know," she said. He went to the door. "Awiyao!" He stopped as if suddenly hit by a spear. In pain he turned to her. Her face was in agony. It pained him to leave. She had been wonderful to him. What was it that made a man wish for a child? What was it in life, in the work in the field, in the planting and harvest, in the silence of the night, in the communing with husband and wife, in the whole life of the tribe itself that made man wish for the laughter and speech of a child? Suppose he changed his mind? Why did the unwritten law demand, anyway, that a man, to be a man, must have a child to come after him? And if he was fruitless--but he loved Lumnay. It was like taking away of his life to leave her like this. "Awiyao," she said, and her eyes seemed to smile in the light. "The beads!" He turned back and walked to the farthest corner of their room, to the trunk where they kept their worldly possession---his battle-ax and his spear points, her betel nut box and her beads. He dug out from the darkness the beads which had been given to him by his grandmother to give to Lumnay on the beads on, and tied them in place. The white and jade and deep orange obsidians shone in the firelight. She suddenly clung to him, clung to his neck as if she would never let him go. "Awiyao! Awiyao, it is hard!" She gasped, and she closed her eyes and huried her face in his neck. The call for him from the outside repeated; her grip loosened, and he buried out into the night. Lumnay sat for some time in the darkness. Then she went to the door and opened it. The moonlight struck her face; the moonlight spilled itself on the whole village. She could hear the throbbing of the gangsas coming to her through the caverns of the other houses. She knew that all the houses were empty that the whole tribe was at the dance. Only she was absent. And yet was she not the best dancer of the village? Did she not have the most lightness and grace? Could she not, alone among all women, dance like a bird tripping for grains on the ground, beautifully timed to the beat of the gangsas? Did not the men praise her supple body, and the women envy the way she stretched her hands like the wings of the mountain eagle now and then as she danced? How long ago did she dance at her own wedding? Tonight, all the women who counted, who once danced in her honor, were dancing now in honor of another whose only claim was that perhaps she could give her husband a child. "It is not right. It is not right!" she cried. "How does she know? How can anybody know? It is not right," she said. Suddenly she found courage. She would go to the dance. She would go to the chief of the village, to the elders, to tell them it was not right. Awiyao was hers; nobody could take him away from her. Let her be the first woman to complain, to denounce the unwritten rule that a man may take another woman. She would tell Awiyao to come

back to her. He surely would relent. Was not their love as strong as the river? She made for the other side of the village where the dancing was. There was a flaming glow over the whole place; a great bonfire was burning. The gangsas clamored more loudly now, and it seemed they were calling to her. She was near at last. She could see the dancers clearly now. The man leaped lightly with their gangsas as they circled the dancing women decked in feast garments and beads, tripping on the ground like graceful birds, following their men. Her heart warmed to the flaming call of the dance; strange heat in her blood welled up, and she started to run. But the gleaming brightness of the bonfire commanded her to stop. Did anybody see her approach? She stopped. What if somebody had seen her coming? The flames of the bonfire leaped in countless sparks which spread and rose like yellow points and died out in the night. The blaze reached out to her like a spreading radiance. She did not have the courage to break into the wedding feast. Lumnay walked away from the dancing ground, away from the village. She thought of the new clearing of beans which Awiyao and she had started to make only four moons before. She followed the trail above the village. When she came to the mountain stream she crossed it carefully. Nobody held her hand, and the stream water was very cold. The trail went up again, and she was in the moonlight shadows among the trees and shrubs. Slowly she climbed the mountain. When Lumnay reached the clearing, she cold see from where she stood the blazing bonfire at the edge of the village, where the wedding was. She could hear the far-off clamor of the gongs, still rich in their sonorousness, echoing from mountain to mountain. The sound did not mock her; they seemed to call far to her, to speak to her in the language of unspeaking love. She felt the pull of their gratitude for her sacrifice. Her heartbeat began to sound to her like many gangsas. Lumnay though of Awiyao as the Awiyao she had known long ago-- a strong, muscular boy carrying his heavy loads of fuel logs down the mountains to his home. She had met him one day as she was on her way to fill her clay jars with water. He had stopped at the spring to drink and rest; and she had made him drink the cool mountain water from her coconut shell. After that it did not take him long to decide to throw his spear on the stairs of her father's house in token on his desire to marry her. The mountain clearing was cold in the freezing moonlight. The wind began to stir the leaves of the bean plants. Lumnay looked for a big rock on which to sit down. The bean plants now surrounded her, and she was lost among them. A few more weeks, a few more months, a few more harvests---what did it matter? She would be holding the bean flowers, soft in the texture, silken almost, but moist where the dew got into them, silver to look at, silver on the light blue, blooming whiteness, when the morning comes. The stretching of the bean pods full length from the hearts of the wilting petals would go on. Lumnay's fingers moved a long, long time among the growing bean pods.

The Monkey and the Turtle

By Jose Rizal

A monkey, looking very sad and dejected, was walking along the bank of the river one day when he met a turtle. "How are you?" asked the turtle, noticing that he looked sad. The monkey replied, "Oh, my friend, I am very hungry. The squash of Mr. Farmer were all taken by the other monkeys, and now I am about to die from want of food." "Do not be discouraged," said the turtle; "take a bolo and follow me and we will steal some banana plants." So they walked along together until they found some nice plants which they dug up, and then they looked for a place to set them. Finally the monkey climbed a tree and planted his in it, but as the turtle could not climb he dug a hole in the ground and set his there. When their work was finished they went away, planning what they should do with their crop. The monkey said: "When my tree bears fruit, I shall sell it and have a great deal of money." And the turtle said: "When my tree bears fruit, I shall sell it and buy three varas of cloth to wear in place of this cracked shell." A few weeks later they went back to the place to see their plants and found that that of the monkey was dead, for its roots had had no soil in the tree, but that of the turtle was tall and bearing fruit. "I will climb to the top so that we can get the fruit," said the monkey. And he sprang up the tree, leaving the poor turtle on the ground alone. "Please give me some to eat," called the turtle, but the monkey threw him only a green one and ate all the ripe ones himself. When he had eaten all the good bananas, the monkey stretched his arms around the tree and went to sleep. The turtle, seeing this, was very angry and considered how he might punish the thief. Having decided on a scheme, he gathered some sharp bamboo which he stuck all around under the tree, and then he exclaimed: "Crocodile is coming! Crocodile is coming!" The monkey was so startled at the cry that he fell upon the sharp bamboo and was killed. Then the turtle cut the dead monkey into pieces, put salt on it, and dried it in the sun. The next day, he went to the mountains and sold his meat to other monkeys who gladly gave him squash in return. As he was leaving them he called back: "Lazy fellows, you are now eating your own body; you are now eating your own body." Then the monkeys ran and caught him and carried him to their own home. "Let us take a hatchet," said one old monkey, "and cut him into very small pieces." But the turtle laughed and said: "That is just what I like. I have been struck with a hatchet many times. Do you not see the black scars on my shell ?" Then one of the other monkeys said: "Let us throw him into the water." At this the turtle cried and begged them to spare his life, but they paid no heed to his pleadings and threw him into the water. He sank to the bottom, but very soon came up with a lobster. The monkeys were greatly surprised at this and begged him to tell them how to eatch lobsters.

"I tied one end of a string around my waist," said the turtle. "To the other end of the string I tied a stone so that I would sink." The monkeys immediately tied strings around themselves as the turtle said, and when all was ready they plunged into the water never to tome up again. And to this day monkeys do not like to eat meat, because they remember the ancient story.

How My Brother Leon Brought Home a Wife

By Manuel E. Arguilla She stepped down from the carretela of Ca Celin with a quick, delicate grace. She was lovely. She was tall. She looked up to my brother with a smile, and her forehead was on a level with his mouth. "You are Baldo," she said and placed her hand lightly on my shoulder. Her nails were long, but they were not painted. She was fragrant like a morning when papayas are in bloom. And a small dimple appeared momently high on her right cheek. "And this is Labang of whom I have heard so much." She held the wrist of one hand with the other and looked at Labang, and Labang never stopped chewing his cud. He swallowed and brought up to his mouth more cud and the sound of his insides was like a drum. I laid a hand on Labang's massive neck and said to her: "You may scratch his forehead now." She hesitated and I saw that her eyes were on the long, curving horns. But she came and touched Labang's forehead with her long fingers, and Labang never stopped chewing his cud except that his big eyes half closed. And by and by she was scratching his forehead very daintily. My brother Leon put down the two trunks on the grassy side of the road. He paid Ca Celin twice the usual fare from the station to the edge of Nagrebcan. Then he was standing beside us, and she turned to him eagerly. I watched Ca Celin, where he stood in front of his horse, and he ran his fingers through its forelock and could not keep his eyes away from her. "Maria---" my brother Leon said. He did not say Maring. He did not say Mayang. I knew then that he had always called her Maria and that to us all she would be Maria; and in my mind I said 'Maria' and it was a beautiful name. "Yes, Noel." Now where did she get that name? I pondered the matter quietly to myself, thinking Father might not like it. But it was only the name of my brother Leon said backward and it sounded much better that way. "There is Nagrebcan, Maria," my brother Leon said, gesturing widely toward the west. She moved close to him and slipped her arm through his. And after a while she said quietly. "You love Nagrebcan, don't you, Noel?" Ca Celin drove away hi-yi-ing to his horse loudly. At the bend of the camino real where the big duhat tree grew, he rattled the handle of his braided rattan whip against the spokes of the wheel.

We stood alone on the roadside. The sun was in our eyes, for it was dipping into the bright sea. The sky was wide and deep and very blue above us: but along the saw-tooth rim of the Katayaghan hills to the southwest flamed huge masses of clouds. Before us the fields swam in a golden haze through which floated big purple and red and yellow bubbles when I looked at the sinking sun. Labang's white coat, which I had wshed and brushed that morning with coconut husk, glistened like beaten cotton under the lamplight and his horns appeared tipped with fire. He faced the sun and from his mouth came a call so loud and vibrant that the earth seemed to tremble underfoot. And far away in the middle of the field a cow lowed softly in answer. "Hitch him to the cart, Baldo," my brother Leon said, laughing, and she laughed with him a big uncertainly, and I saw that he had put his arm around her shoulders. "Why does he make that sound?" she asked. "I have never heard the like of it." "There is not another like it," my brother Leon said. "I have yet to hear another bull call like Labang. In all the world there is no other bull like him." She was smiling at him, and I stopped in the act of tying the sinta across Labang's neck to the opposite end of the yoke, because her teeth were very white, her eyes were so full of laughter, and there was the small dimple high up on her right cheek. "If you continue to talk about him like that, either I shall fall in love with him or become greatly jealous." My brother Leon laughed and she laughed and they looked at each other and it seemed to me there was a world of laughter between them and in them. I climbed into the cart over the wheel and Labang would have bolted, for he was always like that, but I kept a firm hold on his rope. He was restless and would not stand still, so that my brother Leon had to say "Labang" several times. When he was quiet again, my brother Leon lifted the trunks into the cart, placing the smaller on top. She looked down once at her high-heeled shoes, then she gave her left hand to my brother Leon, placed a foot on the hub of the wheel, and in one breath she had swung up into the cart. Oh, the fragrance of her. But Labang was fairly dancing with impatience and it was all I could do to keep him from running away. "Give me the rope, Baldo," my brother Leon said. "Maria, sit down on the hay and hold on to anything." Then he put a foot on the left shaft and that instand labang leaped forward. My brother Leon laughed as he drew himself up to the top of the side of the cart and made the slack of the rope hiss above the back of labang. The wind whistled against my cheeks and the rattling of the wheels on the pebbly road echoed in my ears. She sat up straight on the bottom of the cart, legs bent togther to one side, her skirts spread over them so that only the toes and heels of her shoes were visible. her eyes were on my brother Leon's back; I saw the wind on her hair. When Labang slowed down, my brother Leon handed to me the rope. I knelt on the straw inside the cart and pulled on the rope until Labang was merely shuffling along, then I made him turn around. "What is it you have forgotten now, Baldo?" my brother Leon said. I did not say anything but tickled with my fingers the rump of Labang; and away we went---back to where I had unhitched and waited for them. The sun had sunk and down from the wooded sides of the Katayaghan hills shadows were stealing into the fields. High up overhead the sky burned with many slow fires.

When I sent Labang down the deep cut that would take us to the dry bed of the Waig which could be used as a path to our place during the dry season, my brother Leon laid a hand on my shoulder and said sternly: "Who told you to drive through the fields tonight?" His hand was heavy on my shoulder, but I did not look at him or utter a word until we were on the rocky bottom of the Waig. "Baldo, you fool, answer me before I lay the rope of Labang on you. Why do you follow the Wait instead of the camino real?" His fingers bit into my shoulder. "Father, he told me to follow the Waig tonight, Manong." Swiftly, his hand fell away from my shoulder and he reached for the rope of Labang. Then my brother Leon laughed, and he sat back, and laughing still, he said: "And I suppose Father also told you to hitch Labang to the cart and meet us with him instead of with Castano and the calesa." Without waiting for me to answer, he turned to her and said, "Maria, why do you think Father should do that, now?" He laughed and added, "Have you ever seen so many stars before?" I looked back and they were sitting side by side, leaning against the trunks, hands clasped across knees. Seemingly, but a man's height above the tops of the steep banks of the Wait, hung the stars. But in the deep gorge the shadows had fallen heavily, and even the white of Labang's coat was merely a dim, grayish blur. Crickets chirped from their homes in the cracks in the banks. The thick, unpleasant smell of dangla bushes and cooling sun-heated earth mingled with the clean, sharp scent of arrais roots exposed to the night air and of the hay inside the cart. "Look, Noel, yonder is our star!" Deep surprise and gladness were in her voice. Very low in the west, almost touching the ragged edge of the bank, was the star, the biggest and brightest in the sky. "I have been looking at it," my brother Leon said. "Do you remember how I would tell you that when you want to see stars you must come to Nagrebcan?" "Yes, Noel," she said. "Look at it," she murmured, half to herself. "It is so many times bigger and brighter than it was at Ermita beach." "The air here is clean, free of dust and smoke." "So it is, Noel," she said, drawing a long breath. "Making fun of me, Maria?" She laughed then and they laughed together and she took my brother Leon's hand and put it against her face. I stopped Labang, climbed down, and lighted the lantern that hung from the cart between the wheels. "Good boy, Baldo," my brother Leon said as I climbed back into the cart, and my heart sant. Now the shadows took fright and did not crowd so near. Clumps of andadasi and arrais flashed into view and quickly disappeared as we passed by. Ahead, the elongated shadow of Labang bobbled up and down and swayed drunkenly from side to side, for the lantern rocked jerkily with the cart. "Have we far to go yet, Noel?" she asked. "Ask Baldo," my brother Leon said, "we have been neglecting him." "I am asking you, Baldo," she said.

Without looking back, I answered, picking my words slowly: "Soon we will get out of the Wait and pass into the fields. After the fields is home---Manong." "So near already." I did not say anything more because I did not know what to make of the tone of her voice as she said her last words. All the laughter seemed to have gone out of her. I waited for my brother Leon to say something, but he was not saying anything. Suddenly he broke out into song and the song was 'Sky Sown with Stars'---the same that he and Father sang when we cut hay in the fields at night before he went away to study. He must have taught her the song because she joined him, and her voice flowed into his like a gentle stream meeting a stronger one. And each time the wheels encountered a big rock, her voice would catch in her throat, but my brother Leon would sing on, until, laughing softly, she would join him again. Then we were climbing out into the fields, and through the spokes of the wheels the light of the lantern mocked the shadows. Labang quickened his steps. The jolting became more frequent and painful as we crossed the low dikes. "But it is so very wide here," she said. The light of the stars broke and scattered the darkness so that one could see far on every side, though indistinctly. "You miss the houses, and the cars, and the people and the noise, don't you?" My brother Leon stopped singing. "Yes, but in a different way. I am glad they are not here." With difficulty I turned Labang to the left, for he wanted to go straight on. He was breathing hard, but I knew he was more thirsty than tired. In a little while we drope up the grassy side onto the camino real. "---you see," my brother Leon was explaining, "the camino real curves around the foot of the Katayaghan hills and passes by our house. We drove through the fields because---but I'll be asking Father as soon as we get home." "Noel," she said. "Yes, Maria." "I am afraid. He may not like me." "Does that worry you still, Maria?" my brother Leon said. "From the way you talk, he might be an ogre, for all the world. Except when his leg that was wounded in the Revolution is troubling him, Father is the mildest-tempered, gentlest man I know." We came to the house of Lacay Julian and I spoke to Labang loudly, but Moning did not come to the window, so I surmised she must be eating with the rest of her family. And I thought of the food being made ready at home and my mouth watered. We met the twins, Urong and Celin, and I said "Hoy!" calling them by name. And they shouted back and asked if my brother Leon and his wife were with me. And my brother Leon shouted to them and then told me to make Labang run; their answers were lost in the noise of the wheels. I stopped labang on the road before our house and would have gotten down but my brother Leon took the rope and told me to stay in the cart. He turned Labang into the open gate and we dashed into our yard. I thought we would crash into the camachile tree, but my brother Leon reined in Labang in time. There was light downstairs in the kitchen, and Mother stood in the doorway, and I could see her smiling shyly. My brother Leon was helping Maria over the wheel. The first words that fell from his lips after he had kissed Mother's hand were: "Father... where is he?"

"He is in his room upstairs," Mother said, her face becoming serious. "His leg is bothering him again." I did not hear anything more because I had to go back to the cart to unhitch Labang. But I hardly tied him under the barn when I heard Father calling me. I met my brother Leon going to bring up the trunks. As I passed through the kitchen, there were Mother and my sister Aurelia and Maria and it seemed to me they were crying, all of them. There was no light in Father's room. There was no movement. He sat in the big armchair by the western window, and a star shone directly through it. He was smoking, but he removed the roll of tobacco from his mouth when he saw me. He laid it carefully on the windowsill before speaking. "Did you meet anybody on the way?" he asked. "No, Father," I said. "Nobody passes through the Waig at night." He reached for his roll of tobacco and hitched himself up in the chair. "She is very beautiful, Father." "Was she afraid of Labang?" My father had not raised his voice, but the room seemed to resound with it. And again I saw her eyes on the long curving horns and the arm of my brother Leon around her shoulders. "No, Father, she was not afraid." "On the way---" "She looked at the stars, Father. And Manong Leon sang." "What did he sing?" "---Sky Sown with Stars... She sang with him." He was silent again. I could hear the low voices of Mother and my sister Aurelia downstairs. There was also the voice of my brother Leon, and I thought that Father's voice must have been like it when Father was young. He had laid the roll of tobacco on the windowsill once more. I watched the smoke waver faintly upward from the lighted end and vanish slowly into the night outside. The door opened and my brother Leon and Maria came in. "Have you watered Labang?" Father spoke to me. I told him that Labang was resting yet under the barn. "It is time you watered him, my son," my father said. I looked at Maria and she was lovely. She was tall. Beside my brother Leon, she was tall and very still. Then I went out, and in the darkened hall the fragrance of her was like a morning when papayas are in bloom.

Mariang Makiling
By Jose Rizal Mariang Makiling was a fantastic creature, half nymph, half sylph, born under the moonbeams of Filipinas, in the mystery of its ancient woods, to the murmur of the waves on the neighboring lake. According to general belief, and contrary to the reputation imputed to the nymphs and goddesses, Mariang Makiling always remained pure, simple and mysterious, as the genius of the mountain. She had reportedly been

seen passing in the distance over the reed grass so lightly and airily that she did not even make its flexible blades bend. Generally, everyone loved and respected her and no one ever dared to question her, to follow or to watch her. She had also been seen seated for long periods upon a cliff beside a river, as though watching the gentle current of the stream. There was an old hunter who claimed to have seen her bathing in a secluded fountain at midnight, when the cicadas themselves were asleep, when the moon reigned in the midst of the silence and nothing disturbed the charm of solitude. During such hours, the notes of her hard might be heard mysterious and melancholy. Persons who heard them stopped, for the sounds drew away when any attempt was made to follow them up. Her favorite time for appearing, it is said, was after a storm. Then she would be seen scurrying over the fields, and wherever she passed, life, order and calm were renewed; the trees again straightened upon their overthrown trucks, the streams sank back into their beds and the traces of the unchained elements were wiped away. When the poor country folk on the slopes of Makiling needed clothing or jewels for the solemn occasions of life she would lend them such, on condition that they return them and, besides, give her a pullet, white as milk, one that had never laid an egg, a dumalaga as they say. Maraiang Makiling was very charitable and had a good heart. How often had she, in the guise of a simple country maid, aided the poor old women who went to the woods for firewood or to pick up wild fruits, by slipping among the latter nuggets of gold, coins, reliquaries and jewels! A hunter who was one day chasing a wild boar through the tall grass and thorny bushes of the thickets came suddenly upon a hut in which the animal hid. Soon a beautiful young woman issued from the hut and said to him gently: The wild boar belongs to me and you have done wrong to chase it. But I see that you are tired, your arms and legs are covered with blood. So come in and eat, and then you may go on your way. Confused and startled, and besides charmed by the beauty of the young woman, the man went in and ate mechanically everything she offered him, without being able to speak a single word. Before he left, the young woman gave him some pieces of ginger, charging him to give them to his wife for her cooking. The hunter put them inside the crown of his broad hat and after thanking her withdrew in content. On the way home he felt his hat becoming heavy so he took out many of the pieces and threw them away. But what was his surprise and regret when the next day his wife discovered that what they had taken to be ginger was solid gold, bright as a ray of sunshine! But for many years now, her presence has not been manifested on Makiling. Her vapory figure no longer wanders through the deep valleys or hovers over the waterfalls on the serene moonlit nights. The melancholy tone of her mysterious harp is no longer heard, and now lovers are married without getting from her either jewels or presents. Mariang Makiling has disappeared or at least she avoids any contact with humankind.

The Story of Magayon

By Merito B. Espinas Long ago, there lived in Ibalong the tribal Chief Makusog of Rawis who had an only daughter, Daragang Magayon. Her mother Dawani died shortly after giving birth to the girl. Magayon grew up to be so beautiful and sweet that love-struck swains from faraway tribes, including those outside the region, vied for her affection. But not one of

the young men captivated the heart of the lovely maiden, not even the handsome but haughty Pagtuga, the great hunter and powerful Chief of Iraga, who showered Magayon's father with fabulous gifts of gold, pearls, and wild trophies of the hunt. Not until Ulap showed up in Rawis. He was soft-spoken but brave son of Chief Karilaya of the Tagalog Region. He had come all the long way on foot to see for himself the celebrated beauty of Daragang Magayon. Unlike other suitors, Ulap bided his time. For many days he simply stole admiring glances from a distance at Daragang Magayon as she bathed at the Yawa River. It did not take long for an opportunity to present himself. After an unusually rainy night, Magayon went to bathe as her wont to Yawa, but a swift current, dislodging her foot from a slippery rock, abruptly plunged her into the chilly water. In a flash, Ulap was at her side and brought the trembling maiden safely to dry land. The frightened womenin-waiting could only gape at them stupefied. As the stars would have it, this sparked the glowing love between Daragang Magayon and Ulap. A few more meetings with the lovely daraga after this fateful incident emboldened the youth to follow her home one bright morning. Signifying his intention to marry Magayon, he thrust his spear at the stairs of Chief Makusog's house. Magayon could only blush and cast her eyes down. sensing that at last Magayon was in love and wishing only happiness for her daughter, the father offered no objection. Magayon and Ulap were overjoyed. But the wedding was to be in a month's time, for Ulap had yet to inform his people to gather provisions for the feast. This happy news spread fast and, in no time, reached Pagtuga. He was furious. He laid in wait for Chief Makusog to hunt, took him captive, and sent word to Magayon that unless she agreed to marry him, her father must die, and that a war would be waged against Magayon's people. An early date was set for the nuptials. Informed of this unhappy turn of events, Ulap abandoned the wedding preparations of his tribe and along with his bravest warriors, hastily returned to rawis just in time for the ceremonies. In a skirmish that followed, Pagtuga was slain by Ulap. The joyous Magayon, rushing to embrace Ulap, was hit by a stray arrow. While Ulap held the dying Magayon in his arms, Linog, a burly henchman of Pagtuga hurled his spear at Ulap's back killing him instantly. At that precise moment, Makusog swung his mighty arm and struck down Linog with his minasbad. This awful spectacle left the combatants speechless and remorseful. Instead of rejoicing over a wedding, there was wailing over the dead and the dying. Chief Makusog, himself in tears, dug the grave for Ulap and Magayon and tenderly laid them together each in the other's arms as they had died. The days that followed saw the grave rising higher and higher attended by muffled rumblings and earthquakes, and red-hot boulders bursting from the crater. When this occurs, old folk believe that Pagtuga, aided by Linog, agitates the volcano to get back the gifts which, following the ancient custom, was buried with Magayon. On certain days, when the tip is covered with clouds, the old folk say that Ulap is kissing Magayon. When afterwards rain trickles caressingly down the gentle slopes of the mountain, they insist that it is the tears of Ulap. Magayon has since been shortened to Mayong or Mayon whose tragic story casts a foreboding shadow even on the brightest day, over this lovely countryside of Daragang Magayon.

The Legend of the Banana

The once lived a couple in a village by the sea. They had a beautiful daughter named Juana. Under the loving care of her parents, Juana grew up and, because of her beauty, many suitors vied for her. One of Juana's suitors was a fellow named Aging. At first Juana and Aging were just friends. But friendship soon turned to love. Juana's father came to know of the love affair. He told Juana not to entertain Aging. In spite of this, the two lovers found ways to see each other. Early one evening, Juana's father arrived from the field where he had been working all day. To his surprise, he saw Aging by the window of the house. The sight of Aging made the father angry. Quickly, he reached the window and, with his sharp bolo, he struck Aging on the arm. Down fell the arm of Aging. Then Aging rushed out of the house, followed by Juana who kept crying and calling Aging's name at the same time. Juana was not able to find Aging After she had comforted herself, she went back to the house, took Aging's arm, and buried it in the yard. The next morning, Juana's father went to the garden. What did he see? Near the spot where Juana buried Aging's arm, there was a small green plant pushing itself up. The plant had wide green leaves and yellow fruits shaped like clusters of fingers. He shouted in surprise then he called Juana to come down. "What plant is this," asked the father. "I've never seen one like it before!" Upon seeing the plant, Juana remembered the arm she had buried on the spot the night before. The name of Aging kept lingering on her mind. Then Juana said, "That plant is Aging! It is the arm of Aging!" From that time on, the plant with clustered fruits came to be known as Aging, which was later changed to Saging.

Juan Tamad Escapes a Beating

On day, Juan's father was very angry. "Aie!" cried the father of Juan Tamad in great anger. "Juan has again forgotten to water the carabao and the beast is hot and dry. When that good-for-nothing son of yours comes home, he will surely feel my lash on his lazy hide." The mother who is always there to shield her son said, "It was my fault. This morning I craved the taste of duhat and your son fetched me a handful of the fruit which, unwittingly, I shared with him. There may be truth in what my mother used to say that any man or woman or child who partakes of food craved by a conceiving woman will suffer from fits of forgetfulness..." "Last night your son was forgetful," the father grumbled. "And other times before he was forgetful too. Surely, you did not share duhat fruit with him yesterday or the day before?" "Yesterday, it as guavas," the mother smiled, "and the day before yesterday it was tamarind. Why, Mother used to say also that if a conceiving woman takes a notion either to like or dislike a person, that one will become absent-minded. Also, that, whichever person or object attracts her fancy or incurs her displeasure, will leave a mark on her baby that is yet to be born."

"My mother also used to tell me," said the father of Juan Tamad, "that a pregnant woman may not eat of twin bananas if she does not wish to give birth to twins." "Nor mend or hem a dress she has on, lest she suffers a difficult birth-giving..." Nor this and that and the other, continued Juan Tamad's father through tale after tale, thus forgetting his anger, and the mother smiled, knowing her son had escaped a beating that night.

The Monkey and the Crocodile

Once upon a time, a clever monkey lived in a mango tree. The mangoes were ripe, yellow and sweet. He enjoyed life and was a very contented monkey. One sunny, beautiful day, a crocodile swam up to the tree and told the monkey that he had traveled a long distance and was in search of food as he was very hungry. The monkey as kind and offered him a few ripe and sweet mangoes. The crocodile enjoyed them very much and asked the monkey whether he could come again from some more fruit. The monkey was generous and he happily agreed to give mangoes to his new found friend, the crocodile. The crocodile returned early the next day. The monkey gave him a few mangoes which he enjoyed eating. Soon the crocodile visited the monkey everyday. The two became very good friends. They discussed their lives, their friends and family. The crocodile told the monkey that he had a wife and that they lied on the other side of the river. So the kind and generous monkey offered him some extra mangoes to take home to his wife. The crocodile's wife loved the mangoes and made her husband promise to get her some everyday. Meanwhile, the friendship between the monkey and the crocodile became stronger. The crocodile's wife started to get jealous. She wanted to put an end to their friendship. She frequently questioned her husband about the monkey and his family. She pretended that she could not believe her husband, a crocodile, could be friends with a monkey. Her husband tried to convince her that he and the monkey were true friends but she pretended not to believe him. The crocodile's wife thought to herself that if the monkey lived on a diet of mangoes, his flesh would be very sweet so she asked the crocodile to invite the monkey to their house for lunch. The crocodile was not happy about this. he tried to make excuses. One day, she pretended to be very ill and told the crocodile that the doctor said that she would only recover if she ate a monkey's heart. If her husband truly loved her and wanted to save her life, he must bring her his friend's heart. The crocodile was terrified. He did not know what to do. He loved his friend but he could not possibly let his wife die. The crocodile's wife threatened him, saying that if he did not get her the monkey's heart, she would surely die. So the crocodile went to the mango tree and invited the monkey to come home to meet his wife. He told the monkey that he could ride across the river on the crocodile's back. The monkey was happy to visit the crocodile's home and meet his wife. As they reached the middle of the river, the crocodile began to sink. The frightened monkey asked him why he was doing that. The crocodile explained that he would have to kill the monkey and take out his heart to save his wife's life.

The clever monkey told him that he would gladly give his heart to save the life of the crocodile's wife, but he had left his heart behind in the mango tree. He asked the crocodile to hurry and turn back so that the monkey could go get his heart from the mango tree. The silly crocodile quickly swam back to the mango tree. The monkey quickly climbed up the tree to safety. He told the crocodile to tell his wicked wife that she had married the biggest fool in the world.

The Donkey in the Lions Skin

Once upon a time, a donkey was strolling in the forest when he stumbled upon a Lion's skin left on the ground by a hunter. He dressed himself in it, and amused himself by hiding in a thicket and rushing out suddenly at the animals who passed that way. All took to their heels the moment they saw him. The donkey was so pleased to see the animals running away from him, just as if he were a lion himself that he could not keep from expressing his delight by a loud, harsh bray. A fox, who ran with the rest, stopped short as soon as he heard the voice. Approaching the ass, he said with a laugh: If you had kept your mouth shut you might have frightened me, too. But you gave yourself away with that silly bray." Moral: A fool may deceive by his dress and appearance, but his words will soon show what he really is.

The Story of Creation

When the world first began there was no land, but only the sea and the sky, and between them was a kite (a bird something like a hawk). One day the bird which had nowhere to land grew tired of flying about, so she stirred up the sea until it threw its waters against the sky. The sky, in order to restrain the sea, showered upon its many islands until it could no longer rise, but ran back and forth. Then the sky ordered the kite to land on one of the islands to build her nest, and to leave the sea and the sky in peace. Now at this time, the land breeze and the sea breeze were married, and they had a child which was bamboo. One day when this bamboo was floating about in the water, it struck the feet of the kite which was on the beach. The bird, angry that anything should strike it, pecked at the bamboo, and out of one section came a man and from the other a woman. Then the earthquake called upon all the birds and fish to see what should be done with these two, and it was decided that they should marry. Many children were born to the couple, and from them came all the different races of people. After a while the parents grew very tired of having so many idle and useless children around, and they wished to be rid of them, but they knew of no place to send them. Time went on and the children became so numerous that the parents enjoyed no

peace. One day, in desperation, the father seized a stick and began beating them on all sides. This so frightened the children that they fled in different directions, seeking hidden rooms in the house some concealed themselves in the walls, some ran outside, while others hid in the fireplace, and several fled to the sea. Now it happened that those who went into the hidden rooms of the house later became the chiefs of the islands and those who concealed themselves in the walls became slaves. Those who ran outside were free men; those who hid in the fireplace became Negroes; those who fled to the sea were gone many years and when their children came back they were the white people.

The Intelligent Frog

Goblin was a frog that was very intelligent. He could discuss almost anything under the sun with such ease and facility. All frogs in the community turned to him whenever they had problems. He was envied and admired by all the frogs in their village. Because of the attention he was getting, he became boastful. One Day, he went to a nearby brook to take a bath and catch small insects to eat. He was enjoying the cool water of the brook so much that he didn't notice he was going further and further away from the village. It was already getting dark when he realized that he had lost his way. No matter how much he tried, he could not find his way home. Some frogs along the way asked him if he wanted help but he was too proud to admit that he had lost his way. When he finally decided to seek help, there were no more frogs around because it was night.

My Brothers Peculiar Chicken

By Alejandro R. Roces
My brother Kiko had a very peculiar chicken. It was very peculiar because no one could tell whether it was a rooster or a hen. My brother claimed it was a rooster. I claimed it was a hen. We almost got lynched trying to settle the argument. The whole question began early one morning, while Kiko and I were driving the chickens from the cornfield. The corn had just been planted and the chickens were scratching the seed out for food. Suddenly we heard the rapid flapping of wings. We turned in the direction of the sound and saw the two chickens fighting the far end of the field. We could not see the birds clearly, as they were lunging at each other in a whirlwind of feathers and dust. Look at the rooster fight!| my brother said pointing excitedly at one of the chickens. Why, if I had a rooster like that I could get rich in the cockpit. Let us go and catch it, I suggested. No, you stay here, I will go and catch it, Kiko said, my brother slowly approached the battling chickens. They were so busy fighting that they did not notice him as he approached. When he got near them, he dived and caught one of them by the legs. It struggled and squawked. Kiko finally held it by both wings and it stood still. I ran over to where he was and took a good look at the chicken.

Aba, it is a hen! I said. What is the matter with you? my brother asked. Is the heat making you sick? No, look at its head. It has no comb or wattles. No comb or wattles! Who cares about its comb or wattles? Didnt you see it fight? Sure, I saw it fight, but I still say it is a hen. A hen! Did you ever saw a hen with spurs like this? Or a hen with a tail like

this?

Kiko and I could not agree on what determines the sex of a chicken. If the animal in question had been a carabao it would have been simple. All we would have to do was to look at the carabao. We would have wasted no time at examining its tail, hooves, or horns. We would simply have looked at the animal straight in the face, and if it had a brass on its nose the carabao would undoubtedly be a bull. But chickens are not like carabaos. So the argument went on in the field and the whole morning. At noon, we left to have our lunch. We argued about it on the way home. When we arrived at our house, Kiko tethered the chicken on a peg. The chicken flapped its wings and then crowed. There! Did you hear that? my brother exclaimed triumphantly. I suppose you are going to tell me now that carabaos fly. I do not care if it crows or not, I said. That chicken is a hen. We went in the house and the discussion continued during lunch. It is not a hen, Kiko said. It is a rooster. It is a hen, I said. It is not. It is. Thats enough! Mother interrupted. How many times must Father tell you boys not to argue during lunch? What is the argument about this time? We told Mother and she went out to look at the chicken, The chicken, she said, is a binabae. It is a rooster that looks like a hen. That should have ended the argument. But Father also went to see the chicken and he said. No, Mother, you are wrong. That chicken is a binalake, a hen which looks like a rooster. Have you been drinking again? Mother asked. No, Father answered. Then what makes you say that rooster is a hen? Have you ever seen a hen with feathers like that? Listen. I have handled fighting roosters since I was a boy, and you cannot tell me that thing is a rooster. Before Kiko and I realized what had happened to Father and Mother were arguing about the chicken all by themselves. Soon Mother was crying. She always cried when argued with Father. You know well that it is a rooster, she sobbed. You are just being mean and stubborn. I am sorry, Father said. But I know a hen when I see one.

Then he put his arms around Mother and called her corny names like my Reina Elenea, my Madonna and my Maria Clara. He always did that when Mother cried. Kiko and I felt embarrassed. We left the house without finishing our lunch. I know who can settle this question, my brother said. Tenienteng Tasio. Tenienteng Tasio was the head of the village. I did not think that the chief of the village was the man who could solve a problem. For the chief was the barrio philosopher. By this I mean that he was a man who explained his strange views by even stranger reasons. For example, the chief frowned on cockfighting. Now many people object to rooster fighting, their reason being either that they think cockfighting is cruel or that they think gambling is bad. Neither of these was the chiefs reason. Cockfighting, he said was a waste of time because it has been proven that one gamecock can beat another. The chief, however, had one merit. He was the oldest man in the barrio, and while this did not make him an ornithologist, still, we have to admit that anything said always carries more weight if it is said by a man with grey hairs. So when Kiko suggested consulting the teniente, I voiced no objection. I acquiesced to let him be the arbiter of our dispute. He untied the chicken and we both took it to the chief. Tenienteng Tasio, is this chicken a male or a female? Kiko asked. That is a question that could concern only another chicken, the chief replied. Both Kiko and I were taken aback by this replication. But Kiko was obstinate, so he tried another approach. Look, teniente, he said, my brother and I happen to have a special interest in this particular chicken. Please give us an answer. Just say yes or no. Is this a rooster? It does not look like any rooster that I have ever seen, said the teniente. It is a hen, then, I said. It does not look like any hen that I have ever seen, was the reply. My brother and I were dumbfounded. For a long while we remained speechless. Then Teniente Tasio asked: Have you ever seen an animal like this before? Kiko and I had to admit that we hadnt. Then how do you both know it is a chicken? Well, what else could it be? Kiko asked in turn. It could be another kind of bird. Oh, God, no! Kiko said. Lets go to town and see Mr. Cruz. He would know. Mr. Eduardo Cruz lived in the nearby town of Alcala. He had studied poultry husbandry at Los Baos, and he operated a large egg farm. When we got there Mr. Cruz was taking his siesta, so Kiko released the chicken in his yard. The other chicken would not associate with ours. Not only did they keep as far away from it as they could, but they did not even seem to care to which sex it belonged. Unembarrassed by this, our chicken chased and disgraced several pullets. There! my brother exclaimed. That should prove to you it is a rooster. It proves nothing of the sort, I said. It only proves it has rooster instincts but it could still be a hen. As soon as Mr. Cruz was up, we caught the chicken and took it to his office.

Mr. Cruz, Kiko said, is this a hen or a rooster? Mr. Cruz looked at the bird curiously and then said: Hmmmm, I dont know. I couldnt tell at one look. I have never run across a biddy like this before. Well, is there any way you can tell? Why, sure. Look at the feathers on its back. If the ends are round, its a she. If they are pointed, then it is a he. The three of us examined its feathers closely. It had both! Hmm. Very peculiar, said Mr. Cruz. Is there any other way you can tell? I could kill it and examine its insides, No, I dont want it killed, my brother said. I took the plumed creature in my arms and we walked back to the barrio. Kiko was silent most of the way. Then suddenly he snapped his fingers and said: I know how I can prove to you that this is a rooster. How? I asked. Would you agree that this is a rooster if it fights in a cockpit and it wins? If this hen of yours can beat a gamecock, I would believe anything, I said. All right, he said, we will take it to the cockpit this coming Sunday. So that Sunday we took the chicken to the cockpit. Kiko looked around for a suitable opponent and finally decided on a red rooster. I recognized the rooster as a veteran of the pit whose picture had once graced the cover of the gamecock magazine Pintakasi. It was also the chanticleer that had once escaped to the forest and lured all the hens away from the surrounding farms. Raising its serpent-liked head, the red rooster eyed the chicken arrogantly and jiggled its sickle feathers. This scared me. For I knew that when the gamecock is in breeding mood it is twice a ferocious. Do not pit your hen against the rooster, I told Kiko. That the rooster is not a native chicken. It was brought over the from Texas. That does not mean anything to me, my brother said. My rooster will kill it. Do not be a fool, I said. That red rooster is a killer. It has killed more chickens than the cholera. There is no rooster in this province that can take its gaff. Pick on a less formidable rooster. My brother would not listen. The match was made and the birds were headed for the killing. Sharp steel gaffs were tied to their left legs. Kiko bet eight pesos on his chicken. I only bet two. The odds were two to one. Then I said a tacit prayer to Santa Rita de Casia, patroness of the impossible. Then the fight began. Both birds were released at the center of the arena. The Texan scratched the ground as if it were digging a grave for its opponent. Moments later, the two fighters confronted each other. I expected our rooster to die of fright. Instead, a strange thing happened. A lovesick expression came into the red roosters eyes. Then it did a love dance. Naturally, this was a most surprising incident to one and all, but particularly to those who had stakes on the Texas rooster. For it was evident that the Texan was thoroughly infatuated with our chicken and that any attention it had for the moment was strictly amatory. But before anyone could collect his wits our foul rushed at the red stag with its hackle feathers flaring. In one lunge, it buried its spur in its adversarys breast. The fight was over! The sentencer raised our chicken in token victory.

Tiope! Tiope! Fixed fight! the crowed shouted. Then a riot broke out. People tore the bamboo benches apart and used them as clubs. My brother and I had to leave through the back way. I had the chicken under my arm. We ran towards the coconut groves and we kept running till we lost the mob. As soon as we felt safe, we sat on the ground and rested. We were both panting like dogs. Now are you convinced it is a rooster? Kiko muttered between breaths. Yes, I answered. I was glad the whole thing was over. But the chicken had other ideas. It began to quiver. Then something round and warm dropped on to my hand. The chicken cackled with laughter. I looked down and saw an egg!

The Legend of the Sampaguita

A long time ago, neighboring villages Balintawak and Gagalangin are separated by a strong wall made of dried bamboos. This wall is torn and replaced every five years, sometimes by the guardsmen of Ballintawak and sometimes by the guardsmen of Gagalangin. This is done according to the respective datu's command. Rosita, the daughter of barangay Balintawak's is blessed with incomparable beauty and kindness. Her mother died when she was young but she has four maids to assist her. A lot of admirers tried to win her heart but her heart belonged only to Delfin, son Gagalangin's datu. The conflict between their families did not hinder their love for each other. Every night, when the moon is bright they would secretly meet at the end of the fence with Rosita's maidservants. One day, the datu of Gagalangin heard that the fence is being destroyed by the servants of datu Balintawak so that they can build a new one. He asked one of his guards to watch at the said fence-making. When the guard came back, he told the datu that the new fence was moved. He was mad because the datu of Balintawak took five meters of their land, in essence occupying a bit of their land. Immediately, he sent a man to the datu of the neighboring barangay. "Tell him", he said, "to take the fence back to its original place! He is being unlawful and stealing is a crime!" When the datu of Balintawak heard about it, he became furious and said, "Tell him that I did not stole anything. I am just returning the wall to it's original position according to the laws of my ancestors!" Delfin's father was enraged when he heard the response. In situations like this, the usual conclusion was bloodshed. The cheif of Gagalangin prepared his army. By the edge of his sword, he had to take back the land that was taken from him. When the chief of Balintawak heard that the cheif of Gagalangin are preparing for war agains him, he too prepared his army. When the time drew nearer to the day of the attack, the chief of Balintawak suddenly fell ill and not long after that, passed away. Delfin was left with the great responsibility of being general of the army of Gagalangin. When Rosita heard of this, she was distressed. Delfin was very young and had not had any experience in war. Whereas her father has been honed by many fights ever since he was a child. Indeed, she was extremely distressed. She wanted to speak to Delfin so that the war could be postponed so that they could have a peaceful

negotiation with her father. However, there was no time for them to talk. The next day, her father was heading a massive army. The battle between the two tribes was fierce and bloody. Many men died that day. Delfin was fatally wounded, and because of the amount of blood he lost, he fell to the ground. Before he breathed his last, he gave instructions to his soldiers for his body to be buried next to the wall, near the secret passage where in the full moon, he and Rosita, along with her maidservants, peacefully walked through the lush grass of the fields. The stories of old never went into details as to the two lover's story, nor did it mention the result of the battle. All that was said is this: when Rosita heard about Delfin's death, the young woman fell desperately ill. Her father called the best doctors from everywhere, but none of them could heal the pitiful young lady. Little by little, her strength left her. When Rosita felt that she did not have long to live, she requested that her father that her body be buried next to Delfin's. Although this was hard on the cheif, he granted the wish of the daughter whom he loved dearly. Many years passed since that time. The days of the villages and chiefs have long gone and the Spanish came to colonize the land. The city of Manila had been founded and there are now many people living in Balintawak and Gagalangin. However, the people from these two places have been perturbed by one mysterious thing. Every month of May, especially when the moon is bright, there is a mysterious sound heard somewhere in the middle of the two cities. The sound is like that of a young woman, sweetly whispering like a wind in the night, kissing the leaves and the plants. "Sumpa kita!... Sumpa kita!" ("You are my promise.. you are my vow!") is what they would hear. Some people would wait around but they did not see anything. However, they noticed in the wild part of the area, there grew two trees who's flowers are small and white with many petals and who's smell was unbelievably fragrant. This is what the people saw every year on the month of May. It was not long until they thought of digging underneath the two trees to find out the mystery of that voice and the meaning of the words that were uttered. They did not have to dig too deep until they found something. However, their wonder was only deepened when they saw that the two trees started from the mouths of two skulls, buried close together, with their skeleton still intact. It came back to the memories of the elder people of the story of the two lovers, Delfin and Rosita. In the meantime, this story, passed down from mouth to mouth has been altered bit by bit. The words "Sumpa kita!" uttered by the evening breeze, to the listeners of the ages has become "Sampaguita", which is now used for the beautifully scented flowers that sometimes grow on the grave mounds of lovers.

The Prowess of Aliguyon

Retold by F. Landa Jocana Long ago in Hannanga, there lived a rich couple, Amtulao and Dumulao. They owned the longest and widest of the rice terraes that covered the mountainsides, and their harvests were the most plentiful. Their thatched house, large enough to contain three of their neighbors huts, had piles of red and white camote. Buried in the earth were jars of rice wine. Amtulaod dogs were fat and well fed, not lean and starved looking as were the dogs of his neighbors. But with all their wealth, Amtulao and Dumulao were unhappy, for they were childless. They offered numerous sacrifices to

the spirits; and they lived frugally and simply feeling somehow that austerity and lack of ostentation would please the anitos. In the end their prayers were answered, and Dumulao gave birth to Aliguyon, a sturdy and handsome child. Even as an infact, Aliguyon was precocious. He quickly learned the songs with which his mother lulled him to sleep, and in no time he could recite the long prayers chanted by the warriors on Hannanga. He even knew by heart the village lore, the stories that the old folks of the village told, reciting them word for word as he had heard them in the cool evenings. But what pleased Amtulao most was Aliguyons skill with the spear and the shield. Amtulao made for him a little spear; and when at the age of three Aliguyon speared his first fish, Amtulao offered a pig as a sacrifice to the gods in thanksgiving. At five Aliguyon had speared wild chickens, at seven he was an accepted companion of Amtulao on hunting trips. Among his playmates Aliguyon was a favorite. He was accepted as the leader, and no one challenged his leadership, for could he not spin a top better than anyone else? And could he not kill the strongest tops by hitting them with the pointed stem of his own top? Amtulao loved his son and carefully taught him all the arts of hunting and fishing that he knew, and he told the boy all the stories of valor and prowess of which he knew so many. But always, he ended with the story about his bitter enemy in the village across the mountain. Pangaiwan of Daligdigan had to be conquered before Amtulao could die in peace. So when Aliguyon reached manhood, he called his childhood friends, now skilled workers, and talked to them about the glories of war, the prize they could bring back, and the adventures and fame awaiting them if they joined him in an expedition to Daligdigan. Eagerly his friends ran for their spears and shields, and with provisions for three days, Aliguyon and ten warriors set forth. When they reached the enemy village, Aliguyon challenged Pangaiwan to fight, but Pangaiwan was old. Instead, up rose Pumbakhayon, his manly son, as skilled a warrior and as strong and keen eyed as Aliguyon. For three years the two men fought, and when they rested, their friends fought man to man. But so well matched were the men, so equal in the arts of war, that no one was beaten. Each combat was a draw, each encounter ended with no one seriously wounded. As last Aliguyon and Pumbakhayon grew to admire each other. The people of Daligdigan, who had watched the strangers with suspicion, learned to like them for their courteous bearing and fair fighting. And the warriors of Hannanga found the girls in Daligdigan winningly shy and sweet. One day, therefore, while Aliguyon and Pumbakhayon sat resting from a hotly contested fight, Pumbakhayon remarked: What a waste of time! If it were not for enemies, we could be at home drinking rice wine and eating broiled fish or roasted meat. But we are enemies even though neither of us did the other any harm. Aliguyon replied, Ah, how truly you speak. Perhaps the anitos do not favor this fight, for neither has won. Perhaps the gods put your words into your mouth and this feeling in my heart, for I no longer wish to kill you, O Pumbakhayon. His words fell on the ears of the listening warriors and on those of the villagers watching the combat. With a loud shout of approval, the warriors ran to their leaders and carried them to the house of Pumbakhaon where old Pangaiwan waited. Preparations began for a huge celebration. Squealing pigs were dragged to be killed. The fattest dogs were killed and cooked. The fields were scoured for river fish and snails. Prized camotes, violet and orange, glutinous and sweet, were boiled or roasted. Bananas were laid out; guavas and berries were heaped high, and in white scrubbed wooden bowls steamed small-grained upland rice, sweet smelling of fragrant herbs and banana leaves, and black-bottomed earthen

pots. Everyone came to the feast, and as the jars of rice wine were emptied, the friendship between the strangers from Hannanga and the people of Daligdigan grew. All throughout the feast,Aliguyon was fascinated by the light movements of Bugan, by her gaiety and her poise. At the end of the three-day feast, he approached Pangaiwan and said, O Pangaiwan, once my fathers enemy but now his friend, grant, I beg of you, this one request. Let us bind our friendship with ties that even death cannot break. Give me your daughter Bugan for my wife. I love her; she is to me the brilliant sun that warms the earth and drives away the chill of the night. She is to me the golden moon that brightens the dark and drives away the weariness of the days work. Without her I cannot return to my village as I left it, for with her I have left my heart and my thoughts and my happiness. Pangaiwan listened, and the men grew quiet. Bugan blushed and bent her head. Fourteen times her father had harvested his yearly crops since she was born; she knew that after two or more harvests her father would begin looking critically at young men who talked to her. But Aliguyon was such a hero, as strong and brave, so well-spoken and so handsome! Would her father allow her to leave the house and follow Aliguyon? Pangaiwan looked at his daughter fondly. He could read her thoughts as she looked at him mutely from under shyly lowered eyelashes. Clearing his throat, he answered slowly: Aliguyon, you are my son. The spirits are good. They have given me a worthy man for a son-in-law. Take Bugan. I pray the anitos that she will be a worthy wife for you and a dutiful daughter-in-law for Amtulao and Dumulao. His words were drowned by the joyous shouts of Aliguyon and his men. Aliguyon spring into the air, yelling with happiness, and his friends chanted the first words of the courting song. The women took up the rhthym with their hands on bronze gongs and hollowed-out logs, and everyone crowded around to see Aliguyon mimic the strut of a rooster as he danced before Bugan. In triumph he led her to his father in Hannanga, and kneeling before Amtulao and Dumulao, he cried: O Father! O Mother! Your enemy in Daligdigan is no more. Pangaiwan, your enemy, no longer lived. In his place is Pangaiwan, the father-in-law of your only son Aliguyon. If you love me, love too the man whom your son promised to honor as the father of his wife. Behold, I have brought you my wife, Bugan of Daligdigan, the lovely daughter of Pangaiwan. I bring her to you, Father, so that someone can pound the dried meat for you when you are hungry. I brought her to you, O my mother, so that someone can carry water to you when you want to drink. I destroyed your enemy by making him a friend. Therefore, O Father, you can die in peace, for we have conquered him. But Bugan conquered my heart, and with her I can live in peace. Thus did peace come to Amtulao and Dumulao. They lived to see Buganenrich their lives with several grandchildren. Often Amtulao and Dumulao were honored guests at Daligdigan, in the house of Pangaiwan; and as often as they visited Pangaiwan, so often did they go to Hannanga to visit his grandchildren and to talk of old times with Amtulao and Dumulao.

The Creation
An Igorot Folktale

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 moulding, 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.

Malakas and Maganda

One sees in the Filipinos a strong and beautiful people. Legend has it that once upon a time, long, long, ago, there lived a maid and a man who loved each other dearly. It is said that Malakas and Maganda were born on the same night, at the same hour just as the new moon was rising. Their people, whose lives were ruled by the movements of the sun and the stars and the moon, knew that this strange coincidence had a wondrous meaning. And even as they worshipped the newly-born babies, their diviners decreed that Bathala, in his mysterious wisdom, must have meant them for each other. And so it came to pass that the two kingdoms which were ruled by the parents of Malakas and Maganda held a joint festival to celebrate the double birth. And at this festival, Malakas and Maganda were promised to each other. They would be married after fifteen years. However, on the night of their birth, a seer had prophesied that their marriage would not come true because an evil bird had sung. So, famine and drought delayed their marriage for three years. Finally, when the night of their wedding had come and both kingdoms were getting ready for the great feast, fears of war between the two kingdoms, one as strong as the other, did not augur well for the occasion. Malakas, came secretly to see Maganda, to tell her about his fears, but the he assured her he loved her and that nothing would ever separate them. Everyone thought they were so right for each other. No other love was more powerful than theirs. Besides, the young and the romantic thought that their marriage was written in the stars.

At the marriage festival, the two rajahs, parents of the bride and groom, had a confrontation over the disputed ancestral lands. There was no wedding. As the two kingdoms separated, they couldn't understand how some old hill could destroy a friendship of many, many years. To Malakas and Maganda, however, their love had grown stronger than it was before. They knew in their hearts they would find a way. One night, when her father was out, Princess Maganda escaped from home and sought out Prince Malakas. Afraid that Maganda might not get another chance to escape, together, they ran away to distant lands. Legend says they became parents of the first Filipinos. Their union gave birth to a strong and beautiful people.

The Second Quarter: Drama

The Adarna Bird (Ibong Adarna)

King Fernando of Berbania had three sons, Pedro, Diego and Juan of whom the last was the favorite. He so loved Juan that when one night he dreamed that his two children conspired against their youngest brother, the king became so frightened that he fell sick with a malady, which non of the physicians of the kingdom were able to cure. Persons were not lacking, however, who would advise him that bird Adarna was the one living being in the world which could restore to him his lost health and tranquility. Acting on this advice, he sent out his oldest son Pedro to look for this coveted animal. After days of wandering through the dense forests ad extensive thickets, he came to a tree of diamond, at the foot of which he fell down tired and thirsty. He never suspected that it was this tree the very one in which the famous bird was accustomed to pass the night; and when the night was setting and the Adarna flung into the air the first of its seven songs, his melody was so softly sweet that Pedro was lulled into a profound sleep. After emitting its seventh melody for the night, the bird defecated on the sleeping prince who was thereby converted into a stone. When Pedro had not returned after the lapse of one year, the impatient king commanded his second son Diego also to launch out in search of the same bird. Diego underwent the same vicissitudes and hardships and came to exactly the same fate as Pedro - converted into a stone at the foot of the enchanted tree. At last Juan, the youngest and most favored son was sent forth, after his elder brothers in search of the treacherous bird. Juan, however, had the fortune to meet on his way an old hermit who impressed by the virtuous and good manners of the young prince on knowing the mission on which he embarked, put him on guard against the treacheries, intrigues and cunning of the famous bird. First, he provided him with a knife and a fruit of lemon, warning him that if he wanted to free himself from the irresistible drowsiness into which one would to be induced by the seven melodies of the Adarna, he had to open on his body seven wounds and distil into them the juice of the lemon that the pain thereby caused might present him from sleeping. Next, the hermit warned him to avoid any defecation that might fall from the bird after it had sung its seven songs, so that he would not suffer the fate of his brothers. Lastly, he told him that after finishing his seventh song the famous bird would fall sleep and that the prince should take advantage of this occasion to take him prisoner. The hermit gave him a golden cord to tie the bird when caught and two pails of water to pour over his two petrified brothers and thereby bring them back to life. Juan did as was bidden and soon found himself in possession of the desired bird and on his way back to his home country with his two brothers, Pedro and Diego. On the way, however, being envious on account of the fact that Juan had obtained what they were not able to do so, the two older brothers conspired between themselves to do away with him. Pedro suggested that they should kill him but Diego who was less brutal convinced Pedro that it was sufficient to beat him, which they did. After beating Juan to whom they owed their lives, they left him unconscious in the middle of the road and the two brothers continued their way to the palace where they presented themselves to their fathers as the ones who actually caught the bird Adarna. To their surprise, the bird refused to sing for the king in the absence of Prince Juan and the monarch did not get well. It was also fortunate that the old hermit who guided Juan to the Adarna found him stretched out helpless on the road, after curing him of his wounds the prince could return safe and sound to his father's kingdom. It as then the bird, out of sheer contentment, burst into most harmonious song recounting it its proper time to the king after he was cured the truth about the absence of Juan. The monarch, blinded by his ire, decreed the death of his two elder sons; but Juan with a noble heart

interceded for them as always and once again reigned in the kingdom peace and merriment. But on a certain night when Juan fell asleep while guarding the Adarna bird in its golden cage, his two elder brothers again entered into conspiracy with one another to put him in bad with their father by letting out the bird from the cage. Juan, ashamed of what he thought was his fault, slipped out of the palace and started to go in search of the famous bird. King Fernando hurriedly ordered Pedro and Diego to start pursuit of the bird and Juan. During the search the bird could not be found anywhere, but the three brothers happened to meet at a place close to a well which they decided to explore instead of returning to the palace for the fear of the ire of their father. Pedro, the eldest, was the first to descend by means of a cord lowered by the two brothers who remained above; but he had scarcely gone a third of the way when he felt afraid and gave sign for his two brothers to pull him out of the well. Presently, Diego was let down but he too could not go farther down than half of the way. When it was Juan's turn to go he allowed himself to be let down to the lowest depths of the cistern. There the prince discovered two enchanted palaces, the first being occupied by Princess Juana who informed him she was being held prisoner by a giant, and the second by Princess Leonora, also the prisoner of a big seven-headed serpent. After killing the giant and the serpent, the prince tagged on the cord and soon came up to the surface of the earth with the two captive princesses, whom his two brothers soon wanted to take away from him. Pedro desired Princess Juana for himself and Diego wanted Princess Leonora. Before the parting, however, Leonora discovered that she left her ring in the innermost recesses of the well. Juan voluntarily offered to take it for her but when he was half way down, the two brothers criminally let him fall to the bottom and abandoned him to his face. Not long after wedding bells were rung in the palace. Pedro married Princess Juana but Princess Leonora before casting her lot with Prince Diego requested her marriage to him delayed for a term of seven years because she might still have a chance to unite herself with Don Juan. Don Juan, thanks to Leonora's enchanted ring found in the well, could avail himself of the help of a wolf which cured him of his wounds, fix his dislocations, bringing him the medicinal waters of the Jordan, and took him out from the profundities of the well. Already shorn of all hope of ever finding the Adarna, Don Juan resolved to return to the Kingdom. But to his confusion, he was unable to find his way. No one could tell him precisely which was the way that would lead him to his fathers kingdom. He came across two or three hermits neither of whom could give him the necessary information. The last of these called into conference all the birds big and small marauding around in those parts, but none of them could tell the prince the direction towards the Berbanian Kingdom. But the king of all the crowd, a swiftly soaring eagle, having compassion for his troubles, offered to take the prince to wherever he desired. In long continued flight the prince and the eagle traversed through infinite spaces until they came to a distant crystal lake on whose shores they landed to rest from their long and tiresome flight. Then the eagle related to his companion the secrets of the crystal lake. This was the bathing place where in certain hours of the day the three daughters of the most powerful and most feared king of the surrounding regions used to plunge and dive into the water and swim; and for this reason it was not proper for the prince to commit any indiscretion if he desired to remain and se the spectacle of the bath. Don Juan remained and when the hour of the bathing arrived he saw plunging into the pure crystal water the figures of the three most beautiful princesses whom his sinful eyes had ever seen in all his life; and then he secretly hid and kept one of the dresses. When one of the princesses noticed the outrage, her two sisters had already gone away and the prince hurriedly ran to her and on his knee begged her pardon placing at her feet her stolen dresses and at the same time poured

forth the most ardent and tender professions of love. Pleased by his gentleness and gallant phrases, the princess also fell in love with him; but she advised him that it would be better for him to go away before her father would come to know of his intrusion because if he did not do so she would be converted into another piece of stone for the walls of the enchanted palace in which they live, in the same way that all the other suitors who aspired for their hands had been converted into. On being informed of the adventure of the bold prince the king sent for him. Don Juan would dare everything for the privilege of seeing his beloved, presented himself to the king in spite of the princess' warning; and the king greatly impressed with the youth's tact and self-possession chose to give him to series of tests both gigantic and impossible of accomplishment by ordinary mortals. The first was to plant two baskets full of wheat given to him by the king on the top of the mountain after converting same into a level land, and to prepare on the following day with the grain they produce the bread for the breakfast of the king and all his courtiers. The second was to remove the mountain found in front of the king's palace to a place behind it, to make way for the cool breezes which he would like to enter his palace. The third was to gather in a single day a number of negroes and negresses thrown into the sea, and to deposit them together in a big bottle. The fourth was for him to construct a feudal castle in the sea together with its complements of troops and ammunitions, everything to be ready for the king's inspection on the following day. For the fifth and last test the king threw his ring into the ocean and made the prince recover it from its bottomless depths. To all these tests Do Juan submitted himself and in all he came out triumphant, thanks to the talisman which was given him by his beloved Dona (Princess) Maria who shared with her father king his power of enchantment. The last proved to be most difficult, as in order to look for the royal ring in the bottomless depths of the ocean, the princess had to allow her body to cut up into pieces and then thrown into the sea as this was the only way whereby the lost jewel could be recovered by her for the sake of her beloved prince. It happened however that when her body was being cut into pieces the end of one of her fingers was dropped from the aggregate of her flesh and on the account it not recovered. But the king, who as may be seen was more obstinate than the legitimate proverbial Briton, wanted him finally to choose from the three princesses without seeing their persons except on their finger which would be places through a small hole in each of their respective rooms. The princess Dona Maria inserted her cut finger and it was not hard for Do Juan to pick her out from among the three. At this juncture, the royal monarch declared himself satisfied; but the princess fearing that her father might resort to a new trick to foil their happiness ordered the prince to direct himself to the royal stables in order to take there from the best horse, which was the seventh counting from the left, and to saddle him and have him ready for them to flee on that same night. Unfortunately, the prince made a mistake taking in his hurry the eight instead of the seventh charger which was the fastest in the whole stable, and when the king came to know of their flight he himself mounted the seventh and immediately went in pursuit of the fugitives whom he soon was about to overtake. In this contingency, the princess in order to save themselves, unfastened and dropped her hair pins which, on touching the ground, were converted into an extensive pile of thorns that obliged their tenacious persecutor to along way around. When the next time he came in sight close behind them, the princess shook off the sweat drops on her face and they were converted into a wide mass of impassable clasp which caused the king to be detained long a second time. For the last time the princess poured out over the ground a bottle of enchanted water, which was converted into a big rapidly flowing stream which proved to be an insurmountable barrier between them and their pursuer. When at last they found themselves safe and free, it did not take them long before they could reach the portals of the Berbanian Kingdom. But the prince, alleging

that he should have such preparations duly made for entry into the royal palace as are appropriate her category and dignity, left Dona Maria on the way promising to return for her once he had informed the committee that was to receive her. But Oh! the unfaithfulness of human heart! Once in the midst of the gay life of the palace after his triumphant reception by his people, Don Juan soon forgot his professions of love to Dona Maria. The worst thing about it however was that he became dazzled by the beauty of Princess Leonora who had been waiting for him during all the days of his absence that he sought her hand in marriage; while Dona Maria was impatiently waiting for his return. When she came to know of the infidelity of Don Juan, the pilgrim princess made use of the talisman which she always carried with her and adorned with the most beautiful royal garments and carried in a large coach drawn by eight sorrel-colored horses with four palfreys, she presented herself at the door of the palace practically inviting herself to the royal wedding of the Prince Don Juan and the Princess Dona Leonora. Out of respect for so beautiful a guest from far away foreign lands and on the occasion of the wedding itself, there were celebrated tournaments, in one of which Dona Maria succeeded in inserting as one of the number dance of a negrito and a negrita created from nothing through her marvelous talisman. In the dance the negrita carried a whip in her hand and with it she pitilessly lashed her negrito partner, calling him Don Juan while she proceeded to remind of all the vicissitudes of fortune undergone by him at the side on Dona Maria, the part which was played by the whipping negrita: the scene of the bath, the different tests to which he had been subjected by her father, the flight of both that was full of accidents, and his cruel abandonment of her on the way. Every crack of the whip which fell on the shoulders of the negrito seemed at the time to the true Don Juan as it is was lashing his own body and flesh. At the end of the scene, the prince repentant of his grave offense came down from his throne to implore pardon from the princess Dona Maria and to offer her his hand, promising to take her for his wife in the presence of all the people of his Kingdom. When the king, his father Don Fernando, came to know of the rivalry of the two princesses, Dona Maria and Dona Leonora, both aspiring to the hand of Don Juan, he consulted with the archbishop of the kingdom on the case, the church dignitary deciding in favor of Dona Leonora invoking for her the priority of the right. But Dona Maria was determined to fight to the last for the prince of her love and, taking advantage of the power of her talisman, sent all over Barbanina Kingdom a big inundation which threatened to carry away the whole nation together with all its inhabitants. King Fernando and his subjects trembled in the face of the imminent danger and all supplicated Princess Dona Leonora to be content with marrying Don Diego, the brother of Don Juan, which she did for the good of all, occasioning for this reason a double marriage - an occasion which brought about once more tranquility and joy to the Berbanian Kingdom.

The World is an Apple

By Alberto S. Florentino (Mario enters, sits down and buries his head in his hands. Gloria crosses to him and lays a hand on his shoulder) Gloria: I know something is wrong. Mario, I can feel it. Tell me what it is.

Mario: Gloria, Ive lost my job. Gloria: Oh, no! How did you lose it? Mario! Have your sinful fingers brought you trouble again? Mario: Now, now, Gloria. Dont try to accuse me as they did. An apple! Yes, and they kicked me out for taking one single apple. Gloria: So thats what you get Mario: Could I have guessing they would do that for one apple? When there were millions of them? We were hauling them to the warehouse. I saw one roll out of a broken crate. It was that big. Suddenly, I found myself putting it in my lunch bag. Do you remember that day I took our little girl out for a walk? On our way home we passed a grocery store that sold delicious apples at seventy centavos each. She wanted me to buy one for her but I did not have seventy centavos. She cried, so, when I saw this apple roll off the crate, I thought that Tita would love to have it. Gloria: Were not rich. We can live without apples. Mario: Why? Did God create apple trees to bear fruit for the rich alone? Didnt He create the whole world for everyone? Gloria: So, for a measly apple, you lose a job! Filching an apple, thats too small a reason to kick a poor man out of work. You should ask them to give you a second chance, Mario. Mario: They wont do that. Cant you see they had been waiting for me to make a slip like that? Theyve wanted to throw me out for any reason, so that they may bring their men in. Gloria: You should complain Mario: If I did, they would dig up my police record. They will do anything to keep me out. But, dont worry, I have found a good job. Gloria: I knew God wouldnt let us down. Mother was wrong. You know, before we got married, she used to tell me Gloria, youll commit the greatest mistake of your life if you marry a good-for-nothing loafer! Oh, youve changed! Pablo: Hmmmm. How romantic. Mario: Pablo! Gloria: What are you doing here? What do you want? Pablo: Your daughterhow is she? Here, Ill loan you a few pesos. It may help your daughter get well. Gloria: No, thank you. Mario has stopped depending on you, since the day I took him away from your clutches! I have no regrets. Mario has none, either. Pablo: How can you be sure? When he and I were pals, we could go to first-class airconditioned movie houses every other day. Ill bet all the money I have here now that he has not been to one for four years! Gloria: Once cannot expect too much from honest money we dont. Pablo: What is honest money? Does it buy more? Staying in this dungeon you call a house, is that what you so beautifully call honesty?

Mario: Pablo! Gloria: I know you have come to lead him back to your dishonest ways, but you cant. Pablo: You call this living? This, Gloria, is what you call dying dying slowly minute by minute. Mario: Pablo, stop it! Pablo: Tell her that you no longer believe in the way she wanted you to live. Gloria: Oh! Marioyou promised me you were through with him. Mario: Gloriayoumust understandI tried long and hardbut could not lift us out of this kind of life Gloria: You are not going with him Mario: You take good care of yourself and our child. (Mario walks away with Pablo. Gloria stares dumbly at them.) Gloria: Mariooooooo! (She covers her face with her dress and cries into it)

Laarni a Dream
By Loret Paras-Sulit This is a story of old Philippines the story of old Laarni and brave Maharlika. Once, this country of ours was a vast wild space ruled by men who knew no law but their wills. Your history tells you of rajas, of freemen and slaves. Among the rulers of the barangays, none was more fierce, none more powerful than Maginoo Mataas. He was known widely, not for his prowess nor for his wisdom, but for the beauty of his daughter, the Princess Laarni. She was not called by the name of princess of course, but we shall give her that name she deserves it. Maginoo Mataas barangay was bordered by the sea and by the mountains, but these were naught compared to his daughter. Ah, my dears, I am sure you would wish you had her beauty. Girls though you are, you would have fallen in love with her had you seen her coming from her bath in one of her fathers rivers. Her hair trailing down her back was the night without stars; her eyes no deeper darkness could you find, her lashes thick enough to capture sunbeams and keep them in her eyes; her mouth, my dears, adorable in its haughty curves, exquisite in its crimson softness. Grace and beauty incarnate was this imperious daughter of Maginoo Mataas. You are murmuring, my dears? I am flowery? You laugh at the way I talk, products of this cold, materialistic age, but you like what I say. Many were the young men who had thrust their spears into her fathers staircase, asking for her hand. But they asked in vain. They could not offer anything to tempt Maginoo Mataas to give up his daughter. Yearly, in the months of March and April, came trading junks from China bringing silks and jewels to give to the fair Laarni. The owner of these junks, Mandarin Li Ho Weng, came with his ships to pay court to Laarni, but even his wealth could not tempt her father. Thus Laarni lived, her heart whole and free. One afternoon, as she was wont to do she started with her slaves for the river to take her to daily bath. She was in an irritated mood, for the heat could not be driven away by even huge fans of the slaves. Now as she reached the river, she motioned them aside and they cringed low before their angry mistress.

Laarni walked down the bank to her favorite spot. A surprised awaited her. A boat with a solitary occupant sat lightly on the water. Laarni regarded the intruder haughtily. She saw a very bronzed man in the garb of a freeman. The lordly air of his still figure matched her imperious stare. Who are you? she demanded. I am Maharlika, he answered. A maharlika? she inquired, frowning. Yes, I am a freeman, he replied smiling. And I am known by the name of Maharlika to tell all that I am a freeman, slave to none but myself. I am Maharlika, Princess Laarni, he repeated. You know me? was Laarnis question. Who would not know you? was his answer, you most beautiful of creatures? Who has not heard of you, most lovely of beings? I heard afar in my land across the mountains, and I came to see the Princess Laarni. I saw her and she fired my blood; naught will satisfy me till I have won her. Who are you that dare speak thus to me, Laarni, daughter of Rajah Mataas? Know you not the penalty for such an offense is death? I know, most exquisite woman, and I dare, he answered unafraid, the quiet smile still on his face. You dare! she stamped her feet angrily. Ah, my dears, the proud Laarni had never known such impudence. You, a mere freeman, to address me in that language, as if I were a slave! You, only a maharlika, daring to woo the daughter of Rajah Mataas! You , a nobody, to transgress our laws and customs! I am a freeman a noble one, he answered equally proud. I have a heart so I dare to love; I have a tongue, so I dare speak. Laarni could make no reply. Never in her life had she been treated that way. Her eyes glittered with wrath and her voice trembled with great anger as she said, My father shall hear of this and his warriors will scour the rivers for you. Maharlika brought his boat near the bank and then he jumped ashore. A splendid man he was. Laarni, even in her anger, could not help admiring the splendid cast of his head and the easy swing of his powerful figure. I will go to your father, Princess Laarni. I am an emissary of Rajah Bayani. Laarni recognized in the name her fathers greatest ally, who dwelt across the mountains. At this moment a slave came running toward them. Your father summons you, he told Laarni. The Chinese junks have arrived and with them comes Li Ho Weng. Laarni called her slaves and walked away. When she reached her fathers house she saw that Maharlika had followed her. She climbed the bamboo staircase and paused for a moment to look back. The young man had stopped and then raised the spear he was carrying and thrust it into the staircase. Her father, lordly in his crimson silk robe, huge gold armlets, and jeweled anklets, came out. Who is it that comes? he asked loudly. Maharlika, the freeman answered. I come to ask for the hand of Laarni for my master, Rajah Bayani. Laarni fled to her chamber and vented her anger on her slaves. That man there on the staircase had been entrusted to ask her for his master, and had dared address his love to her.

That evening she was requested to appear before her father. My daughter, he announced gently, two proposals have come today. One is from my most esteemed friend Rajah Bayani, which I favor and hope you will accept. The other is from Li Ho Weng. He has renewed his suit this year and desires a definite answer. I cannot give my daughter to a foreigner, rich though he may be. I dont want either of them, answered Laarni. Rajah Bayani is old and has had many wives. I loathe Li Ho Weng. You will have to become the bride of Rajah Bayani, decided her father, and he motioned her away. Laarni retired in vexation to her chamber. The days passed uneventfully. Maharlika was often with Maginoo Mataas, arranging the dower. He attended the councils of the barangay and endeared himself to the heart of the old man by his wisdom and courtesy. He did not speak to Laarni; but his eyes pleaded eloquently. Try as she would, Laarni could not sufficiently hate the lovetraitor. One day Laarni was approached by a slave with a message. The Chinese junks leave on the morrow, and she had not been on board. Would she deign to visit them that day? They had brought their richest silks and satins this year, and they were waiting for her, so the slave announced. Laarni decided to go. It had been always the custom of her people to go aboard those junks and exchange their products of gold dust, wax and honey for goods brought by the Chinese traders. Laarni took only one slave with her. The Mandarin Li Ho Weng met her as she went with this stately Chinese trader. She looked at his gold-embroidered robe of heavy silk. She would have plenty like those and jewels galore. Laarni was lost in ecstasy at the goods brought before her. All the wealth of the East seemed to spread out before her. She cried in admiration over a silk robe on which was embroidered a pagoda and a garden. Flowers seemed to arch in life from the stems. Would you not like to dwell in such a palace, beautiful Princess Laarni? asked the low voice of Li Ho Weng. She was silent. There is such a place waiting for you most gracious of women, he continued. Laarni shook her head and turned to go away, but Mandarin Li Ho Weng barred her. He smiled slyly. I have waited of you all these days, but you did not come. Now that you are here, shall I let you go? Do you think that you can bear me away as if I were a piece of goods? she questioned haughtily. My father can raise a thousand warriors at the flick of a hand. The mandarin shrugged lightly, and motion caused the light to ripple over the gold embroidery of his robe. Can your spears and arrows avail against those? he asked as he pointed to little cannons on the side of the junk. He came nearer to Laarni. Across the seas where I dwell in a house of gold and recline on a couch of silk, your beauty haunts me. Year after year, I have come, seemingly to trade with your people, but it was a glimpse of the beautiful blossom of this wild land. Year by year my love grew until I decided that I would have her, cost what it might. You think all those junks are laden with goods? They are full of men and weapons. A commotion cut short his speech. Two Chinese came dragging a wet Maharlika before them. He looked defiantly at the master, glancing gently at Laarni. I heard all you said, thief of women.

The mandarin, lord of where he stood, looked contemptuously at him. Who are you? he asked. Laarni could not help smiling. Everybody who saw Maharlika asked him that question. The captive drew himself up rapidly. I am Maharlika, son of Rajah Bayani. My father died just yesterday, so I am Rajah Maharlika. Laarni started in surprise, I have come to take the Princess Laarni, he announced with easy confidence. The mandarin laughed contemptuously. If you had not told me that, I should have freed you. Now, the imperious mandarin gave an order to a shrunken, shriveled Chinese. The latter disappeared and came back bearing a cage made of fine wire. Laarni shuddered. The cage contained a snake a cobra. The mandarin regarded the snake for some time. A cruel, little smile was on his lips. Touch it, he commanded and the Chinese seemed to shrivel in to a wrinkled mass. Fear, ugly fear, yellowed his seamed face. I cannot, I cannot, o heaven-born, the man whined. Touch it, thundered the master. I cannot, I cannot, oh Celestial-being, he moaned in fright. The master drew a dagger significantly. There was no alternative; the Chinese knew he would meet a more horrible death if he disobeyed. With hands that trembled mightily, he opened the door of the cage and thrust his hand. He pulled it out instantly with a terrible cry. He fell and rolled down dead. You shall die like that, Li ho Weng told Maharlika grimly. Laarni made no protest; she knew it would be useless. Beside there was a savage desire in her breast to see that confident man tested. Maharlika smiled at her, and then, without hesitation, he stepped near the cage and thrust in his hand. How he did it, I do not know. As his hand emerged from the cage, it bore a wriggling snake. It writhed fiercely and tried to reach the hand that choked it unmercifully. Maharlika suddenly thrust it into the mandarins face. A terrible cry arose from the followers when they witnessed their master fall dead. But Maharlika kept them at the bay with the snake he held. Jump, jump, and swim to the shore, he commanded Laarni. My men are coming and they will rescue you. A few minutes later he was splashing beside her. No men came, and together they reached the shore safely. Thrust your spear into my fathers staircase, she whispered before she was led away by her frightened slaves. Thrust it for yourself, and you will not thrust in vain. Love always exists at all times and in all climes.

Shadow on Solitude
By Claro M. Recto
Characters: Gabriela - The Wife Andres - The husband Marina - The sister Don Narciso - The uncle

Luisa ' - The family friend The scene is a living room marked by simplicity, good taste, and the atmosphere of the cultured middle class'. Door at left leads into the clinic and laboratory of Andres; two doors at right lead into the bedrooms and, the rest of the house. At rear, center, between wide sunny windows, is the main door, which opens into a wide hall It is five o'clock on an April afternoon in 1917 As curtain opens, Andres sits reading, Gabriela sits knitting, and Don Narciso is just coming in through the main door. Gabriela: Good afternoon, Tito Narciso Andres: (rising and making a gesture to kiss the older man's hand): Hola, Tito Narciso. D. Narciso: What news, children? I have come to be informed-. And Marina Where is she? Gabriela: Very busy with her patients. Oh* she hasn't been, still a minute since she came back. Everybody who is sick wants to have her, especially the menfolk. I do believe some of them even pretend to be ill. You have no idea how popular she is. D. Narciso: And how was her vacation in Zamboanga? Gabriela: Just wonderful. She has come back looking gorgeous and with such a lovely color. Don't you think so, Andres? Andres: (dryly) I really hadn't noticed. D. Narciso: And you, Andres how did you get that scratch? And how is your heart, Gabriela? Now, look one must not trifle with the emotions; the human heart is most untrustworthy. And at any moment at all Oh, all right, all right-I am glad it was nothing. But, caramba, it seems to be the talk of the town. Look Andres would you like to tell me how it all began? Andres: Quite simply. Last night, at the club, that scoundrel of a Flores thought fit to amuse his friends by hinting thatOh, nothing; a vile slander! The kind of rumor that's so nasty you could choke people for uttering itBut you know how it is here in Manila. There's so much mud-slinging no reputation can consider itself safe. D. Narciso: But what was the rumor? Tell me. Andres: It's unspeakable. Gabriela: Oh, tell him, Andres. Why worry, No sensible person believes it. Andres: Wellthe rumor is that between Marina and me Oh it's outrageous! You know what I mean, Tito Narciso. D. Narciso: Yes, yes, I understand. And Flores dared to imply that? Without any basis? Andres: To vilify is not difficult. And one can always invent a reason to justify oneself. Well I grabbed him by the neck as soon as I heard what he was saying. I was so blind with rage I didn't even notice he had knifed me. D. Narciso: And those who were present? Andres: They separated us. D. Narciso: I mean, how did they take what Flores said?

Andres:

D. Narciso: Andres:

Gabriela: D. Narciso: Andres:

D. Narciso:

Andres: Gabriela: D. Narciso:

Andres: D. Narciso:

Andres: D. Narciso:

Andres:

Gabriela: D. Narciso:

Well, you can imagine. A few seemed to be shocked. But the others the majority could hardly conceal their delight. Naturally. A new topic for gossip, another home for the brutes. And Gabriela? Oh, she had already been informed of the incident, by telephone, even before I came home from the club. And so she had this heart-attack which could have cost us so much anguish. You know how excitable she is. Fortunately it was nothing serious. If these scandalmongers would only think of the harm they do! It is good not to give occasion for gossip. But even better not to pay any attention to it. Let them talk. What else can we do? The world lives on slander and, like Satura devours its own children. Let us be fair, Andres. Gossip often serves the cause of morality. The fear of what they will say is like a sword of Damocles and stops us from committing a lot of follies. Ultimately, gossip is a necessary evil. However, the world usually does not molest you unless you defy it first. And who is defying it? What do you mean, Tito Narciso? That we are all slaves of convention; and that if we wish the world to leave us alone, we must act according to those conventions. The world has its rules Its prejudices, you mean. Perhaps. But what do you call, so disdainfully, prejudices? Ideas which may have become somewhat old-fashioned but which were new once, and which are, perhaps, more worthy of our respect than these ideas now in vogue, these new ideas whose novelty enraptures a handful of idiots. Do not despise anything because it is old, Andres. There are certain principles the splendor of which endures, no matter what upheavals the world may suffer, like those' cliffs which resist the blows of the lightning. As an orator and a sophist, you are certainly not middling, sir. Hombre, as an orator, I will not say that I am not capable, every now and then of spouting a fine peroration; but as for being a sophist, I would say that he fits the role better who insists that the world should not be what it is: prejudices (as you would say), conventionalism, social considerations all the things that, together, make life, not the life we dream of but this life we live (smoldering) And are we to resign ourselves to carrying this yoke, sacrificing our ideas and our sentiments? A fine theory! If it depended onyou, sir, we would still be in fig leaves! Andres is right. We who are just plain nobodies should let the world run its natural course, until the operation of chance, or some other stronger element, pushes it into a new direction^. If anyone rashly tries to alter the course of the world out of mere vanity or presumptionor to justify a folly it will be merely justice should he be crushed to death. And there, are certain

Andres:

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acts which, in any kind of society, constitute a brazen provocation which no society should tolerate. (visibly stung) But of what am I accused by this society which you seem to represent at this moment? Of believing the way I do? Let me say that if I should ever find myself caught in a conflict between the dictates of society and those of my own conscience, I would follow what my conscience commanded and society can go toto wherever it pleases! Why not speak plainly, Tito Naricso? For God's sake, Andres, don't lose your temper! If you think I have come to investigate your actions, Andres, you are .foolishly mistaken. I was speaking of people in general and. of no one in particular. That's right, Andres. Tito Narciso did not mean to offend you. He was merely teasing you as usual. But you have made yourself so nervous. Why should you care what other people think as long as I am sure of your love? That you, Gabriela you're right. You're only one who should judge me. And as long as you do not say that I do wrong, I can be confident that my behavior is without reproach. (aside) An excellent idea! Andres loves me very much, Tito Narciso, and he will never be capable of stabbing me here. This heart is too sensitive and fragile. He knows that, he is a doctor don't you, Andres. Between you and deception stands this fortress. You know how weak it is. But on it I rely, because I know you would never dare to storm it if you saw you wore destroying it That's enough, that's enough. Don't say anything more. You can be tranquil on that score. (aside) Something grips her in the heart Poor Gabriela! Very well, I'll leave you a moment but, careful, no quarreling, eh? Where are you going Gabriela? To the hospital, to visit Charito. I've just heard she had another attack. You know that she and I suffer from the same sickness. And it looks as if this time the poor dear is going Would you like to come with me to the hospital, Tito Narciso? Why not? Then wait here just a moment, and while you and Andres are straightening up the world or upsetting it I'll go out to the garden and cut a few roses for Charito. Haven't you noticed, Tito, Narciso, that my roses are in bloom? They are a heavenly sight. How about you, Andres will you be coming with us to the hospital? (irritable and uneasy) Yes, yes, darling. You better hurry,it's getting late. (Exit GABRIELA through front door. ANDRES moves toward his laboratory.) Do make yourself at home, Tito Narciso. And you'll have to excuse me, I have to go and bury myself in my clinic. There's a very urgent case I have to study. I don't believe I can accompany you to the hospital. With your permission, sir. Very well, don't let me keep you. But, frankly, I came to have a few words with you if that is not too much of a bother.

Andres:

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I waited until Gabriela had left us alone. She must not know anything. It would be criminal to rob that hapless woman of her illusions. She is so in love with you, so blindly in love. And for her a romantic and a sentimentalist the blow could be fatal. But that is how she has been brought up for a good love, a good home, a good life, nothing more. She is not strong enough to grapple with the difficulties of modern life, like you, or like Marina. (mockingly) Yes, yes you don't have to continue, I know what's coming. I am a 'practical man and I always see the point at "once. Are you one of those who have been throwing to the greedy dogs of society this bit of home to crunch? You are insulting me, Andres. If this matter did not involve these orphans, these daughters, of my only sister, I would not waste my time here. I expected, before I came, that I would be a mere voice crying in the wilderness. But you seem to be just as avid as everyone else, sir, to lick up this latest piece of smut. A little more decency, Andres. Your house is not a brothel Oh, come now, sir just why have you, come? To lecture me on how to behave? No, but on something more important: how to live among decent people. A fierce scandal you have raised; and you have dragged down not only your name but the dignity of other people a dignity that deserved all your respect, since you had so little respect for you own. I cannot ask you not to have mistresses; that is something; only your conscience can decide. But have you become so heartless, so unscrupulous, that you could corrupt this. ; girl who should have been sacred to you, because she is the sister of your wife and, therefore, your own sister? Marina Lies, lies, lies! How is it possible that you can join these people so envious of our position and our happiness that they are now spitefully trying to destroy my home? (contemptuously) You have destroyed your home, hypocrite! You can think .what you will of me, sir- But you can do nothing, because Gabriela believes in me and has faith in my love. You would not dare to kill her with a lie. Stop clowning! (Solemnly) In the name of my forefathers, who lived and died with honor, and of all my kinsmen, who are bound to keep intact that heritage of honor, I demand that you make reparation no, not reparation; that is not possible, for how can water thrown into a pigsty be made clean again?. but a stop, yes; a stop to your madness, by wearing a strait jacket if necessary, for the good of all of VLB, and to save Gabriela, who, if she should discover your iniquity, would die of horror and shame. And I do not speak of a metaphorical death. She would actually die and don't you doubt it. Enough of lies, enough of the lies. It's easy to make an accusation but it's not enough to point one's finger. Where are your proofs? You hear a piece of gossip and start raging. I beg you, sir, to quiet your nerves and believe in my innocence. That is why I came to convince myself that you had sunk so low. Unfortunately it is useless to plead innocent. I have proofs.

Andres: Then tell me, sir, what they are. D. Narciso: I should not have proofs since there is only one, although it is worth a lot, because it is a living proof, a vital proof. Shall I go on, the fruit of your iniquity! Andres: Oh, that is false, Don Narciso! God forgive you and all those who join you to slander me! D. Narciso: Ask forgiveness for yourself, you need it. I will not stay more. You will soon crash to the ground, for you are walking on a tightrope and you are a poor acrobat. (ANDRES flees into his clinic as DON NARCISO goes toward front door, where he encounters MARINA entering, in her nurse's uniform.) Marina: Good afternoon, Tito Narciso. Are you leaving? D. Narciso: (drily, already outside) Yes, but I'll be back at once. Goodbye. (Exit DON NARCISO. Enter GABRIELA at right, with a sheaf of roses in her arms) Gabriela: (placing roses on the table) Where's Tito Narciso? Marina: When I arrived, he was just leaving. He looked mad. Gabriela: The usual row with Andres, over Ideas. They can't seem to agree on anything. Well, how was it at the hospital? Gabriela: There was no scandal? They say her father almost killed her. Marina: (indifferently) No, no scandal. Gabriela: I am shocked by the nerve of these modern girls. But with this freedom to go out alone whenever they please, this mixing of the sexes in the schools' (co-education, they call, it), these provocative movies what other result can you expect? Marina: Young people in other countries enjoy greater freedom, but the atmosphere there is all security and confidence. This free air nowadays seems more healthy and wholesome than the cloistered safety of our grandmothers. The girls of today are learning to be strong. Gabriela: Very strong indeed. We see now in what their strength consists. Marina: If they fall, it is because they want to. Gabriela: I see no difference between stumbling on purpose and stumbling by accident. You twist your ankle just the same, or maybe break a. leg, and that is what we try to avoid. And that of today seem to be more steady We were educated differently in the old days. Marina: How one is educated does not matter. There have been cases of "stumbling" too, among girls who never stepped out of their houses.. And that was in the old days, under the old system. Gabriela: Yes, I know. But not in such alarming numbers. Those were isolated cases, products of the human condition. These of today have become a plague. And if it's true that many of these girls, to save their honor, result to criminal meansUgh, how horrible! That's where all this progress and modernity have bf ought us. and the sad thing, is that nobody seems eager to correct the situation. Marina: Now, don't start blaming the system of education. Falling into film, does not form part of the curriculum.

Gabriela:

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What's wrong is that there is too much laxity, and not enough religious training and so we have indecency and shamelessness. The decay of our customs is a consequence of this lack of balance. Perhaps that is considered good in other countries, but here the effect one sees is disastrous. It is too foreign to our traditional upbringing, to our way of life. And when these countrymen of ours are so prone to exaggeration; when they start copying, they turn into unhappy caricatures of their models. It's really amazing: this talent of ours for imitating precisely what is bad is Tito Narciso once removed when it comes to importing new fashions, our policy is free entry for the bad, a high tariff for the good. The remarks of Tito Narciso have an absolute authority for you. You repeat them as if they were Holy Scriptures. I prefer to think and to act on my own account. They are not just remarks, Marina. They are maximes, old proverbs that carry the folk wisdom of our fathers. Who will not listen to them goes through the sea of life on a rudderless boat, adrift, and in peril of shattering against the first rock. Just a carbon copy of Tito Narciso! (Enter LUISA through the front door.) Good afternoon! Hola, Luisa! Luisa, youre here? A miracle! How goes everything here? I heard that Marina has just returned from Zamboanga, and I have come to greet her. Oh, and also, like a good friend of all of you, to learn just exactly what happened at the club last night? Oh, nothing. Andres got a scratch. I had a, little scare. It's over now. It all started with a joke by that rascal of a Flores. And now you know everything. Well, I'm glad it was nothing. (To MARINA) How you have treated me, you wicked girl! Five months away and not even a post card? When you suddenly left for Zamboanga, everybody was surprised naturally, since you didn't tell any of your friends. And how was it down there? You must have liked it, to have been able to stand five months of that boring banishment. Do you mean to go back? Who knows, Luisa? (Enter ANDRES from left) (To MARINA) How about sweethearts-any news in that department? Oh, stop teasing me. Sweethearts indeed. I don't have the time nor the talent for that sort of silliness. You know how she is, Luisa. Romance does not interest her. That is where she and I differ. She thinks I am silly, and old-fashioned, and maybe she is right. 'I'm only seven years older than she is, but we are half a century apart in the way we regard life. As for me, I have chosen the middle course, and nothing can make me budge from there. I represent the transition half Gabriela half Marina a compromise between two vicious extremes. I am not all heart like Gabriela, nor all brains like Marina. For the heart, Marina, must also be given its due. Marina will give her heart iris due when the messenger she awaits knocks on her door. In the meantime, none of these silly fantasies which are so useless. She has received a practical education, this modern

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education that is going to make us strong, that will teach us to overcome everything and everybody, to attain a certain ideal in this life. Andres has an answer to everything. He is a fine doctor but .he would have made an even finer lawyer. For him, there is no lost cause; when he wants to, he can defend, with equal ardor and ability, both sides of an argument. When he was making love to me, for instance, and when we were first married, he was arguing in a different manner. I was not speaking of us, Gabriela. With you, I am always the same; we have passed the formative years. I was referring to 'the youth of today, and of the need to give them a strong education, so that they may learn to depend on themselves. But there's a lot of egoism in this education that you praise so much. And why shouldn't there be? Happiness is egoism. I know that you'll ask in a burst of charity: And what about other people? Well, let them find their own happiness and be egoists too. By this method, the time will come when everybody, without any exception, will be happy and what will it matter then if they are egoists? :.s a matter of fact, nothing will be lift of egoism except our name for it, since in a world where happiness is the common lot, everyone will have just what this neighbor has and And until that time, what? Is it not just that those who have achieved happiness should lend, as it were, some of their happiness to others? In that case, the method will lose its efficacy, for either this method is rigorously applied or it is not applied at all. There is always, too much cunning and not enough desire to work; and if you start lending, or giving away happiness, 'few people will trouble to struggle for it. There will be in this, as in everything else, a lot of cadgers and beggars don't you doubt it. But shut the door on these parasites and they will be in the struggle, of course, but others will rise to take their place and always they will be moving closer to the ideal: each and everyone with their own share of happiness. Let's stop calling this world Galley of tears." Actually, it is a battlefield, and it belongs to the strong ones, to Caesar and Alexander, and not to the weeping ones, like Job or Jeremiah or that Moorish king Boadbil, who lost Granada because all he could do was weep. Say what you will, this world will always be for me-the abode of the unfortunate. There will always be more people conquered than conquering. I prefer my Christian ideal: to share what I have with others. Fundamentally, this charity of yours is egoism. You would like to be the custodian of happiness, ' so that you can administer and distribute it as you please, keeping, of course, the lion's share for yourself. But haven't we drifted away .from our original topic? Let me see nowyes, we were talking of a practical education. These "fantastical" girls who spend their time chasing the dragonflies of their dreams are in constant danger of bumping their noses against that big hard post of life reality. Jesus, Andres, don't say that! The ones who are always bumping hard and getting the biggest bumps are precisely these modern tomboys of yours. Or tomcats. It's all the same. That tongue of yours, Luisa, that tongue of yours.

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Tomboys or tomcats what's the difference? The fact is that the virtues of yesterday are now down on the ground. Or up in the clouds. Anyway" they are not where they should be in people. You two are terrible! All right, we have chattered enough and Luisa, what have you heard about Charito? I hear she is in a very serious condition. I just came from there. The doctors have given up hope! Oh, poor dear, I must go see her right away. Will you come with me Andres? I'd like to, Gabriela, but I have to finish studying a clinical case tonight. Oh, I see. Will you excuse, me, Luisa? Of course, dear. Don't be so formal. I'll see you soon. (Exit GABRIELA with her roses.) This Gabriela never changes. -She seems to live in a world apart a world of goodness and illusions. But you, Marinaevery day you become more aloof and less communicative', and your friends have reason to be worried. But what you're doing, Luisa, is inexcusable. (startled) What? Not coming here more often, where you know you have friends who appreciate you. That's very true. Well, thanks but you have set the example. Look, one of my brothers got married today and you people were conspicuous by your absence. You will have forgiven us already. You know why we could not come. And nasty coincidence. Yes, I guessed that was the reason. Everyone already knew last night. That sort of news travels faster than sound. Oh, this society of ours is intolerable! The peace of our homes seems to depend on whether some blackguard wakes up in good or bad humor. The smallest spark that a charlatan happens to let drop, instantly bursts, into flame, and before you know it, you are caught in the midst of a raging fire. It's only here that people have to live so closely speed upon. The day may come when it will be necessary to appear at the window very early in the morning to ask of each passerby: "Listen, my good man, is it all right for me to live? Do you give your permission?" Ah, all this is very depressing, Luisa. Well, I must leave you alone with Marina for a moment. With your permission? Certainly, my love. (Exit ANDRES at left.) Well, now we are alone. Have you anything to tell me? How can you ask? You know that when two women meet, they always have so much to tell each other they could talk a horse's head off. Oh, let's leave the head on the poor horse and talk about ourselves. What, have you got a sweetheart?

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My dear girl, you don't know what it means to have a sweetheart, just a single one, in these days of general scarcity. No one proposes and only God disposes, as they say. The situation is desperate. Really? Frankly, I had no idea. You know the matter does not really interest me. Why, what ails the enchanted kingdom of the romantics? Well, the main trouble is that it has become difficult to find young men who are worth the trouble. Oh, a few dazzle by their elegance, but pluck off a few feathers and you find some very anemic chickens. Spiritual anemia, I mean. Do be serious, Luisa. Well, then, let me tell you that there's a lot of false gold around. The genuine varieties are not in circulation I mean, you never see them at dances or gatherings, which are the marts where the gypsies of our society go to hawk the virtues of their damaged merchandise. Whether you speak mockingly, or seriously, you are not only just as good as Andres and Tito Narciso at tongue-lashing, but you leave blisters too. So, you are still hot in the pursuit of No, truly not any more. I have a sweetheart. And he is pure gold, of the kind that's not in circulation, and which it is as rare a s fortune to find as ancient coins May one know who he is? I don't see why not. You know I have no secrets from you, and besides, there's no reason to keep it secret. He is Arturo, the poet. You're not joking? Because it seems to me that a poet, at the rate things are going My ideas are different, Marina. I can see you are in love and I won't say anything more. One cannot argue over love. The lovers are always right. So, congratulations! And you love each other? Very much, with a very sweet love the love of two souls that understand each other; that delight in the same spiritual food, and that spar as one into the infinite, embarrassed by no earthly fetter. You haven't been able to escape infection. You talk like a poet. I'm so happy with this love. I have even convinced myself that I am no longer myself but another the very soul of Arturo. Well, well, well up in the clouds. And here's wishing it will be a long time before you land. Don't you worry. And how about you? You're the same as always very secretive about yourself. We who are your friends know nothing about you. Well, do we hear all these things what they say about you and Andres, which of course, we do not believe. But, look, people are gossiping and they say you are too independent and that this modern education you have had is no protection against the violence of passion. Let them talk. Gossip soon loses its news value. All right but what, actually, is your life? My life? As you see: indifferent as life itself. I have learned to live it in my own way, without great illusions, to spare myself the disappointments that

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ambush us at every turn. It's a life that you would call dull, but which I would not change for any other. Ah, "but I want a life of great Joys and great sorrows, for the soul fulfills itself as much in pain as in pleasure. Life with its honey and its gall, its cruelties and its consolations -that is the life I want to have. My soul was made for rage and rapture but not for indifference-no, never, for indifference! And may such a life make you happy, Luisa! Thank you, dear friend. And now I must go. Say goodbye for me to Andres, and to Gabriela when she comes back. And when are you coming to the house? When you least expect me. Give my regards to your mother. She shall receive them. Goodbye, Marina. Goodbye, Luisa. (Exit LUISA, accompanied to the door by MARINA. Enter Andres as MARINA turns away- from the door) Ah, you are alone? (instantly moving away) Yes, Luisa just left. (anxiously) Marina! What is it, Andres? Speak, for God's sake! You make me nervous. Has anything happened? Yes. Dont you know? What?! Fate has begun to pursue us. Now more than ever, we should stand as one to defend our love from everything. God! What are you saying? Has Gabriela found out? Gabriela, no! But she suspects? Nothing. But the dogs that go hunting for scandals in the streets and the clubs are now barring at our door- Gabriela will become alarmed, and then will follow suspicion and suspicion is worse than certainty. He who knows the truth be it, sweet or bitter, is at rest. But suspicion is a sea without shores, a sea wracked by the worst of tempests, a wild sea raging in the skull. I am undisturbed, but I fear for you. Your love must not be frightened into flight when I need it most. You don't know what I go through. Since I came back, I have not been living. When I go out to the street or when I enter those houses where my services are needed always those same eyes that fix me with a prying or a malicious look; always those same scarcely veiled hints And all this inquisition torments me; in vain I pretend to be indifferent; and I would gladly abandon mankind and go live with the beasts, who seem kinder, or bury myself sixty miles under the earth! You were educated to be strong to rise above these monkish scruples. Of no use has that education been to me. Gabriela is right. I was arguing with her just a moment ago, because I wanted to bolster my own spirit, but in vain. How many times have I invoked that spirit so that it might say to me. You did well to sacrifice others for the sake of this Ideal of your life. But I was merely deceiving myself, like a sacred child whistling as he walks past a graveyard at night. No Andres a soul is not re-educated in a

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couple of years, especially when, like ours, it was forged by three centuries in the heat of the ancient principles! This new education is a costume that is too big or too small for us, that bursts at the seams the moment we are careless or that flaps loosely in the wind, revealing us as we really are. Fools and boors applaud us, but we are the laughing stock of the prudent. It's not that, Marina. What has happened is that you have been so crushed by all the prejudices in the air about us that you now think it easier to turn your back on the enemy. It would be dismal to let what they say prevail over the voice of our conscience. My conscience has spoken, Andres; it has already' judged me, and it condemns me. That conscience is not yours, Marina, but of the people who have been waging war on your spirit and have now- succeeded in making it say these preposterous things. We must fight, Marina fight! No, Andres, it is madness. This is their camp; we are the intruders, the imposters. We cannot throw them out because they are right. It is madness to fight madness! They are not strong, Marina. They are shadows, phantoms nothing more. We are the light, because we are reality, which is the only truth in life. Tradition is obsolete, the shadow of the past, the ghost of the night. It will fade away as soon as the, dawn breaks again on your conscience. It can scare only babies. Say what you will, you are a man and you're wise and you can argue better than I. But it is not the mind that should speak now not the mind, which is cunning and corrupt which creates paradoxes and mixes truth with falsehood but the conscience, which alone knows how to speak the truth. My conscience has spoken, Andres, and it says that 'I have trespassed on other people's affections. God, Marina that is the voice of the siren! Do not listen to it! We have strangled without pity the happiness of another person, of Gabriela, and your own happiness, too, for the joy I gave you was false,. The truth is the love of Gabriela, the true love of your love. You're raving! The only truth in my life is your love. Gabriela is good, but she has never understood me. Never between her and me was that fusion of thought and feeling which is the secret of happiness. I have always lived in her heart like a stranger. But I called to your heart and I found my true home there, and, now I know that I cannot live unless I live in your life. Nature refused to recognize my union with Gabriela, but it has blessed our love, your love and mine, with a son, our son For God's sake, Andres don't ravish my heart, which has been the cause of so much misfortune! The heart is selfish and I no longer wish to be so . The time has come to make amends. I will do penance for you, for both of us, but go back to Gabriela while there is time. Let us not make our crime worse with our willfulness. I have my son, and I shall live for him, for him alone. We shall both live for him. I will do penance, if God wills it, but at your side beside you and the child of our loins, of our two souls fused in the fire of love! What do we care about other people?

Marina: Andres:

Don't be cruel, Andres. We have been cruel enough. It would be more cruel to part from each other, because our union is the happiness of our son. Rather than be cruel to him, let us be cruel to others. Yes. Marina, life is cruel; we cannot remedy that. If you're in a shipwreck, it's lawful to kill to save yourself or to save those you love. Think of' our child. Look: the caravan of the happy is passing at this moment. Let us join it, bearing our child like a trophy, and forget everybody else. May they forgive us! Let us run away from here! Marina: No, Andres! No! It is a crime! Oh, fear the justice of God! Andres: Turn your eyes away from the shadows and look there, in the distance life triumphant the futureour son Marina: Yes, our son, my little Andres He bears your name my son Yes, we must save him, we must save him first! We must be ruthless for the sake of .our son. Where are you, Andres? I can't see you I'm troubled, I'm afraid. Andres: Here I am; fear nothing, for nothing is stronger than love. And should evil break your spirit or the spirit of my son, I would destroy my own soul first. Marina, come to my arms (Embracing her) like this; always together! Marina: For me, Andres only for me! Andres: Yes, for you, only for you and for your son. (As they stand clasped together speaking those last words, GABRIELA appears in the front door, stares a moment at the lovers, then sways and presses a hand to her heart and silently withdraws, unnoticed by the lovers) Marina: (suddenly and savagely breaking away) No, Andres stop it! God will punish us! Andres: God has willed it. If he is just, he will not punish us. Marina: Andres, please! Do not mock at God, he may punish us through our son. Let us be willing to sacrifice ourselves so that our son may live and be happy. Andres: I can't go on without you. I have had no life of my own since you became my life. You never loved me, Marina! Marina: You will know the greatness of my love when you understand the greatness of my sacrifice. Andres, the hours of pleasure are over. Let us think no more of ourselves; let us think of our son and how we may spare him from evil through repentance and, sacrifice. If I did not have' him, I wouldwho knows? But I am the mother of my son rather than the lover of Andres. Andres: The shadows have you in their power again! Marina: Shadows! If only you were right! But even if you were, I know that, for the sake of my son, I must deny myself, immolate myself, offer myself in expiation. And if you love me, as you say, you too would share this holocaust. Andres: We can offer another victim and God would accept her! Marina: That's enough! This is your selfishness speaking. Now is the time to be strong for this is the hour of sacrifice. If you are scared, Andres, leave me alone! No, Andres! Go away! Andres: I shall wait. Marina: (resolutely) No, Andres never!

(Exit ANDRES at left. Marina sits down and bursts into tears, covering her face with her hands. Then she rises and walks toward right as one of the doors there opens and GABRIELA enters, looking exhausted.) Marina: (alarmed) My God! What's the matter, Gabriela? What has happened to you? Gabriela: Nothing A shock Charito is dead. I saw her die. That scene at the hospital No, nothing. Will you fetch me a glass of water? Where is Andres? Don't tell him anything. (Exit MARINA, returning at once with the glass of water.) Marina: Here it is. I put some, lemon in it. (As MARINA sits down beside her sister, there's a moment's awkward silence, broken only by GABRIELA's labored breathing.) Gabriela: I feel better. Stand up, Marina. (Marina rises) Stand back a little. That's enough. (She gazes admiringly at MARINA) You have a fine figure. And such poise. (With a touch of admiring envy) And that uniform accentuates your slenderness. And that coiffure suits you perfectly; makes you look like an angel. How men must feel when they look at youOn the other hand, just see how dowdy I have become, (Judging herself pityingly) I look like a sack of potatoes. When I married, I didn't look so awful. But now Marina: (interrupting) You were lovely and you still are. Gabriela: (hardly noticing the interruption) I stopped taking care of myself to take care of this house, and to make Andres happy, in my own way, and I have failed. I learn too late that when a woman marries, she should not only become a wife but should go on being a sweetheart, to keep the fire of love burning. Sit down, Marina- no, closer. You know what? (MARINA stares at her with anxiety and f ear) It was four years today that Mama died and now we hardly remember her. How impious we are! This day, which should have, been sacred to her memory, I had intended to pass very gaily and God has punished me by sending me this sorrow. How true is the old saying that a -daughter does not begin to pay the debt of love she owes her mother until she becomes a mother herself. And I'm not a mother! God has not wanted me to pay the full price of love I should have paid to my mother. (Beginning to weep) Marina, do you remember Mama? Marina: Why not? But don't go on like this. You'll make yourself ill with these thoughts. We will pray a rosary for Mama and she will be pleased. And you will feel a great relief, you will stop worrying. Gabriela: (not listening to MARINA) Poor dear, how she loved us and you especially. I remember everything as if it were yesterday. Papa would buy us toys; you had yours and I had mine, so we wouldn't fight. But you always wanted my toys too, and when I wouldn't give them up, you cried, and Mama would scold me and take away my toys and give them to you, and she would tell me that you were younger and that I should always give in to you. Then I would creep to a corner with my little heart broken and weep all alone. One time? remember? the Three Kings brought me a big doll that moved its eyes and its arms and said mama, papa. But I had- that doll only for an instant because you took it from me too, and I wept like never before. Oh, I wanted to die. I couldn't explain such an injustice to myself. But

afterwards I forgot all about it. Children do not hold grudges. Then the years passed and now I understand. It was not Mama but life itself that is unjust. It breaks all your illusions, even the poor little lamp you need to light you when you are unhappy Marina: (vainly pretending not to understand) Childhood silliness! Why make such a fuss over it? All children are selfish. (Aside; Does she know or does she suspect?) Besides, I always gave you back the toys I took from you. Gabriela: Yes, after you had broken them, like that doll Marina: No, Gabriela. No, I gave them back to you unbroken. (Seeing Don NARCISO coming, she quickly leaves the room through door at right) D. Narciso: Here I am, back. Gabriela: Why so late? I worried waiting for you! D. Narciso: Why, my child? What does my dear niece want from her old uncle? (Looking at her more closely) But what's the matter? You have been crying. Yes, tell me what has happened. Gabriela: Nothing. We were talking about Mama, who, four years ago today, left us orphans. D. Narciso: (sitting down) But why all these memories? You really want to make yourself suffer- - Look, I am going to scold you as if you were a little girl again. Gabriela: Yes, do scold me as if I were a little girl, I want to be, one again, to retreat into the cradle, to dream that I have many, many toys and nobody to take them away from me! D. Narciso: But what is this, Gabriela? My child, you are not well. Look, I am going to call Andres. Gabriela: Oh, please don't call him. (Making an effort to smile) I'm not crying any more look. D. Narciso: Gabriela, you can't deceive me. A storm rages inside you. Tell me your troubles, my child, and this old man will go to the ends of the earth to find a remedy for them. If you try to hide them from me, I shall think that you do not love me. Gabriela: You're the only one I have in the world! Love me much, Tito Narciso, very much. I need if I am to go on living love. D. Narciso: Gabriela, for God's sake you will have me crying! Gabriela: Then cry cry with me so I, won't be alone in my grief. How good you are. How you love me. The others have no heart D. Narciso: Open your heart to me, Gabriela. If not, you will hurt me deeply. Sorrow, when shared, becomes lighter. Gabriela: Yes, yes, I will speak but you shouldn't leave me. This life is a great burden and I need a good love like yours to lean on. D. Narciso: What has happened, my child? Gabriela: You must have known and you never told me. I was being robbed of love, and you knew it and kept quiet. D. Narciso: I know what you refer to. But there are no proofs. Anyway, it is a mere trifle; not worth bothering about. Gabriela: It is all my life, Tito Narciso.

D. Narciso:

Very wellbut no reason to work yourself up like this, frightening those who love you. I can understand how, in this state of mind, you have been able to torment yourself because of a mere suspicion. Gabriela: No, Tito Narciso. It is not a suspicion. D. Narciso: Then, it is a calumny, mere envy of your happiness. Nobody has any proofs. Gabriela: I do. D. Narciso: It has not been half an hour since I came. With whom have you been talking since then? Gabriela: With no one. But they have been so careless and I have seen them. Yes, I surprised them in each other's arms. Marina and Andres, and so drunk with their joy they did not even notice my presence. Ah and they were speaking of their love and yes, I remember of a child also, a son. Their son! D. Narciso: My God what are you saying? Gabriela, you are delirious! Gabriela: It's not delirium, no. It's the brutal truth tearing away at me. Andres had no pity. He stormed this fortress and destroyed it. Oh, I can't breathe! Love It doesn't matter now Air, air, Tito Narciso! I'm choking! I forgive them Mother, Mother, forgive me for believing you were unjust'. You never were. It is life itself that is cruel (She. collapses in Don Naricso's arms) D. Narciso: Gabriela! Oh, my God! (he feels her heart) She is dead! (shouting) Marina! Andres! (He lays the dead woman on the sofa) Murderers! (Enter running, MARINA from right. Andres from left.) Andres: What happened? She has had another attack! Gabriela! Marina: Gabriela! My sister! D. Narciso: (warding off both of them) You, no. It is too late. Andres: Dead? (He flings himself upon the dead woman; Marina kneels down beside the sofa) D. Narciso: Useless now your science. Andres, and your pity, Marina, with which you can give death but not life. Your iniquity has been so brazen! Marina: God, forgive me! Forgive me, Gabriela! (Andres sobs, holding the dead woman's hands in his) D. Narciso: But Gabriela died as she lived, without a word of hate for those who killed her, loving and forgiving them. Marina, let us go away from here. God have mercy on you, Andres and pray that your worst punishment shall not be to go wandering through the world, feeling as though you carried on your shoulders, hour after hour, the unburied body of your wife. (Marina staggers up, sobbing and follows Don Narciso to the door. Andres springs up and runs after them) Andres: (imploringly) Tito Narciso, Marina do not leave me alone! I am afraid. (The room has been steadily darkening) D. Narciso: (mockingly) They are merely shadows and phantoms, Andres. They never scared you. Marina must not remain a minute longer herein this house that was the clean home of your marriage, and which you turned into the theatre of your treachery, and that is now a house of death. An abyss has opened between you and Marina. No it is not Gabriela's heart that

weak fortress, so easy to conquer and betray. It is death, mistress of the world! Come Marina! (Exit Don Narciso and Marina. The room is now in darkness. Andres stands gazing at the body of his wife. ) Andres: Gabriela, forgive me. (Falling on his knees and clasping his hands together) Lord, you have conquered! They were not shadows, not phantoms; they were your commandments! your laws for all eternity! (glancing around him in terror) Alone, God! Alone in the dark! He buries his face in his hands as CURTAINS FALL.

A New Yorker in Tondo

By Marcelino Agana Jr. Summary: A New Yorker in Tondo is a classic Filipino place by Marcelino Agana Jr. It is a satire written in the 1950s. It is a story about a girl named Kikay who went to New york and fell in love with it. She acquires all the New Yorkish things-style, looks, language and manners. These things are very obvious when she arrives in the Philippines, specifically in Tondo. Aling Atang, Kikays mother, has been blown away by her daughters way of living. She tries to converse with everyone in broken English. Tony, Kikays childhood sweetheart, decides to visit and catch up with his old friend. He is a simple guy who got secretly engaged to his other childhood friend Nena. Nena is a tomboyish type of girl. On Nenas visit to her friends house, she finds her friend different and weird. She gets irritated and even imitates Kikays ways. Totoy, the Tondo canto boy, is their other friend, who is funny. Totoy has a secret love for Nena which is only revealed when the two females clash. Near the end, the secret love of the characters is revealed. The two pairs end up in each others arms, Kikay with Tony and Totoy with Nena. Kikay is back to her old self, simple and kind. Most of all, the Filipino value learned by the protagonist is there is no place like no. It is a lesson on love for ones country and culture. Scene 1 Mrs. M: Visitors, always visitors, nothing but visitors all day long. Im beginning to feel like a society matron. Mrs. M: Tony: Mrs. M: Tony: Mrs. M: Tony: Tony! I thought you were on the province. Is that you aling Atang? Of course. Its I, foolish boy. Why? You don' look like Aling Atang. I had a haircut. Think it's horrible? Oh, no, no. You look just wonderful. Aling Atang for a moment, I thought you were Kikay.

Mrs. M: Oh, you are so palikero as ever, Tony. But come in. Here, sit down. How is your mother? Tony: once. Poor mother. She is homesick for Tondo. She wants to come back here at How long have you been away?

Mrs. M:

Tony:

Only 3 months.

Mrs. M: Only 3 months!!! It's too long for a Tondo native to be away from Tondo. My poor kumara. She must be bored out there. Tony: Well, you know, we engineers are always on call. But as soon as I finish the bridge in Bulacan, well be going here in Tondo.

Mrs. M: Yes, must bring her back as soon as possible. We miss her when we play mahjong.. Tony: That is what she misses most of all. Mrs. M: I understand. Once a Tondo girl always a Tondo girl. I wonder if thats fit my Kikay because after a year in America, she says shes not homesick at all.. Tony: Mrs. M: Tony: When did Kikay arrive Aling Atang? Last Monday. I didnt know it till I read it in the newspaper.

Mrs. M: That girl only arrived last Monday and look what happened to me! She dragged me to the parlor. My hair was cut, eyebrows shaved, nails manicured. And when Im going to the market, I used lipstick! All my kumara are laughing. People think Im a loose woman. Because of my age, but I cant do anything because it's hard to argue with Kikay. And she insists that I should look like an Americana. Tony: Mrs. M: Tony: Mrs. M: Tony: Mrs. M: You look just wonderful, and where is she now? Who? Kikay? Is she at home? Shes still sleeping! Still sleeping?! She says, in New York, people dont wake up until 12:00 noon.

Tony: It's only 10:00 now. Mrs. M: Besides, she's busy since she came home. Welcome parties here and there. Visitors all day long. She's spinning like a top. Tony: Well, will you tell her I called to welcome her. And kindly give her these flowers. Mrs. M: Tony: Mrs. M: Tony: But surely youre not going yet? I did want to see Kikay. But if she doesnt get up at 12 noon Wait a minute. Ill go and wake her up. Please dont bother Aling Atang. I can come back some other time.

Mrs. M: Wait right here. Shell simply be delighted to see her childhood friend. The flowers are beautiful, how expensive they must be. Tony: Mrs. M: Tony: Mrs. M: Tony: Mrs. M: Mrs. M: Oh, theyre nothing at all Aling Atang. Oh, Tony. Yes Aling Atang? You mustnt call me Aling Atang Why not? Kikay says that it's more civilized to call me Mrs. Mendoza. Wait a minute and Ill call Kikay.

Tony: Yes aling I mean, Yes, Mrs. Mendoza.

Tony: Mrs. M: Tony: Mrs. M: Tony: Mrs. M: Tony: Mrs. M: Tony:

Huh! Oh! And Tony. Yes, Aling. I mean, Mrs. Mendoza? You must not call her Kikay. And what shall I call her? You must call her Francesca. Francisca? Not Francisca. Fran-CES-ca. But why Francesca?

Mrs. M: Because in New York, she says thats the way they pronounce he name, it sounds like chi-chi so Italian, be sure to call her Francesca and not Kikay. Tony: Mrs. M: Tony: Yes, Mrs. Mendoza. Now, wait right here while I call Francesca. AIE DIOSMIO! Never mind Mrs. Mendoza, Ill answer it. Scene 2 Totoy: Tony: Totoy: Tony: Totoy: Tony: Tony! Totoy! You old son of your father! You big carabao! Mayroon ba tayo dyan? You ask me that and you look like a walking goldmine! How many depots have you been looting, huh!? Hey hey!! More slowly there. It is you the police are looking for. Impossible! Im a reformed character! Come in Totoy. Okay Tony. Good to see you old pal. Here, have a smoke. I thought you were in the province, partner. I am. I just came to say hello to Kikay. Tony. Ive been hearing the most frightful things about that girl. So have I. People say she has gone crazy. No, she has only gone New York. What was she doing in New York anyway? Oh, studying. Studying what? Hair culture and Beauty Science. She got a diploma. Imagine that! Our dear old Kikay! Pardon me, she's not Kikay anymore. She's Fran-CeS-ca. Fran-CeS-ca? Our dear Kikay is now an American.

Mrs. M: Just tell them to wait, Tony.

Totoy: Tony: Totoy: Tony: Totoy: Tony: Totoy: Tony: Totoy: Tony: Totoy: Tony: Totoy: Tony: Totoy: Tony: Totoy: Tony:

Totoy: Dont make me laugh! Why I knew that girl when shes still selling rice cakes. Puto kayo dyan! Bili na kayo ng puto mga suki! Tony: Totoy: Tony: Totoy: Nena: Totoy: Nena: Totoy: Nena: Tony: Nena: Mrs. M: Mrs. M: Nena: Totoy: Mrs. M: Nena: Remember when we pushed her into the canal? She chased us around the streets. She was dripping with mud! Naku! How that girl could fight! Scene 3 Why, Totoy?! Nena, my own. And Tony, too.. Whats all this? A Canto Boy Reunion? We have come to greet the Lady from New York. So have I. Is she at home? Aling Atang is trying to wake her up. To wake her up?! Is she still sleeping? No, shes awake already. She's dressing. Good morning Nena and Totoy. Well, Totoy? Nena? Why are you staring me like that? Is that you Aling Atang? Good God, it is Aling Atang! It's Kikay who prefers it. How you used to pinch and pinch me Aling Atang, when I was a lil girl.

Mrs. M: Because you were all naughty, especially you! Always sneaking into our backyard for mangoes. Totoy: Mrs. M: Nena: Mrs. M: Nena: Tony: Nena: Tony: Nena: Tony: Nena: Tony: Nena: Tony: Nena: Tony: Nena: Tony: Do you still have that mango tree? Yes. Come and help me carry something in the kitchen. Aling Atang, dont you prepare anything for us. Were not visitors. It's only orange juice. I was preparing some for Kikay. Well. Tony. You shouldnt have come today, Nena. Oh, why not? I havent talked with Kikay yet. Not yet! I thought you said it last night. I lost my nerve. Oh Tony, Tony! Use your head. Nena it's not easy breaking off his engagement with Kikay or with the girl for God sake! Are you in love with Kikay or with me? Of course with you! Im engaged to you. Yes, and with Kikay, too! That was a year ago! Nena, you know how much I love you. How could you ask me if youre still engaged to Kikay! This is what I get from being honest!

Nena: Tony:

Kikay!

Honest? Making me fall for you when youre in love with and engaged to

I thought I didnt belong to Kikay anymore. It's only a secret engagement anyway. I proposed to her before she left for America. But when she stopped answering my letters, I considered myself a free man again. And so you proposed to me. Yes. Then, you tell me to keep it a secret! Because I found out that Kikay was coming back. Im tired of being secretly engaged to you! Just give me a chance to explain to Kikay. Then well tell them. Well, you better hurry. Im getting impatient. How can I talk to Kikay? Why not? Because youre here and also Totoy. I dont want to jilt Kikay in front of everybody. You want Totoy and me to clear out? No, just give me a chance to be alone with Kikay for a moment. Ill take care of Totoy. Thats good. Just leave it to me. Scene 4 Puto kayo dyan. Bili na kayo. Here comes Kikay, but she wants to call her Francesca.

Nena: Tony: Nena: Tony: Nena: Tony: Nena: Tony: Nena: Tony: Nena: Tony: Nena: Tony: Nena: Totoy: Mrs. M:

Kikay: Oh hello darling people! Nena my dear But how but youve become. And Tony, my little pal how are you? And Totoy my raishing! You look goodness, you look like a Tondo Super Production in Technicolor!! But sit-down everybody and let me look at you. Oh mumsy! Mrs. M: Whats the matter now? Kikay: How many times I must tell you, never to serve fruit juices in water glasses? Mrs. M: I couldnt find those tall glasses you brought home. Kikay: Oh, poor lil mumsy. She is so clumsy, no? But nevermind, dont break your heart about it. Here sit down. Mrs. M: No, I must be going to the market. Kikay: Oh, dont forget my celery. I cant live without it. Im like a rabbit, munching all day. Mrs. M: Well, if you people will excuse me. Tony, remember me to your mother. Kikay: And remember, a little bloom on the lips, a little bloom on the cheeks. Say mwah, mwah.. Mrs. M: Kikay: Do I have to, Kikay? Again mumsy?

Mrs. M: Do I have to paint this old face of mine? Francesca, what am I going to do with you? Kikay: Mrs. M: Kikay: Nena: Tony: Kikay: Totoy: But how dreadfully you put it. Oh mumsy, what am I going to do with you? I give up! Poor mumsy. How pathetic! Tell us about New York. How long did you stay there? 10 months, 4 days, 7 hours and 21 minutes. And shes still there. In her dreams

Kikay: Yes, I feel as if I am still there, as though I had never left it, as though I lived there all my life. But I look around me and I realized that no, no, Im not there. Im not in New York. Im at home. But which is home for me, this cannot be home because here, my heart aches with homesickness. Nena: Tony: Totoy: Nena: Tony: Kikay: Nena: Totoy: Nena: I dont think we ought to be here at all. Yes, we shouldnt disturb her. Lets all just walk out very, very quietly. And leave her alone with her memories. Is that the girl we used to go swimming with the mud puddles? Ah, New York, my own dear New York Totoy, will you come with me. To the ends of the earth! No darling, just out to our dear little backyard.

Totoy: Oh, the backyards of Tondo, the barong barongs of Mypaho, the streets of Sibakong. Nena: Totoy: Listen Idiot! Are you coming with me or not? Anywhere dream girl, anywhere at all! Scene 5 Kikay: Apparently, our Totoy still has a most terrific crush on Nena. Do wake up, Tony. What are you looking so miserable about? Tony: Kikay: Tony: Kikay: Tony: Kikay, I dont know how to begin. Just call me Francesca thats a good beginning. There is something I must tell you something very important. Oh, Tony, cant we just forget all about it? Forget?

Kikay: Thats the New York way, Tony. Forget, nothing must ever be too serious; nothing must drag on too long. Tonight, give all your heart. Tomorrow, forget. And when you meet again, smile, shake hands just good sports. Tony: Kikay: Tony: Kikay: Tony: What are you talking about? Tony, I was only a child at that time. When? When you and I got engaged. Ive changed so much since then, Tony. That was only a year ago.

Kikay: To me, it seems a century. So much had happened to me. More can happen to you in just one year in New York. Tony: Listen, I dont want to talk about New York I want to talk about our engagement. And thats what we cannot do Tony. Not anymore. Why not?

Kikay: Tony:

Kikay: Tony, you got engaged to a girl named Kikay. Well, that girl doesnt exist anymore. She's dead. The person you see before you is Francesca. Dont you see, Tony, Im a stranger to you. I hate to hurt you, but surely you see that there can be no more talk of an engagement between us. Imagine, a New York Girl, marrying a Tondo Boy! It's so insane! Tony: Kikay: Tony: Now look here. Im sorry if Ive hurt you, Tony. Im not going to sit here and be insulted.

Kikay: Hush! Tony! Hush! Dont shout, dont lose your temper. It's so uncivilized. People in New York dont lose their temper. Tony: face? What do you want me to do? Smile and say thank you for slapping my

Kikay: Yes, Tony. Be a sport, lets smile and shake hands, and be just friends, huh? Tony: Totoy: Nena: Kikay: Totoy: If you werent a woman, Id Id Scene 6 Hold it Tony. You must never, never hit a woman. Whats all this? Nothing nothing at all.. What were you two quarrelling about?

Kikay: We were not quarrelling. Tony and I just decided to be good friends and nothing more. Nena: Tony: Nena: Kikay: Totoy: Nena: Kikay: Totoy: Nena: Kikay: Tony: Kikay: Nena: Kikay: Nena: Tony, is it true? Yes! Now, we can tell them! Tell us what? Whats going on here? Tony and I are engaged! Engaged! Engaged! Engaged! Yes! Weve been secretly engaged for a month! A month!? Why you.you I did try to tell you Kikay, I was trying to tell you You unspeakable cad! Hey, carefully there! Youre speaking top of my fianc. Hes not your fianc! Oh no? And why not, huh!?

Kikay: Nena: Kikay: Tony:

Because he was still engaged to me when he got engaged to you! Well, he's not engaged to you anymore, you just said it yourself. Ah, but I didnt know about all this.

Now remember, Kikay it's so uncivilized to lose ones temper. People in New York dont lose their temper. Ive never felt so humiliated in all my life! You beast, Ill teach you! I told you to leave him alone. Hes my fianc!

Kikay: Nena:

Kikay: And I tell you he's not! He's engaged to me until I release him and I havent released him yet. Nena: You ought to be ashamed of yourself! Youre just being a dog in the manger! You ought to be ashamed of yourself! Stealing my man behind my back! What? What did you say!? Totoy, pull them apart! You keep out of this or Ill knock your head off! Naku lumabas din ang pagka Tondo! Shameless hussy! Man eater! She hit me first! Look what youve done to her! Are you trying to defend her? You never defended me! Shut up! I hate you! I hate you! Shut up or Ill bash your mouth off! Hey, dont you talk to Nena that way. You keep out of this! Hes more of a gentleman than you are. He defends me! You take your hands off her! I told you to keep out of this! Oh, Totoy, youve saved my life Tony! Tony, open your eyes! Oh, get away from her! Take me away from her! Are you still engaged to him? I hate him! I never want to see him again in my life! Good! Come on, and lets go! Hey! Dont you speak to me, you brute! I wasnt talking to you! Dont you speak to me either! You have insulted the woman I love!

Kikay: Nena: Tony: Kikay: Totoy: Nena: Kikay: Nena: Tony: Nena: Tony: Nena: Tony: Totoy: Tony: Nena: Totoy: Tony: Nena: Kikay: Tony: Nena: Totoy: Nena: Totoy: Tony: Nena: Tony: Totoy:

Tony: (to Nena) How dare you hit her?!

Nena: Totoy: Tony: Nena: Tony: Kikay: Tony: Kikay: Tony: Kikay: Tony:

Oh, Totoy, why have you never told me? Well, now you know. Congratulations! Lets go darling; I dont want the smell around here. Scene 7 Now, youve ruined my life! I hope youre satisfied. I. have ruined your life? You. Ruined mine! What you need is a good spanking! Dont you come near me, you you Canto Boy. Dont worry. I wouldnt touch you with my ten foot pole. And I wouldnt touch you with my twenty foot pole. Just one year in New York and you forgot your old friends.

Kikay: Just one year that Im in New York and what did you do? But when we got engaged, you swore to be true, you promised to wait for me. And I believe you! Oh, youre a fickle, fickle. Tony: What are you crying about? Be brave..forget.. Thats the New York way. Nothing must ever be too serious, nothing must ever drag on too long. Oh Tony! Please, please! Besides, there could be no more talk of an engagement between us. Imagine a New York Girl, marrying a Tondo boy!! Oh Tony, Ive been such a fool. Im sorry, Tony. Well, Im not! Im glad I found out what kind of a person you are! Oh Tony, youre wrong, youre wrong! Im not that kind of person at all. Oh. Person is just a relative name, huh!?

Kikay: Tony:

Kikay: Tony: Kikay: Tony:

Kikay: Yes Tony, that was Francesca saying all that. But Francesca exists no more, Tony, the girl standing before you now is Kikay. Tony: Kikay: Tony: Kikay: Tony: Kikay: Tony: Kikay: Tony: Kikay: Tony: Kikay: Tony: In that silly dress? Oh this is just a gift wrapping, Tony. Well, well, well It's true Tony. Im Kikay.remember me? If I remember it right, I was right, I was engaged to a girl named Kikay. Yes, and youre still engaged to her Tony! Welcome home Kikay! How was the trip? Horrible! I couldnt wait to get back. Like it in New York? Uh-uh! Give me a Tondo anytime! Why didnt you answer my letters? Francesca wouldnt let me write, Tony. That nasty girl. Im glad she's dead!

Mrs. M: Francesca . Oh, Tony, are you still here? Francesca, dont be angry but I couldnt find any celery. Kikay: Oh, never mind, Inay, I hate celery!

Mrs. M: Tony:

Hate celery? Why? You said you couldnt live without it!

That was Francesca. Aling Atang and Francesca is dead. The girl standing before you is Kikay! But Kikay is Francesca. Oh, no, Inay, Im not FrancescaIm Kikay! I give up!

Mrs. M: Kikay: Mrs. M:

Kikay: That tune! What memories it brings back! I first heard it in New York, at Eddie Candons. Tony: Kikay: Tony: Uh-oh. Sorry darling. May I have this dance with you partner? Delighted, madame.

The Third Quarter: Poetry

The Sea
By Natividad Marquez Why does the sea laugh, Mother, As it glints beneath the sun? It is thinking of the joys, my child, That it wishes every one. Why does the sea sob so, Mother, As it breaks on the rocky shore? It recalls the sorrows of the world. And weeps forevermore. Why is the sea so peaceful, Mother, As if it were fast asleep? It would give our tired hearts, dearest child, The comfort of the deep.

Man Upon the Cross

By Conrado V. Perdrocha Upon the cross against the hills of the night they nailed the man, and while they speared his breast they made him drink the bile. He bore the pains alone, alone but in the haloed darkness saw sweet Mary's face upturned in grief below. Tears filmed her eyes, but love chastened the tragic beauty of her face which neither death nor sorrow could erase. He saw and feebly in the silence strove to speak a few remembered words; but now the whispers left his lips like tender birds. His arms were cold and death was in his eyes; the streams

of blood were dry upon the whiteness of his limbs. His breath was like a wounded bird, Wanting to stay, to stay, bereft; now Mary rose and, treasuring his sorrow, left.

Ballad of a Mothers Heart

The night was dark, For the moon was young, And the Stars were asleep and rare, The clouds were thick, Yet Youth went out, To see his Maiden fair. Dear one, he pleaded as he knelt before her feet in tears. My love is true, Why you have kept me waiting all this years? The maiden looked at him. Unmoved it seemed, And whispered low. Persistent Youth, You have to prove by deeds, Your love is true. "There's not a thing I would not do for you, Beloved" said he. "Then, go." said she. "To your mother dear, And bring her heart to me. Without another word, Youth left and went to his mother dear. He opened her breast and took her heart! But he did not shed a tear. Then back to his Maiden fair, He run unmindful of the rain. But his feet slipped, And he fell down, And loud, he groaned with pain! Still in his hand he held the prize, That would win his Maiden's hands. But he thought of his mother dear, So kind, so sweet, so fond. And then, he heard a voice! Not from his lips,

But all apart! "Get up" it said. "Were you hurt, Child?" It was his mother's heart

Maria Claras Song

By Jose Rizal Sweet are the hours in one's own Native Land, All there is friendly o'er which the sun shines above; Vivifying is the breeze that wafts over her fields; Even death is gratifying and more tender is love. Ardent kissed on a mother's lips are at play, On her lap, upon the infant child's awakening, The extended arms do seek her neck to entwine, And the eyes at each other's glimpse are smiling. It is sweet to die for one's Native Land, All there is friendly o'er which the sun shines above; And deathly is the breeze for one without A country, without a mother and without love.

A Sigh in the Dark

By Angela Manalang Gloria
Sweet the hours in the native country, where friendly shines the sun above! Life is the breeze that sweeps the meadows; tranquil is death; most tender, love. Warm kisses on the lips are playing as we awake to mother's face: the arms are seeking to embrace her, the eyes are smiling as they gaze. How sweet to die for the native country, where friendly shines the sun above! Death is the breeze for him who has no country, no mother, and no love!

Quietness
By Amador T. Daguio
I am a lover of quietness Unechoed songs within a lovers heart A silver pond, a statued loveliness Where words can take no part. I love the quiet ways of memory The quiet looks to give you loving praise The quiet secrets of misery Through quiet nights and days. The quiet mountains of the earth I love The moving clouds, the sun, the dewy leaf My quiet questioning of God above My quiet tearless grief.

These Lovely Things

By Jose La. Villa Tierra

These things are lovely, and god made them so; These little white Sampaguitas wet with dew; The graceful sway of grass, folk-dancing on the lea; The green Narra leaves; the blue of sky and sea; The lacy waterfalls and rainbows in the sun; The Master's canvas in the west when day is done; My humble Nipa hut benneath the swaying palms Listening to the breezes lilting pagan psalms; The moonbeams on the bay; each little bird that sings;

Dalagas on the lane; the color summer brings... These things are lovely, and God made them so, And placed them in my country---row on row. I'm glad I'm too poor to leave my shore And miss this loveliness outside my cottage door.

To the Philippines
By Jose Rizal

Aglowing and fair like a houri on high, Full of grace and pure like the Morn that peeps When in the sky the clouds are tinted blue, Of th' Indian land, a goddess sleeps. The light foam of the son'rous sea Doth kiss her feet with loving desire; The cultured West adores her smile And the frosty Pole her flow'red attire. With tenderness, stammering, my Muse To her 'midst undines and naiads does sing; I offer her my fortune and bliss: Oh, artists! her brow chaste ring With myrtle green and roses red And lilies, and extol the Philippines!

Allegorical Quatrains
Translated by Bienvenido Lumbera
Alas for me, my friend, Solitary is the peace of thread: Once it snaps at the bobbin, It ends up tangled in the heddle-rod Though the hill be high And reach up to the highland, Being desirous of heights It will finally be reduced to discern. When one submits to a wound, he does not feel the pain;

to one who resists it, a mere scratch become a sole, I'm the fish the size of the "sap sap" No wider than a barnade; But I'm creating quite stir Because I'm swimming around with a Big "apahap"

Unending Thanks
By Pedro Suarez Ossorio Unending thanks To you, God of wisdom, For this your great mercy On the Tagalong people. This fine book Which contains your message, You have speedily allowed. To be published and honored. So that we Christians Might have something to read day and night Something to console us In this valley of tears. Anyone who reads and meditates On what to do and how to do it Without the slightest trouble Will learn the ways of holiness. Therefore whoever you are Leave sloth behind And strive to learn From his account. If wed only apply ourselves And takes these lesson by heart All manner of profit Will accrue to our body and soul. If wed take them to heart and keep them Every manners of goodness will be ours Our souls will be endeared to God And grow in virtue as we go older.

No Greater Love Than Yours

By Nicanor Tiongson There is no greater love than yours, O Most Sacred Heart, so we, the Filipino people, offer you our hearts. In our temples and in our homes, we cry out to you. May Your kingdom stand firm from Aparri to Jolo. Long we have hoped for Your empire in the East. Like the sun burning bright is the faith of the Philippines, It stands strong like a rock and fills all void like the sea. Never shall these islands be possessed by sin, For on our mountains is raised your heavenly sign And the gates of Hell shall not prevail.

Summer Song
I greet you friendly, I met you kindly, Welcome as sunshine, Welcome as light. May fortune meet you, Good Fortune greet you, Friendly as moonshine, Kindly as night.

Rice Planting Song

Planting rice is never fun, Bending over til the set of sun. Cannot sit, cannot stand, Plant the seedlings all by hand. Planting rice is not fun, Bending over til the set of sun. Cannot sit and cannot stand, Plant the seedlings all by hand.

Storm
By Bienvenido Lumbera Though it is stormy and dark Ill strain my tearful plaints And struggle onIll set out on a voyage And persist on my search For God our Father. Though I cant sleep a wink Because of the temptation bearing Down on me, Still will dare To read this book, And from it, draw Though blinded in the past, Ill give thanks For this light Which God let shine Upon the priest who has made known This noble book. Though tossed and dashed, By huge waves, Ill trash my legs And renew my strengthIn this book will I grasp For the buoy that saves. Though disabled and limping Nothing can hold back my steps, For this book will take me by the hand And shoe me the wayThe staff was prepared To give me strength.

My Last Farewell
By Jose Rizal Farewell, beloved Country, treasured region of the sun, Pearl of the sea of the Orient, our lost Eden! To you eagerly I surrender this sad and gloomy life; And were it brighter, fresher, more florid,

Even then Id give it to you, for your sake alone. In fields of battle, deliriously fighting, Others give you their lives, without doubt, without regret; The place matters not: where theres cypress, laurel or lily, On a plank or open field, in combat or cruel martyrdom, Its all the same if the home or country asks. I die when I see the sky has unfurled its colors And at last after a cloak of darkness announces the day; If you need scarlet to tint your dawn, Shed my blood, pour it as the moment comes, And may it be gilded by a reflection of the heavens newly-born light. My dreams, when scarcely an adolescent, My dreams, when a young man already full of life, Were to see you one day, jewel of the sea of the Orient, Dry those eyes of black, that forehead high, Without frown, without wrinkles, without stains of shame. My lifelong dream, my deep burning desire, This soul that will soon depart cries out: Salud! To your health! Oh how beautiful to fall to give you flight, To die to give you life, to die under your sky, And in your enchanted land eternally sleep. If upon my grave one day you see appear, Amidst the dense grass, a simple humble flower, Place it near your lips and my soul youll kiss, And on my brow may I feel, under the cold tomb, The gentle blow of your tenderness, the warmth of your breath. Let the moon see me in a soft and tranquil light, Let the dawn send its fleeting radiance, Let the wind moan with its low murmur, And should a bird descend and rest on my cross, Let it sing its canticle of peace. Let the burning sun evaporate the rains, And with my clamor behind, towards the sky may they turn pure; Let a friend mourn my early demise, And in the serene afternoons, when someone prays for me, O Country, pray to God also for my rest!

Pray for all the unfortunate ones who died, For all who suffered torments unequaled, For our poor mothers who in their grief and bitterness cry, For orphans and widows, for prisoners in torture, And for yourself pray that your final redemption youll see. And when the cemetery is enveloped in dark night, And there, alone, only those who have gone remain in vigil, Disturb not their rest, nor the mystery, And should you hear chords from a zither or psaltery, It is I, beloved Country, singing to you. And when my grave, then by all forgotten, has not a cross nor stone to mark its place, Let men plow and with a spade scatter it, And before my ashes return to nothing, May they be the dust that carpets your fields. Then nothing matters, cast me in oblivion. Your atmosphere, your space and valleys Ill cross. I will be a vibrant and clear note to your ears, Aroma, light, colors, murmur, moan, and song, Constantly repeating the essence of my faith. My idolized country, sorrow of my sorrows, Beloved Filipinas, hear my last good-bye. There I leave you all, my parents, my loves. Ill go where there are no slaves, hangmen nor oppressors, Where faith doesnt kill, where the one who reigns is God. Goodbye, dear parents, brother and sisters, fragments of my soul, Childhood friends in the home now lost, Give thanks that I rest from this wearisome day; Goodbye, sweet foreigner, my friend, my joy; Farewell, loved ones, to die is to rest.

The Fourth Quarter: Essay

I Am a Filipino
By Carlos P. Romulo I am a Filipinoinheritor of a glorious past, hostage to the uncertain future. As such, I must prove equal to a two-fold taskthe task of meeting my responsibility to the past, and the task of performing my obligation to the future. I am sprung from a hardy racechild of many generations removed of ancient Malayan pioneers. Across the centuries, the memory comes rushing back to me: of brown-skinned men putting out to sea in ships that were as frail as their hearts were stout. Over the sea I see them come, borne upon the billowing wave and the whistling wind, carried upon the mighty swell of hopehope in the free abundance of the new land that was to be their home and their children's forever. This is the land they sought and found. Every inch of shore that their eyes first set upon, every hill and mountain that beckoned to them with a green and purple invitation, every mile of rolling plain that their view encompassed, every river and lake that promised a plentiful living and the fruitfulness of commerce, is a hallowed spot to me. By the strength of their hearts and hands, by every right of law, human and divine, this land and all the appurtenances thereofthe black and fertile soil, the seas and lakes and rivers teeming with fish, the forests with the inexhaustible wealth in wild life and timber, the mountains with their bowels swollen with mineralsthe whole of this rich and happy land has been for centuries without number, the land of my fathers. This land I received in trust from them, and in trust will pass it to my children, and so on until the world is no more. I am a Filipino. In my blood runs the immortal seed of heroesseed that flowered down the centuries in deeds of courage and defiance. In my veins yet pulses the same hot blood that sent Lapulapu to battle against the alien foe, that drove Diego Silang and Dagohoy into rebellion against the foreign oppressor. That seed is immortal. It is the self-same seed that flowered in the heart of Jose Rizal that morning in Bagumbayan when a volley of shots put an end to all that was mortal of him and made his spirit deathless forever; the same that flowered in the hearts of Bonifacio in Balintawak, of Gregorio del Pilar at Tirad Pass, of Antonio Luna at Calumpit; that bloomed in flowers of frustration in the sad heart of Emilio Aguinaldo at Palanan, and yet burst forth royally again in the proud heart of Manuel L. Quezon when he stood at last on the threshold of ancient Malacanang Palace, in the symbolic act of possession and racial vindication. The seed I bear within is an immortal seed. It is the mark of my manhood, the symbol of my dignity as a human being. Like the seeds that were once buried in the tomb of Tutankhamen many thousands of years ago, it shall grow and flower and bear fruit again. It is the insigne of my race, and my generation is but a stage in the unending search of my people for freedom and happiness. I am a Filipino, child of the marriage of the East and the West. The East, with its languor and mysticism, its passivity and endurance, was my mother, and my sire was the West that came thundering across the seas with the Cross and Sword and the Machine. I am of the East, an eager participant in its struggles for liberation from the imperialist yoke. But I know also that the East must awake from its centuried sleep, shake off the lethargy that has bound its limbs, and start moving where destiny awaits. For I, too, am of the West, and the vigorous peoples of the West have destroyed forever the peace and quiet that once were ours. I can no longer live a being apart from

those whose world now trembles to the roar of bomb and cannon shot. For no man and no nation is an island, but a part of the main, and there is no longer any East and West only individuals and nations making those momentous choices that are the hinges upon which history revolves. At the vanguard of progress in this part of the world I standa forlorn figure in the eyes of some, but not one defeated and lost. For through the thick, interlacing branches of habit and custom above me I have seen the light of the sun, and I know that it is good. I have seen the light of justice and equality and freedom, my heart has been lifted by the vision of democracy, and I shall not rest until my land and my people shall have been blessed by these, beyond the power of any nation to subvert or destroy. I am a Filipino, and this is my inheritance. What pledge shall I give that I may prove worthy of my inheritance? I shall give the pledge that has come ringing down the corridors of the centuries, and it shall be compounded of the joyous cries of my Malyan forebears when they first saw the contours of this land loom before their eyes, of battlecries that have resounded in every field of combat from Mactan to Tirad Pass, of the voices of my people when they sing: Land of the morning, Child of the sun returning Ne'er shall invaders Trample thy sacred shore. Out of the lush green of these seven thousand isles, out of the heart-strings of millions of Filipinos all vibrating to one song, I shall weave the mighty fabric of my pledge. Out of the songs of the farmers at sunrise when they go to labor in the fields' our of the sweat of the hardbitten pioneers in Ma-ig and Koronadal; out of the silent endurance of stevedores at the piers and the ominous grumbling of peasants in Pampanga; out of the first cries of babies newly-born and the lullabies that mothers sing; out of the crashing of gears and the whine of turbines in the factories; out of the crunch of ploughs upturning the earth; out of the limitless patience of teachers in the classrooms and doctors in the clinics; out of the tramp of soldiers marching, I shall make the pattern of my pledge: I am a Filipino born of freedom, and I shall not rest until freedom shall have been added unto my inheritancefor myself and my children's childrenforever.

Man in Dapitan
By Loreto Paras Sulit The boys came to know him very well. Their friendship with this lonely man with the kind voice began one day when the boys could not agree on the answer to a question in their day's lesson in catechism. As they passed the house where he stayed, they had a discussion in loud, angry voices, Lope shouting loudest of all. I tell you that I am right. My answer is the right one! Hugo and Felix grinned in mock disbelief. Lope with the curly heard, quick with his fists, quickly rolled the sleeves of his camisa de chino(i). Hugo and Felix also rolled up their sleeves.

Now, boys, can fists settle an argument? Are you trying to find out who is the strongest among you, or are you trying to find out who is right? The boys stopped short in their coming fight. Everybody knew everybody else in Dapitan. So the boys knew that this was the man who had just arrive in town. They saw someone with an attractive, kindly face. His eyes could command when he wanted to. The strong line of his jaw reminded the boys of rocks. It seemed to tell them of something hard and unbreakable. As they stared at him, he went on to say, If you want to find out who is right, open your books, read the answer very well, and which of you gave the one exactly like it. One of you may win with his fists, but that would not prove that his answer is correct. His voice died away as he looked toward the sea. It seemed as if he had fallen into a dream. The boys walked away in silence. At a distance they stopped and opened their catechisms. The man on the porch smiled to himself. After that say whenever the boys passed by the spot, they would eagerly look for him. Usually he was either reading or writing. When he saw them he would wave to them. One day Lope took a bunch of ripe mangosteens along with him. He pulled the other two with him and he shyly offered the fruit. The man's quick bright smile completely won their hearts. Soon they were all conversing with him as though he were their favorite uncle. Boys, he asked them, would you like to learn another language besides Spanish? I'll teach you another if you can stay with me half an hour every day about this time. What language, sir? asked Felix. Have you choiceFrench, English, German. The boys looked at him closely. At first they thought he was joking, but his unsmiling face told them he was serious. Let us study English, suggested Lope. So English it was. After a week they knew the English names of many objects in their homes and in the town. They could manage short answers to questions, greetings, and simple statements. During the says that followed, Lope, who had been the most interested and active, appeared to be very absent-minded. What is the matter, Lope? asked the teacher. Lope tried hard to speak in a steady voice, but he could not stop the quiver of his lips. It is my mother, sir. My mother cannot see these days. She is almost blind. The doctor says she has to go to Manila to be operated on. But father cannot take her to Manila. We are very poor, sir. Let us go to your mother, Lope. Perhaps I can help her. He went inside the house and came out with a black bag. Lope had no chance to refuse. The man was fully prepared to go with him. Lope's mother was sitting on a bamboo chair in the shady portion of the yard. She inclined her face toward the sounds of coming footsteps. Lope ran to her and rubbed his face against her left arm. She smiled gently, but the light did not reach her eyes. There was only sorrow there. Mother, cried Lope excitedly, someone is here who will help us Lope was so sure his friend could help his mother. His friend was now looking into his mother's eyes, just like any other doctor peering into them. Lope felt better just to see him examining his mother's eyes. When Lope's father arrived, there was a hurried consultation between the two men.

Lope heard his friend say to his father, It is not serious, really. It will require only a simple operation if you will let me do it for you. From the look on his father's face, Lope knew that he has also immediately trusted this man. His mother was taken into the house. Lope waited outside. How long the hours seemed! Would they never finish? What was happening to his mother? At last his father and friend came out. They smiled when they saw Lope's anxious face. Don't worry too much, Lope, said his friend. Next week your mother will be able to thread her needle even at night. Sir, said Lope's father, in all this excitement my young son has forgotten to tell me the name of the person we shall always be thankful and grateful to. May we know the name of Mother's doctor? The man smiled briefly. Well, if you want to remember my nameit is Jose Rizal, he said.

My Home
By Jose Rizal I have nine sisters and one brother. My father, a model of fathers, had given us an education in proportion to our modest means. By dint of frugality, he was able to build a stone house, to buy another, and to raise a small nipa hut in the midst of a grove we had, under the shade of the banana and other trees. There, the delicious atis displayed its delicate fruit and lowered its branches as if to save me from trouble of reaching out for them. The sweet santol, the scented and mellow tampoy, the pink makopa vie for my favor. Farther away, the plum tree, the harsh but flavorous casuy, the beautiful tamarind please the eye as much as they delighted the palate. Here, the papaya stretched out its broad leaves and tempted the birds with its enormous fruit; there the langka, the coffee and the orange trees perfumed the air with the aroma of their flowers. On this side is the iba, the balimbing, the pomegranate with its abundant foliage and its lovely flowers bewitched the senses; while here and there rose the majestic palm trees loaded with huge nuts, swaying their proud tops and graceful branches, queens of the forests. I should never end where I to number all our trees and amuse myself identifying them. In the twilight, innumerable birds gathered from everywhere and I, a child of three years at most, amused myself watching them with wonder and joy. The yellow kuliawan, the maya in all its varieties, the kulae, the maria karpa, the martin, all the species of pipit joined the pleasant harmony and raised in varied chorus a farewell hymn to the sun as it vanished behind the tall mountains of my town. Then the clouds, through a caprice of nature, combined in a thousand shapes, which would suddenly dissolve, leaving me with only the slightest recollections. Even now, when I look out of the window of our house at a splendid panorama of twilight, thoughts that are long gone renew them with nostalgic eagerness. Came then the night to unfold her mantle, somber at times, for all its stars, when the chaste Diana failed to course through the sky in pursuit of her brother Apollo. But when she appeared, a vague brightness was to be discerned in the clouds; then seemingly they would crumble; and little she was to be seen, lovely, grave, and silent, rising like an immense globe which an invisible and omnipotent hand drew through space.

At such time, my mother gathered us all together to say the rosary. Afterward, we would go to the azotea or to some window where the moon could be seen, and my ayah would tell us stories, sometimes lugubrious and at other times gay, which in skeletons, buried treasures, and trees that bloomed with diamonds mingled in confusion. All of them born of an imagination wholly Oriental. Sometimes she told us that men lived on the moon, which we could perceive on it, were nothing else than the woman who was forever weaving.

The World in a Train

By Francisco Icasiano
One Sunday I entrained for Baliwag, a town in Bulacan which can well afford to hold two fiestas a year without a qualm. I took the train partly because I am prejudiced in favor of the government-owned railroad, partly because I am allowed comparative comfort in a coach, and finally because trains sometimes leave and arrive according to schedule. In the coach I found a little world, a section of the abstraction called humanity whom we are supposed to love and live for. I had previously arranged to divide the idle hour or so between cultivating my neglected Christianity and smoothing out the rough edges of my nature with the aid of grateful sights without the rolling wheels, the flying huts and trees and light-green palay seedlings and carabaos along the way. Inertia, I suppose, and the sort of reality we moderns know make falling in love with my immediate neighbors often a matter of severe strain and effort to me. Let me give a sketchy picture of the little world whose company Mang Kiko shared in moments which soon passed away affecting most of us. First, there came to my notice three husky individuals who dusted their seats furiously with their handkerchiefs without regard to hygiene or the brotherhood of men. It gave me no little annoyance that on such a quiet morning the unpleasant aspects in other people's ways should claim my attention. Then there was a harmless-looking middle-aged man in green camisa de chino with rolled sleeves who must have entered asleep. When I noticed him he was already snuggly entrenched in a corner seat, with his slippered feet comfortably planted on the opposite seat, all the while his head danced and dangled with the motion of the train. I could not, for the love of me, imagine how he would look if he were awake. A child of six in the next seat must have shared with me in speculating about the dreams of this sleeping man in green. Was he dreaming of the Second World War or the price of eggs? Had he any worries about the permanent dominion status or the final outcome of the struggles of the masses, or was it merely the arrangement of the scales on a fighting roaster's legs that brought that frown on his face? But the party that most engaged my attention was a family of eight composed of a short but efficient father, four very young children, mother, grandmother, and another woman who must have been the efficient father's sister. They distributed themselves on four benches you know the kind of seats facing each other so that half the passengers travel backward. The more I looked at the short but young and efficient father the shorter his parts looked to me. His movements were fast and short, too. He removed his

coat, folded it carefully and slung it on the back of his seat. Then he pulled out his wallet from the hip pocket and counted his money while his wife and the rest of his group watched the ritual without a word. Then the short, young, and efficient father stood up and pulled out two banana leaf bundles from a bamboo basket and spread out both bundles on one bench and log luncheon was ready at ten o'clock. With the efficient father leading the charge, the children (except the baby in his grandmother's arms) began to dig away with little encouragement and aid from the elders. In a short while the skirmish was over, the enemy shrimps, omelet, rice and tomato sauce were routed out, save for a few shrimps and some rice left for the grandmother to handle in her own style later. Then came the water-fetching ritual. The father, with a glass in hand, led the march to the train faucet, followed by three children whose faces still showed the marks of a hard-fought-battle. In passing between me and a person, then engaged in a casual conversation with me, the short but efficient father made a courteous gesture which is still good to see in these democratic days; he bent from the hips and, dropping both hands, made an opening in the air between my collocutor and me a gesture which in unspoiled places means "Excuse Me." In one of the stations where the train stopped, a bent old woman in black boarded the train. As it moved away, the old woman went about the coach, begging holding every prospective Samaritan by the arm, and stretching forth her gnarled hand in the familiar fashion so distasteful to me at that time. There is something in begging which destroys some fiber in most men. "Every time you drop a penny into a beggar's palm you help degrade a man and make it more difficult for him to rise with dignity" There was something in his beggar's eye which seemed to demand. "Now do your duty." And I did. Willy-nilly I dropped a coin and thereby filled my life with repulsion. Is this Christianity? "Blessed are the poor " But with what speed did that bent old woman cross the platform into the next coach! While thus engaged in unwholesome thought, I felt myself jerked as the train made a curve to the right. The toddler of the family of eight lost his balance and caught the short but efficient father off-guard. In an instant all his efficiency was employed in collecting the shrieking toddler from under his seat. The child had, in no time, developed two elongated bumps on the head, upon which was applied a moist piece of cloth. There were no reproaches, no words spoken. The discipline in the family was remarkable, or was it because they considered the head as a minor anatomical appendage and was therefore nor worth the fuss? Occasionally, when the child's crying rose above the din of the locomotive and the clinkety-clank of the wheels on the rails, the father would jog about a bit without blushing, look at the bumps on his child's head, shake his own, and move his lips saying, "Tsk, Tsk. And nothing more. Fairly tired of assuming the minor responsibilities of my neighbors in this little world in motion, I looked into the distant horizon where the blue Cordilleras merged into the blue of the sky. There I rested my thoughts upon the billowing silver and grey of the clouds, lightly remarking upon their being a trial to us, although they may not know it. We each would mind our own business and suffer in silence for the littlest mistakes of others; laughing at their ways if we happened to be in a position to suspend our emotion and view the whole scene as a god would; or, we could weep for other men if we are the mood to shed copious tears over the whole tragic aspect of a world thrown out of joint. It is strange how human sympathy operates. We assume an attitude of complete indifference to utter strangers whom we have seen but not met. We claim that they are

the hardest to fall in love with in the normal exercise of Christian charity. Then a little child falls from a seat, or a beggar stretches forth a gnarled hand, or three husky men dust their seats; and we are, despite our pretensions, affected. Why not? If even a sleeping man who does nothing touches our life!

Siestas
By Leopoldo R. Serrano
When I was a boy, one of the rules at home that I did not like at all was to be made to lie in the bare floor of our sala after lunch. I usually lay side by side with two other children in the family. We were forced to sleep by my mother. She watched us as she darned old dresses, read an awit, or hummed a cradle song in Tagalog. She always reminded us that sleeping at noon enables children to grow fast like the grass in our yard. In this way, in most Filipino homes many years ago, the children were made to understand what the siesta was. Very often I had to pretend to be asleep by closing my eyes. Once while my mother was away, I tried to sneak out of the house during the siesta hour. I had not gone far when I felt something hit me hard on the back. Looking behind, I saw my father. He was annoyed because I had disturbed his siesta. I picked up a pillow at my feet, gave it to him, and went back to our mat. The two other children were fast asleep. The sight of the whip, symbol of parental authority, hanging on one of the post, gave me no other choice but to lie down. During my childhood, whenever we had house guests, my mother never failed to put mats and pillows on the floor of our living room after the noonday meal. Then she would invite our guest to have their siesta. Hospitality and good taste demanded that this be not overlooked. The custom of having a siesta was introduced in our country by the Spaniards. Indeed, during the Spanish times, the Philippines was the land of the fiesta, the novena, and the siesta. Many foreigners have noted this custom among our people. Some believed that even the guards at the gates of Intramuros had their siesta. It was a commonly known fact that every afternoon the gates of the city were closed for fear of a surprise attack. The ayuntamiento of Manila or the commander of the regiment in Intramuros did well in ordering the closing of the gates during the siesta hour. Once, the Chinese living in Parian, just a short way from the Walled City, timed the beginning of one of their revolts by attacking at two oclock in the afternoon. They were sure that the dons, including the guards and sentinels, were having their siesta. They felt that they would be more successful if the attack came at siesta time. Even today visits to Filipino homes are not usually made between one oclock and two oclock in the afternoon. It is presumed that the people in the house are having their siesta. It is not polite to have them awakened from their noonday nap to accommodate visitors. There is a well-known saying believed by many of our people: You may joke with a drunkard but not one who has been disturbed during his siesta.

Our custom of having a siesta has not been greatly affected by American influence. We have not learned the Yankees bustle and eagerness or endurance for continuous work throughout the day. But if only for its health-giving effects, we should be grateful to the Spaniards for the siesta, especially during the hot weather, for the siesta serves to restore the energy lost while working and a hot climate.

The Tarlac Dike

By Kerima Polotan The Tarlac Dike that is reported to have cracked and sent thousands fleeing for their lives was the dike of my childhood. Many years ago I lived in Tarlac, in a house off Tanedo Street whose kitchen overlooked that dike. It stretched from one end of town, from the railroad station all the way to Agana Bride, and the dike was what I took to Tarlac High. People lived in crude little huts huddled close to the wall, on the land side, and from the dike as I walked by, I could look into their lives. The dike curves ever so slightly in my memory, as though describing the arc of a slow ball. It was made of cement and had steps on either side, ever so often along the way. You could walk up to the ledge and walk into the river if you wished, but the river was not the fearsome one reported today but a friendly, familiar one in which the debris of living floated old chairs, dead pigs, empty sardine cans. It never flooded in the years I lived there but the waters rose to the ledge when it rained, lapping against the wall. In the summer the river behind my house disappeared, and it was the unending puzzle of my young life where it went because then in summer the riverbed dried up so completely that we could cross it, my friends and I, balancing ourselves on the huge stones that the June rains hid, on our way to the barrios across, where the fruit trees awaited our plunder. And such plunder it was! Guavas, unripe mangoes, chicos, the fruits of childhood that haunt the periphery of the tongue no matter how far one has gone and what diverse tables on has sat at. I had a good friend then who would later become one of the richest women in the province (or so Im told): but I dont supposed she cares to remember the nipa hut she used to line in and the horse that pulled the rig which was the source of their livelihood. I remember helping her walk their horse occasionally a privilege, I thought, because it was a handsome animal. A calesa ride was five centavos, a fast and exciting race down main street behind a spirited animal, but since five centavos was all I had to live on everyday, I took the dike instead, saving my money for a slice of cake at recess. It was a cool, damp walk in the morning on the dike, and if all one thought of was getting to school, you could reach the back of the Trade School Building in ten minutes, walk down the steps, cross Romulo Boulevard, and be in time for the flag ceremony. But there were diversions to see life stirring in the dark interiors of the dike houses, breakfast being set, children hushed, a wife nagging, a husband scratching himself at the window, clothes hung out to dry, flower pots watered, detours of the imagination that help the passerby and delay him. But the walk in the afternoon was the best part of all. We dragged our wooden clogs and our school bags, taking our time, my friends and I, thinking of home and supper. Along the dike the mothers called to their children; the houses sprang alive with kerosene lamps. The small of the river would come up to us, and we would look

across it to the other bank, talking of approaching summer, planning forays to melon patches. On clear nights the river would glisten, one huge sheet of dark glass from our kitchen window. My friend has gone on to wealth and status, not too easily accessible to people these days, but I do enough remembering for the two of us. I suppose we weather everything I have survived her success without envy, and my reminiscences must leave her untouched. Only the wall two high school girls had thought would last a hundred years had crumbled, a casualty of government neglect and shortsightedness. But my mind never lets go. The dike that the papers say has given way, stands stubbornly in my memory, a sweep of cement and sand, and the paucity in my childrens lives include the absence of such memory of their lives.

A Letter to His Parents

By Jose Rizal Jose Rizal bids his family farewell "It is better to die than to live suffering" How he wishes to be buried. The letter bears no date. To my family, I ask you for forgiveness for the pain I cause you, but someday I shall have to die and it is better that I die now in the plentitude of my conscience. Dear parents and brothers: give thanks to God that I may preserve my tranquility before my death. I die resigned, hoping that with my death you will be left in peace. Ah! It is better to die than to live suffering. Console yourselves. I enjoin you to forgive one another the little meanness of life and try to live united in peace and good harmony. Treat your old parents as you would like to be treated by your children later. Love them very much in my memory. Bury me in the ground. Place a stone and a cross over it. My name, the date of my birth and of my death. Nothing more. If later you wish to surround my grave with a fence, you can do it. No anniversaries. I prefer Paang Bundok. Have pity on poor Josephine.

Language Focus

Past Tense

How do you make a verb in the past tense?

Past tense is used to express actions that already happened Regular verbs are made in the past tense by adding d or ed If the word ends in a y, sometimes you must change the y to an i before adding -ed Present Past Tense Tense add added supply supplied love loved wave waved plant planted dance danced pick picked note noted Irregular verbs are made in the past tense with an internal change or a complete change in the form. Sometimes the last consonant is repeated before adding -ed Present Tense do be go bring see drive pat speak Past Tense did was/were went brought saw drove patted spoke

Activity 1

Read the fable given below. It is taken from the Indian book Panchatantra. Give the past form of the verb in the parenthesis.

Shell-Neck, Slim and Grim

In a certain lake (1-live) a turtle named Shell-Neck. He (2-have) two friendly geese whose names (3-be) Slim and Grim. Now in the vicissitudes of time, there (4-come) a twelve-year drought which (5beget) ideas of this nature in the two geese: This lake has gone dry. Let us seek another body of water. However, we must first say farewell to Shell-Neck, our dear and love-proven friend. When they (6-do) so, the turtle said Why do you bid me farewell? I am a water dweller, and here I could perish very quickly from the scant supply of water and grief at loss of you. Therefore, if you feel any affection for me, please rescue me from the jaws of this death. Besides, as the water dries in this lake, you two suffer nothing beyond a restricted diet, while to me it means immediate death. Consider which is more serious, loss of food or loss of life. But then (7-reply): We are unable to take you with us since you are a water creature without wings. Yet the turtle (8-continue) There is a possible device. Bring a stick of wood. This they (9-do) whereupon the turtle (10-grip) the middle of the stick between his teeth, and said Now take firm hold with your bills, one on each side, fly up, and travel with even flight through the sky, until we discover another desirable body of water. But they objected There is a hitch in this fine plan. If you happen to indulge in the smallest conversation then you will lose your hold on the stick, will fall from a great height, and will be dashed to bits. Oh, said the turtle, from this moment I take a vow of silence, to last as long as we are in heaven. So they (11-carry) out the plan, but while the two geese (12-be) painfully carrying the turtle over the neighboring city, the people below (13-notice) the spectacle, and there (14-arise) a confused buzz of talk as they asked What is this catlike object that two birds are carrying through the atmosphere? Hearing this, the doomed turtle (15-be) heedless enough to ask What are these people chattering about? The moment he (16-speak), the poor creature (17-lose) his grip and (18-fall) to the ground. And people who (19-want) mean (20-cut) him to bits in a moment with sharp knives.

Activity 2

Draw what you imagined from your favorite part in the fable.

Activity 3

Answer the following question, recalling certain details from the story.

1. 2. 3. 4. 5.

Why did the geese want to leave the lake? Why did the geese think they must leave without the Shell-Neck? What did the geese use to support the turtle? What did the people below think the geese were holding? Why did the turtle fall?

Activity 4

In your notebook, write about a past experience you had where you tried to convince others to do something to help you.

Time Markers
What are time markers?

Time markers are words that note when something occurs in our lives. The time marker we use indicates which tense the sentence will be in. Past Tense Last ___ (week, month, year) The other day Yesterday A long time ago In 1999 (a year in the past) Present Tense Today Now Every (morning, day, week) Always, sometimes, never This ____ (morning, week, year) Future Tense Tomorrow Next ____ (week, month, year) Someday Soon In 2020 (a year in the future)

Time markers are usually found at the beginning or at the end of the sentence. The present tense is used for ongoing actions and actions that are repeated regularly.

Activity 1
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7.

Fill in the correct tense of the verb based on the time marker that is included in each sentence.

Next week I (go) ________ to the city for a special treat for myself! I like to (drink) ________ a cup of coffee every morning before school. I (go) ________ to the beach a while ago. We (eat) ________ lunch at home tomorrow? Nadia (tired) ________ yesterday so she (go) ________ to bed early. Can we (meet) ________ soon to talk about your birthday? In elementary school, you (be) ________ very small, not now in high school you (be) ________ much bigger.

Activity 2
After

Fill in the blanks with the correct time markers from the six listed below. Afterwards Before As soon as Finally Now

Immediately

1. ________ going to sleep, I like to read for half an hour. 2. Call me ________ you get to the hotel, okay? 3. First we went to see a movie at the movie theatre. ________, we went home for dinner.

4. I did not look at the answers until ________ finishing the test. I did not cheat! 5. If you see this book on sale for less than 100 pesos, but it ________! It costs nearly 200! 6. We looked in four stores before ________ finding it in one very near our house. 7. I dont want it in ten minutes. I need it ________!

WH Questions

What are WH question words?

WH question words are the most commonly used words that start questions. Who is used to ask about the people involved Who is at the door? What is used to ask about persons, places, things or descriptions What is your name? Where is used to ask about location Where is your house? When is used to ask about the timing When will we eat dinner? Why is used to ask about the cause Why are you sad? Which is use to ask to choose among several options Which do you prefer, mangoes or pineapples? How is used to ask about the manner in which something exists How does that work?

Activity 1

Choose the correct question word for each sentence.

1. ________ are you doing tonight? a. What b. Where 2. ________ time do you get up? a. When b. What 3. ________ do you get to school every day? a. How b. Why 4. ________ is going with you? a. Who b. 5. ________ book would you like to read next, this one or that one? a. Where b. Which 6. ________ have you been? I was waiting for you. a. Where b. What 7. ________ did you pick that shirt today? a. Why b. Who 8. ________ does this class end? a. What b. When 9. ________ do we make mango float? a. When b. How 10.________ type of drink would you like? a. What b. Where

Activity 2
1. A: B: 2. A: B: 3. A: B: 4. A: B: 5. A: B: 6. A: B: 7. A: B: 8. A: B: 9. A: B: 10.A: B:

Choose the correct question word for each sentence. _________ do you live? I live in Jordan. _________ does Jonell play basketball? He plays basketball twice a week. _________ far is your house from school? My house is two kilometres from school. _________ is Leigh crying? She is crying because her cat died today. _________ do you travel to school? I ride a jeepney to school. _________ do they do their homework? They do their homework on Sunday evenings. _________ is your favorite actress? My favorite actress is Sarah Geronimo. _________ does Sarah go to bed? She goes to bed at 10 pm. _________ is the capital of the Philippines? Manila is the capital of the Philippines! _________ is your birthday? My birthday is April 16.

Activity 3

Pretend you are meeting a student who has just transferred to this school. Prepare questions using each of the questions to get to know the new student.

Subject-Verb Agreement
What is subject-verb agreement?

In English, verbs change based on the subject of the sentence. Subject-verb agreement is making sure that the right form of the verb is being used! A single subject will take a single verb, while a plural subject will take a plural verb. What are single subjects? I You He/She/It John or Sheila What are plural subjects? We You (plural) They John and Sheila

How does a verb change with a single or plural subject? Example: the verb to talk Singular Subject + Singular Verb He talks talks is therefore the singular form of the verb Plural Subject + Plural Verb They talk talk is therefore the plural form of the verb

There are certain verbs that have special forms for each subject! Example: the verb to be I am You are He/She/It is We are You are They are Example: the verb to have I have You have He/She/It has We have You have They have

Activity 1

Select the verb or pronoun in parentheses that agrees with the rest of the sentence. Rewrite the sentence correctly.

1. But there (is, are) usually many legitimate claims that can be made about a product or service if one knows the facts. 2. As a persuasive writer, you must emphasize the facts that (gives, give) your product an edge over your competitors. 3. A successful persuasive letter usually (asks, ask) the reader to do something. 4. The closing of the letter (suggests, suggest) that the reader send for more information or fill out a questionnaire or an application form.

5. Writers of persuasive letters must make clear exactly what action (he expects, they expect) from the reader. 6. Most persuasive letters (follows, follow) a set formula: they arouse their readers attention; they interest their readers in their product or service; they call for some response from their readers. 7. Sentences and paragraphs in a persuasive letter (is, are) short; the vocabulary is simply but mature. 8. The company or firm the writer represents must never seem to be talking down to (its, their) potential clients.

Activity 2
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8.

Provide the correct form of the verb in the present tense.

The grizzly bear __________ in out-of-the-way places. (live) The bald eagle __________ quiet, lonely places too. (prefer) New scientists __________ about both of these animals. (worry) The endangered species list __________ both the grizzly bear and the bald eagle. (include) The bear __________ in places like the Rocky Mountains. (feed) Florida __________ as the some for some eagles. (serve) The future __________ bleak for these animals. (seems) The environment __________ to be protected. (need) Rewrite each sentence below, correcting the mistake in subject-verb agreement.

Activity 3
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8.

Many people finds exercise a good way to relax. The human body need regular exercise each week. Exercise keep the body fit and mind alert. Neither a good diet nor exercise are enough to keep fit. Proper sleeping habits is also necessary. Both patience and dedication is needed to exercise well. Jogging are an easy way to exercise. Joggers uses special shoes for running. Read this funny story and fill in the verbs in the correct tense. One day, a husband and wife (1-drive) _______ to the countryside to visit their friends when they realized they needed to stop for gas. The man was filling up the car when he (2-see) _______ a penguin standing by a pump. He (3-think) _______ it was very strange and when he went to pay, he asked, Why is there a penguin standing next to the pump? The cashier replied, I dont know. It (4-be) _______ there all morning. The man replied, Well, we cant leave it there. Its too dangerous. He

Activity 4

might have an accident. What should I do? The cashier suggested, You should take it to the zoo. That is a good idea, the man said. I (5-take) _______ him now. So the man and his wife put the penguin in the car and (6-drive) _______ away. One week later, the man and his wife (7-return) _______ to the same gas station to fill up the carand the penguin was still in the car! When the man went to pay, the cashier said to him, I thought you (8-take) _______ the penguin to the zoo. The man replied, We did. It had a really good time so tonight, we (9-take) _______ him to a fish restaurant.

Direct Discourse

What is direct discourse?

Direct discourse is when quotations marks are used to represent exactly what a character says. Philip: Ill come if I have time. Philip said, Ill come if I have time.

Activity 1

Interview your classmates, with a different person answering each question. Rewrite what they say using direct discourse.

1. What is your favorite color? 2. What is your favorite song? 3. When is your fathers birthday? 4. How old are you? 5. Where do you live? 6. What do you want to be when you grow up? 7. Where is your favorite place? 8. Who is your best friend? 9. Who is your crush? 10.Why do you like to study English?

Activity 2

Write a short story about a conversation between two friends who are playing together on a Saturday afternoon. Remember the elements of the story! Each character should speak at least 5 times.

Reported Speech

What is reported speech?

Reported speech is a sentence that refers to what someone has said Reported speech is also called indirect discourse. Joseph: The test was difficult. Joseph said the test was difficult. Bea: I watched TV after school. Bea said she watched TV after school. Note: In this one, I changed to she because it is no longer Bea talking about herself.

Activity 1

Identify if the sentence is using direct discourse or reported speech.

1. I said, I like sweets. 2. She said that he is singing well. 3. The construction worker said he had finished his assignment. 4. I killed the rat, my Tita said. 5. She said, I slept very well! 6. Andrew said he can do it. 7. Good morning, said the class. 8. My mother cooks well, Ronalie said. 9. I said he is sleeping.. 10. The couple said they are very happy together.

Activity 2

Take these sentences using direct discourse and rewrite them using reported speech. .

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8.

She said, I want to bring my chicken. Justin said, "I live in Barangay Concordia." "I am cooking dinner," said Father. Joanie said, "I have never been to Manila!" "I went to a fiesta last week," said May Lynn. Cesar said, "I had already eaten." Francis said, "I am going to find a new job." "I will text Jack this afternoon," said Jenny.

Activity 3

Change these sentences from reported speech to direct discourse.

1. She told her mother she was going to the market. 2. His friends told me they would go home the following Saturday. 3. The teacher told Mark he had been improving a lot! 4. Marc told me that he had finished his work. 5. My science teacher said the earth moves around the sun. 6. He said that she was not going home that day. 7. He asked me if I had bought the pens. 8. The boy asked me if that was the place we had visited before. 9. The judge told the witness to tell the truth. 10.The prisoner begged the judge to forgive him.

Activity 4

Interview a classmate. Tell another classmate what each student says. For example: Johnna is interviewing Nelphie.

Johnna asks Nelphie, How long does it take you to get to school? Nelphie responds, Twenty minutes. Johnna would then change Nelphies direct discourse to reported speech. Nelphie said it takes her twenty minutes to get to school.

Types of Sentences and Their Functions

What are the types of sentences?

Declarative sentences state an idea and end with a period. It rained yesterday. Exclamatory sentences show strong emotions and end with an exclamation point. What a mess! Interrogative sentences ask a question and end with a question mark. What is your favorite color? Imperative sentences give orders or directions and can end with a period, exclamation point or question mark. Sit down!

Activity 1

Choose the correct punctuation to put at the end of the sentence. Then, identify whether each sentence is declarative, interrogative, imperative or exclamatory.

1. My dad works on the 58th floor of that building 2. Go get another paper towel in the kitchen 3. Did you enjoy the adobo I cooked for you 4. What was in the box that was left outside 5. Tell grandma that we miss her 6. I feel terrible that you got into an accident this morning 7. Did you lock the door 8. I am so shocked that Christina failed the math exam 9. The toy store is in the first building on your left

10.Never buy anything from a salesperson who comes to your door

Activity 2

Read the following play. characters line is.

Identify what type of sentence each

Grandpa: Where are my glasses? Grandma: Check the drawer. Grandpa: Do you think they would be there? Billy: Something is wrong with the dog! Grandma: Stop shouting. Jill: The dog is wearing your glasses, Grandpa. Grandpa: Can you believe that?

Activity 3

Write your own mystery! It should have at least four characters and be at least ten lines long. Each character should only say one sentence at a time. After you have written it, go back and identify what kind of sentences the characters use for each line.

Coordinators
What are coordinators?

A coordinator is a word that connects other words or groups of words. Coordinating conjunctions connect words with equal importance. and is used to join words together John Mark and Elvin are friends. or is used to show choice or possibility He will take a tricycle or jeepney but and yet are used to show opposing or conflicting ideas It is early but/yet still very hot so is used to show result I was hungry so I ate Subordinating conjunctions connect words with different levels of importance. There is the main clause, which can be a sentence on its own, and the subordinating clause, which cannot be a sentence on its own Some other conjunctions Before After Until If Although Until Since When Because As Unless Than While Neitheror Eitheror Bothand Not onlybut also

Activity 1

Answer the following questions based on what you know about conjunctions.

1. Which conjunction connects two equal parts of a sentence? a. either b. until c. but d. since e. after 2. Which conjunction is used to connect two unequal parts of a sentence? a. so b. or c. but d. if e. and 3. Which conjunction is used to connect two unequal parts of a sentence? a. and b. nor c. but d. so e. or 4. Which conjunction fits best in the sentence: I am hungry _____ I dont want to eat. a. but b. so c. after d. before e. or 5. Which conjunction fits best in the sentence: He will eat _____ he gets home. a. or b. because c. when d. and e. since 6. Which conjunction fits best in the sentence: Do you want lumpia _____ spaghetti?

a. than b. so c. while d. as e. or 7. How many conjunctions are in the sentence: After Ben and Sid come, we can leave. a. 0 b. 1 c. 2 d. 3 e. 4

Activity 2

Create a new sentence that combines the two sentences with a conjunction.

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8.

Jogging is fun. It is very tiring. (but) She was hungry. She made dinner. (so) It is raining very hard. The wind is blowing strongly. (and) This weekend, I will stay at home. I will go to the beach. (or) School is a lot of work. It is rewarding. (but) I will see you later today. I will text you. (or) We have a long test next week. Gerry will study on Sunday (so) She was excited for the party. She spent an hour getting ready. (and)

Activity 3

Pick which coordinating conjunction would fit best in the following sentences.

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7.

Mario was cold, _____ he put on a jacket. Cherrie tried to read a novel in French, _____ it was too difficult. To get from Iloilo to Cebu, you can fly _____ you can ride a ferry. I bought a buko pie _____ we ate it together. Julio has a guiter, _____ he plays it very well. The disco was canceled, _____ we went home. Would you like adobo _____ estofado for dinner?

Activity 4

Choose the correct subordinating conjunction for each blank.

even though after until 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7.

even if because where

than while when

I ran ________ I was scared. We started moving ________ he took his foot off the brake. I am going to go ________ my parents say I cant. ________ I am only 5 tall, I love playing basketball. I waited ________ my mom paid for the groceries. My sister is nicer ________ my brother. Im not leaving ________ you say youre sorry.

8. I want to go ________ money grows on trees. 9. ________ I get happy, I smile.

Coordinating Conjunctions

What are coordinating conjunctions?

Coordinating conjunctions join two independent clauses of equal importance. Independent means the clause is a complete thought and can stand alone. and and nor are used to show agreement between or clauses I like blue and I like red balloons. It is not hot nor is it sunny. yet and but are used to show disagreement between the clauses I wish I could take a nap, yet I cannot find the time. I want to watch television, but I need to study. for and so are used to show a reason between the clauses I will cook spaghetti for your birthday celebration! I am hungry so I will eat a snack. or is used to show agreement or disagreement between clauses Will you sleep here or will you take your rest at school?

Activity 1

Rewrite the sentences in your notebook. Circle each independent clause in the sentences below. Hint: some sentences may only have one! Then, determine if the conjunction is used to show agreement, disagreement or reason. I normally like to ride a tricycle, but today I am walking. I like ube and chocolate ice cream. I am smarter than my brother, yet he still got a higher grade. I dont get good grades, nor do I try very hard in school. It is raining outside today, so I think I will wear my raincoat. He is always crying, for he is very sad.

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6.

Activity 2
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6.

Fill in the blanks with the correct coordinating conjunction. My dad ________ I are going fishing this afternoon. We played very well ________ we still lost the game. Either we are going to win ________ they are going to win. I dont have much time ________ hurry up! I ran after the cat ________ could not catch her. I want to get there early ________ we should leave soon.

Subordinating Conjunctions
What are subordinating conjunctions?

Subordinating conjunctions join an independent clause to a dependent clause. A dependent clause is an incomplete thought. Here is a list of the most commonly used subordinating conjunctions after before once although as as if as long as as though because still even if even though if if only in order to now that rather than since so that than that unless until when whenever where whereas wherever while

I will be able to drive when I get older. I will be able to drive is the independent clause or complete thought when I get older is the dependent clause or incomplete thought

Activity 1

Fill in the blanks with the appropriate subordinating conjunctions.

1. He behaves _______ he rules the world. 2. We started moving _______ he took his foot off the brake. 3. I am going to go _______ my head still hurts. 4. I want to go _______ money grows on trees. 5. I waited _______ my mom paid. 6. I ran _______ I was scared. 7. Typically, dessert comes _______ dinner. 8. My sister is nicer _______ my brother. 9. _______ I get happy I smile. 10. Im not leaving _______ you say youre sorry. 11. _______ you finish eating your vegetables, you may eat cake. 12. I turned the key _______ start the car. 13. We will start work _______ the sun rises. 14. We got to the scene of the crime right _______ the robbers ran away. 15. _______ I am only 53 tall, I _______ love playing basketball.

Rejoinders

What are rejoinders?

Rejoinders are short replies to requests, comments or interrogative questions. Rejoinders are not required, but are commonly used to keep conversation flowing. Listeners use rejoinders for three reasons: (1) to show that we are listening! (2) to show that we understand! (3) to show that we are interested! Speakers like to hear rejoinders for three reasons: (1) to know if the listener agrees or disagrees! (2) to know that the listener is engaged! (3) to know if the listener has anything to add! For example: If someone said I watched the Manny Pacquiao fight yesterday! Someone could respond with Me too! If someone said The weather was so bad that a pump boat sank. Someone could respond with Really?! Some other rejoinders include. Come on! Uh-huh Youre kidding! No way! I heard that, too. Thats great! Of course. Sure. Oh? Thats funny. You bet. Fantastic! Thats awful. Unbelievable! How strange!

Activity 1

Based on the sentence given, choose the best rejoinder to respond with.

1. Person A: I broke my finger yesterday. Person B: ______ a. Wonderful! b. Oh, yeah? c. Oh, no! d. Oh, really?

2. Person A: Justin Bieber will perform at school next week. Person B: ______ a. Thats too bad. b. Youre kidding! c. I see. d. Thats great! 3. Person A: I got a new job! Person B: ______ a. Ha! b. Congratulations c. Ill say! d. Uh-huh. 4. Person A: I hope we get spaghetti for dinner. Person B: ______ a. Yeah, right. b. No way! c. Me, too! d. Youre kidding. 5. Person A: I lost my wallet. Person B: ______ a. Fantastic! b. Thats funny. c. Oh, no! d. You bet! 6. Person A: It is very hot today. Person B: ______ a. I guess. b. No way! c. Ouch! d. Really?

Activity 2

Pretend that you are having a conversation with your family and that conversation has begun to slow down. Suddenly, someone says something, but not to anyone in particular. Think of the first rejoinder you would use to respond to the speaker to keep conversation going.

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7.

Hey! Its Friday! Ouch. I cut my finger on this page. I never noticed the flowers in front of that house. It must be raining. Im tired. I wonder when we will eat dinner. I forgot its Tito Arthurs birthday this weekend!

Adjectives

What is an adjective?

An adjective is a word that modifies a noun. It can describe, identify or quantify. red jeepney that tree four pencils

Activity 1

Copy the sentences. Circle the adjectives describing the underlined noun or nouns in each sentence.

Example: The small red shiny beetle scampered down the green leaf. 1. Ten puppies are playing in the tall, green grass. 2. Where is the small frying pan? 3. Sam has a blue racing bicycle. 4. The black kitten was playing with a small red ball. 5. Do you know the man in the black leather jacket? 6. I have seven colored marking pens for school. 7. The city is big, dirty and noisy. 8. Three ugly witches made a magic potion. 9. That is the biggest stuffed toy in the shop. 10.He ran through the wet muddy field.

Activity 2
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8.

Write an appropriate adjective to describe the following nouns. dog banana book market fish jacket chair chicken

______________ ______________ ______________ ______________ ______________ ______________ ______________ ______________

Activity 3
pictures. 1.

Write at least three adjectives to describe each of the following

dragon

3.

mountains

2.

fish

4.

teddy bear

Past Participle

What is a past participle?

A past participle is the form of a verb after the correct form of to be or to have. Some verbs change form from their regular past tense to their irregular past participle form. For a regular verb, just add ed to the end of the verb. Present tense I walk to the store. Past tense I walked to the store. Past participle with to be I am walking to the store Past participle with to have I had walked to the store. For an irregular verb, the whole verb form can change! Present tense I eat green mangoes. Past tense I ate green mangoes. Past participle with to be I am eating green mangoes. Past participle with to have I had eaten green mangoes. Some common verbs and their irregular past participles Past Participle with to be doing taking going driving coming growing reading knowing getting bringing choosing putting paying biting feeling Past Participle with to have done taken gone driven come grown read known gotten brought chosen put paid bitten felt

Base Verb to do to take to go to drive to come to grow to read to know to get to bring to choose to put to pay to bite to feel

Past Tense did took went drove came grew read knew got brought chose put paid bit felt

Activity 1

Choose the correct form of the verb to be based on the subject. Then, write the correct irregular past participle for the verbs. Example: The water (am/are/is) __________ (to freeze). The water is frozen.

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8.

Her arm (am/are/is) __________ (to break). The old man (am/are/is) __________ (to drink). Our house key (am/are/is) __________ (to hide) in the bushes. The employees (am/are/is) __________ (to do) with work today. The milk (am/are/is) all __________ (to go). The eighth page of my book (am/are/is) __________ (to tear). A picture (was/were) __________ (to draw) on the chalkboard. My bicycle (was/were) __________ (to steal) yesterday.

Activity 2
1. 2. 3. 4. 5.

Choose the correct past participle of the verb for each sentence.

She has never (driven, drove) ________ a jeepney before. Ella had (ate, eaten) ________ all of the vegetables on her plate. We have (knew, known) ________ each other since we were very young. Peter has (written, wrote) ________ a letter to his favorite author. While walking home from Lolas, Kara was (bitten, bit) ________ by mosquitoes. 6. Thomas has (grown, grew) ________ the most delicious mangoes in town. 7. Have you (rode, ridden) ____________ on a carabao before? 8. The thief had (took, taken) ___________ all my money!

Activity 3

Use the past tense or the past participle of the irregular verbs in the parentheses to complete the sentences. Consider if the verb forms of to be or to have are present. Examples: Many planes (fly) flew over the village a few minutes ago. She has (wear) worn her new dress only once.

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9.

The window was (break) ________ some time ago. No one knows where the robbers (hide) ________ the money. She has (bring) ________ two of her children with her. I have (see) ________ many good movies this year. He was (choose) ________ lead the group. I (think) ________ I saw you yesterday on a jeep. The money was (put) ________ in a secret place right away. All of the bills were (pay) ________ yesterday. They (build) ________ the house ten years ago.

Prepositional Phrases

What is a prepositional phrase?

A prepositional phrase is a phrase formed by a preposition followed by a prepositional complement. It provides further explanation about the object or objects being described. They can be taken out of the sentence and the sentence is still complete. The man in the yellow hat owns a pet monkey. That book on the desk is my favorite. I like watching the chickens behind my house.

Activity 1
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8.

Circle the preposition and underline the prepositional phrase.

Mark is the boy by the biggest bike. Juan put his spiders in his match box. They arrived at the wharf. Luzon is in the northern part of the Philippines. The lizard ran across the wall. In contrast to Jason, Ronie was a very small child. Ginny arrived at the party on time. The shark chased the fish through the water.

Activity 2
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8.

Add your own prepositional phrase to the basic sentence to make it more interesting.

He is sitting. She looked. I tasted the cake. The audience is listening. You buy food. Everyone will dance. The trip is long. My mother was bored.

Modals

What is a modal?

Modals are words that change the mood of a verb. It shows the subjects attitude toward a verb. can and could show the subjects ability to complete the verbs action I can may and might show the subject receiving permission to complete May I use to the CR? may and might can also show the possibility of completing the verbs action She might go to school today, but she is not feeling well, so she might not. will and would show the subjects intention to complete the verbs action My mom said she will see me this afternoon after school! shall, should and ought to show the subjects obligation or intention to complete the verbs action Students should do their assignments when they are told. must and have to show the subjects need to complete the verbs action I have to go to school now because I need to practice for my presentation. Hints on how to use modals: -Do not add an -s when used in the third person He may decide to attend the disco. -Use not to make the verbs negative We should not be late for school. -Modal verbs cannot be used in past or future tenses He musted study very hard.

Activity 1

Fill in the blanks with the correct modals.

1. You _________ leave the table once you have finished your meal and politely excuse yourself. 2. Angelica and Andrea said they would come after class, so they _________ be here by 5:30. 3. You _________ take along some cash. The restaurant may not accept credit cards.

5.

4. I did not break the window blades. They _________ have made a mistake. The television isnt working. It _________have been damaged in the typhoon.

Activity 2

Arrange the words in the boxes to form sentences. appropriate modal in each sentence. the work electricity your light or you pay the dont if 2. conference to

Insert the

1. bills wont

you

go to you

3.

get the remember milk on home way

to 4. some pay he tomorrow to his court to go ticket

Activity 3

Complete the sentences with one of the modals from the box below. More than one modal may be appropriate for some blanks. can could have to must might should

1. Ted's father drives a jeepney for ten hours each day. He ________ be exhausted after so long. 2. Dave: ________ you hold your breath for more than a minute? Nathan: No, I ________ not. 3. You ________take your umbrella along with you today. It looks like it will rain. 4. Oh no! Frank's cell phone is on his desk! He ________have left it here. 5. ________ I borrow your book? I left mine at home. 6. Jenny's house is very nice! It ________ have been very expensive. 7. Please make sure to water my plants while I am gone. If they don't get enough water, they ________ die.

8. If you want to get a better feeling for the city, you ________ walk around and explore.

Activity 4

Complete the sentences with one of the modals from the box below. More than one modal may be appropriate for some blanks. If necessary, make the modal negative using not. might must should

1. Nancy said you do not need to buy her anything for her birthday, but I really think you ________ get her a small remembrance. 2. Maam Gilds said she was very tired, but I think she ________ come to dinner still. 3. You ________be kidding! That can't be true. 4. I told my father that he ________ exercise once a day to stay healthy. 5. They ________ enjoy a nice day at the beach since it is so hot. 6. Uh oh! He ________ have broken his leg when he fell! 7. You ________worry so much. Whats important is that you try your hardest! 8. She ________ not be home yet so I will text her first before we go over.

Activity 5

Write a dialogue using modals. There should be at least two characters. Modals should be used in at least half of the lines.

Relative Clauses

What is a relative clause?

A relative clause is a subordinate clause that modifies a noun phrase. The phrase begins with a question word. Use who for people Manny Pacquiao is the boxer who is our national hero. Use which for things There is one tricycle which I usually take home from school. Use that for both things and people This chair is that I sat in last time Use when for timing Friday is when we will have our long test. Use where for places Alubihod is the sitio where many people go to the beach

Activity 1
which

Choose from the relative pronouns listed below. that who when where

1. Cebu is the city ________ you should buy dried mango. 2. Sunday is the day ________ many people go to church. 3. Iloilo is the place ________ Stefanie goes to see a movie. 4. The Peso is the currency ________ is used in the Philippines. 5. A stapler is a thing ________ you use to attach papers together. 6. Your sister-in-law is the person ________ is married to your brother. 7. 1898 is the year ________ the Philippines got its independence from Spain. 8. The principal is the one ________ gave the opening remarks yesterday. 9. Under that tree is ________ I like to sit and read. 10.I like to use the ball pen ________ writes with blue ink.

Activity 2

Fill in the following sentences using relative clauses with information about your lives. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ is is is is is is the day in my country when ____. a person I know who ___. the room in my house where ___. a time of year when ___. the part of my town where ___. the reason why ___.

Activity 3

Choose the best relative pronoun to complete the relative clauses.

1. Whats the name of the island ________ the tarsiers can be found? 2. What do you call a machine ________ you can get money from in the street? 3. What do you call a person ________ is like an animal doctor? 4. Whats the name of the women ________ husband is the barangay captain? 5. How do you describe a person ________ is never generous with money? 6. Whats the name of the boy ________ nose grew whenever he told a lie? 7. Whats the name of the boat ________ you rode to the city? 8. Whats the name of the city ________ tricycles are very large? 9. What do you call the thing ________ you use to open a bottle of Pepsi? 10.Whats the name of the girl ________ three sisters were so beautiful?

Activity 4

Respond to the following questions about important moments in your life. Use relative clauses when answering them.

Can you remember... 1. A day when you made a big decision? 2. A person who had a big influence on you as a child? 3. A place where you learned something very important? 4. A reason why you study English? 5. A time when you had to choose between two important things? 6. A place where you met someone very important to you?

Transition Markers

What are transition markers?

Transition markers are words that show the progression from one point to another. Words that show the second idea adds to the previous idea Also Furthermore First In addition Words that show a time and sequence relationship First, Second, Next Third Then Words that show a difference between ideas However On the other Nevertheless hand Words that introduce an example For example For instance To illustrate Consequently Words that show cause and effect Thus Therefore As a result

Activity 1

For practice, use the transitions below in the sentences. Each transition can only be used once and some will not be used at all. Read each sentence carefully, and capitalize the transition marker when necessary. However As a result Then For instance Therefore

Similarly Third Nevertheless

1. She had been studying for hours. ______, she hoped to do well on the test. 2. First, Mary went to the story. ______, she went to visit her mother. 3. I would like to read many books. ______, I do not seem to have enough time. 4. John ate and ate. ______, he never gained weight. 5. John ate too fast. ______, his stomach hurt after.

Activity 2

Create your own original sentence or pair of sentences using transition markers.

1. for example 2. also

3. however 4. as a result

5. second 6. then

Skills Workshe ets

Making Predictions and Drawing Inferences

What is a prediction?

What is an inference?

A prediction is imagining the outcome in advance.

An inference is a conclusion that be made based on what you already know.

Activity 1
going on. 1.

Given the picture, choose the correct answer representing what is

a. b. c. d. 2. a. b. c. d. 3. a. b. c. d. 3. a. b. c. d. 4. a. b. c. d.

The The The The

man man man man

is reading. has a cat. is eating food. can write a story.

The The The The

boy boy boy boy

is is is is

sleeping. playing. running. at the store.

The The The The

girl girl girl girl

is at the beach. is at school. is helping at home. has a new doll.

The The The The The The The The

monkey monkey monkey monkey girl girl girl girl

can ride a bicycle. is eating a banana. has a necklace on. is swimming.

is at the beach. is at school. is helping at home. has a new doll.

Activity 2

Given the picture, predict what the story will be about. 1. 2.

3.

4.

Activity 3

Read the short selections. Answer the questions where you will make an inference, or educated guess, about the details of the stories.

1. Tiyo Juan silently watched the apan leave his rice field. Hiding the sun like a huge cloud, the insect sweeping towards the east. Nothing green remained. Tiyo Juan must have felt ________. a. b. c. d. indifferent discouraged happy glad

2. Gwen stood poised on one toe, her eyes turned toward the pianist who was to play for her dance. When the music began, she swung into a complicated series of steps. Everyone agreed she was ________. a. graceful b. modest c. awkward d. shy 3. The owl has big eyes. It flies at night because it can see in the dark. It feeds on mice and insects. Little children are afraid of it. At night the owl is ________. a. b. c. d. sleeping eating flying building a nest

4. Tristan James lay resting beside the brook. Before his eyes a pair of ducks floated down the gently murmuring water. A big butterfly hovered lazily over the cluster of sunflowers. Tristan must have felt ________. a. eager b. angry c. envious

d. peaceful

Activity 4

Read about Miguel and his dad. Miguel and his dad will do.

Then write about what you think

Miguel woke up early on Saturday morning and looked outside the window. The sun was out and it was very hot. His dad called to Miguel and said, It is a perfect day! Dont forget to bring your towel! Miguel grabbed his towel and they left the house. 1. Where do you think Miguel and his dad were going? 2. In your notebook, draw a picture of where you think Josh and his dad went

Fact or Opinion
What is a fact? What is an opinion?

A fact is something that can be proven to me true. There are twelve months in the year.

An opinion is someones feelings and beliefs about a particular topic. Saturday is the best day of the week.

What types of words show feeling or opinion? Good or Bad What else? Pretty or Ugly

Activity 1
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6.

Determine whether the following statements are facts or opinions. Fact Fact or Fact Fact or Fact or Opinion or Opinion Opinion or Opinion or Opinion Fact or Opinion or Opinion

The sky is blue. My favorite fruits are mangoes and pineapples. House spiders are scary. Fact John has two brothers and a sister. I am taller than my mother. That orange shirt looks like nice on you. Opinion 7. Cleaning is not fun. Fact 8. We go to school five days a week.

Activity 2
Write 3 facts about your family. 1. ___________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________ 2. ___________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________ 3. ___________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________ Write 3 opinions about your family. 1. ___________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________ 2. ___________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________ 3. ___________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________

Subject and Predicate

What is a subject?

What is a predicate?

The subject tells who or what the sentence is about. The predicate tells what the subject does or is. The woman ate lunch. The subject is the woman because it tells who the sentence is about. The predicate is ate lunch because it tells what she is doing.

Activity 1

Rewrite the following sentences in your notebook. subject once and the predicate twice. Example: Orange is my favorite color.

Underline the

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8.

Three roosters ate along the side of the road. The children built a sandcastle. Maria played chess with Clara. Everyone in the entire country watched the fight. The watch beeped. El John is a very thoughtful person. The dogs fur was white. The moon shines down on the water.

Activity 2
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8.

Create your own subjects or predicates based on what is already provided for each question.

_____________________ was singing a cheerful song. _____________________ was old and dusty. _____________________ wouldn't eat her dinner. _____________________ is the best snack. The boat captain _____________________. The police officer _____________________. The garden in our backyard _____________________. The lady with the green dress _____________________.

Nouns and Adjectives

What is an adjective? What is a noun? An adjective is a word that describes a noun. It gives more detail to the noun. Red car Sweet mango Dirty water

A noun is a person, place or thing. He and She The market and school Radio and pillow

A noun can become a proper noun if it refers to a specific person, place or thing. He Jason The city Iloilo Planet Jupiter English Subject Chart Singular Hiligaynon English Ako I Ikaw You (Singular) Sya He/She/It Plural Hiligaynon English Kami/Kita We Kamo You (Plural) Sila They

Activity 1

Underline the nouns in the sentences. Tell whether the noun is a person, place, or thing. The birds are singing today. ___thing____

Example: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10.

Did you see the dog? ___________________ Where did mother go? ___________________ She broke her arm. ___________________ He went to the shop. ___________________ Do you have an extra pencil? ___________________ I found an old coin. ___________________ Are you going with Sam? ___________________ Will you hand me the paint? ___________________ The newsstand is over there. ___________________ The boy is very hungry. ___________________

Activity 2

Copy the sentences. Circle the adjectives describing the underlined noun or nouns in each sentence.

Example: The small red shiny beetle scampered down the green leaf. 1. Ten puppies are playing in the tall, green grass. 2. Where is the small frying pan? 3. Sam has a blue racing bicycle. 4. The black kitten was playing with a small red ball. 5. Do you know the man in the black leather jacket? 6. I have seven colored marking pens for school. 7. The city is big, dirty and noisy. 8. Three ugly witches made a magic potion. 9. That is the biggest stuffed toy in the shop. 10.He ran through the wet muddy field.

Activity 3
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8.

Write an appropriate adjective to describe the following nouns. dog banana book market fish jacket chair chicken

______________ ______________ ______________ ______________ ______________ ______________ ______________ ______________

Activity 4

Determine whether the underlined word is a noun or adjective.

1. That is a beautiful oak tree. ____________ 2. Will you build me a tree house? ____________ 3. She always has an apple for lunch. ____________ 4. I like apple pie with ice cream. ____________ 5. My grandmother has a beautiful flower garden. ____________ 6. That vase has a single flower in it. ____________ 7. Barn owls are beautiful birds. ____________ 8. Farmer Brown has a huge red barn. ____________ 9. Which book do you want to read? ____________ 10. He built a book shelf in his room. ____________ 11. Hand me the blue dog collar. ____________ 12. Sam has a new dog. ____________ 13. I like that brown horse with the black mane. ____________ 14. Is he going to the horse races this weekend? ____________ 15. I need the blue cardboard to back this picture. ____________

Prefixes
What is a prefix?

A prefix is something that goes before a word to change the meaning of the root word. The students read their lessons every They reread it every night. morning. To reread means to read the story again. Re means again. Our teachers told us to be polite to our She told us to never be impolite to classmates. teachers, too. Impolite means not polite. Im means not. Our periodic test is dated on July 12. It was predated on July 10 Predate means to date before. Pre mean before. The chicken developed frost in the They had to defrost it before cooking freezer. it. We load the tricycle before leaving. We will unload it when we get there. Defrost means to remove frost. Unload means to undo the action of loading. De and un mean to undo or remove from.

Activity 1

Underline the prefix in the following words. Deemphasize Impregnable Recapture Predominant Unprepared

Recover Unruly Preview Improper Decentralize

Activity 2
definition. Un

Match one of the prefixes to the words listed below to create the Re Im _____________ _____________ Pre not moral consider again De

1. moral 2. consider

3. 4. 5. 6. 7.

face owned wind impartial cast

_____________ remove face _____________ owned before _____________ remove from winding _____________ not partial _____________ cast again

Prepositions
What is a preposition? A preposition is a linking word that joins a noun, pronoun or phrase to the rest of a sentence. They oftentimes show the relationship in space, logic or time. Three of the most commonly used prepositions are in, on and at. They are used in many different ways! Referring to transportation Sheila Joy was excited to ride in a car to the wharf. He sat on his boat, patiently waiting for the fish to bite. Referring to time in is used to refer to a specific month, year or numbered period of time She was born in April. The Philippines became independent in 1946. The group will present in five minutes. on is used to refer to a specific day or the weekend The party will be on Friday. He left on the weekend. at is used with times of day I will call you at 6:00. Referring to communications on is used for ways of communicating telephone, internet, radio, or television I spoke to her on the phone. There are certain words where no preposition is used home, this morning, , every week, last Tuesday, and next year are just some examples Rhoshelle went home. Dad will arrive home this evening. The Preposition Song (To the Tune of Yankee Doodle Dandy) With on for after at by in Against instead of near between Through over up according to Around about beyond into Until within without upon From above across along Toward before behind below

Beneath besides during under!

Activity 1

Identify the correct preposition to fill in the blanks. Hint: Five of the blanks do not need a preposition!

1. Sonia gets a _____ a bus _____ the morning to school. 2. Many tourists swim _____ Alubihod _____ the summer. 3. Sue will be _____ the classroom _____ 8:30. 4. Ann went _____ home _____ this morning. 5. Alphonse went _____ surfing _____ 1997. 6. Jennifer watches a movie _____ television _____ every Tuesday. 7. I met Donna _____ a party _____ Friday night. 8. When the children are _____ bed, lets listen _____ music _____ the radio! 9. I will go _____ Manila _____ February. 10.She will call you _____ two weeks. 11.The cat stayed _____ the house _____ last night. 12.I went out _____ dinner _____ the weekend.

Activity 2

Write the preposition in each sentence on your own sheet of paper.

1. Joseph was reading a book in the library. 2. The squirrel ran up the old oak tree. 3. Peter arrived before Kerry. 4. The red car zoomed past us. 5. There is a rabbit living beneath that bush. 6. Mark climbed onto the boat. 7. The horses are coming toward us. 8. There was silence during the test. 9. My friends ran down to the beach. 10.Lillian was asleep during the meeting.

Activity 2

Prepositions oftentimes are connected to nouns to indicate their position. In your notebook, draw the diagram below and place the prepositions around it based on what the prepositions mean. under outside below beneath over in between next to above under

near beside on inside

Homonyms and Homophones

What is a homonym?

What is a homophone?

Homonyms are words that sound the same but have the different meanings. Night and Knight Waste and Waist

Homonyms can also be spelled the same way but have different pronunciations and/or meanings. Read (present tense) and Read (past tense) Fair (unreasonable) and Fair (festival)

Activity 1

Supply the homonyms of each of the following words. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. blue meat tail bread rode poor scent __________________ __________________ __________________ __________________ __________________ __________________ __________________

Activity 2

Read the following pairs of words. antonym, and H for homonym. 1. write: right 2. preface: forward 3. berth: birth 4. loosen: slacken 5. presence: absence 6. affirm: deny 7. wring: ring 8. jump: leap 9. scream: whisper 10.tired: exhausted

Write S for synonym, A for

__________________ __________________ __________________ __________________ __________________ __________________ __________________ __________________ __________________ __________________

Activity 3

These sentences contain incorrect homonyms. Identify the incorrect word or words and correct the sentence on your own paper. 1. Read Riding Hood stopped and picked sum flours. 2. Snow White eight the read apple. 3. The princess could knot sleep at knight on the lumpy mattress. 4. The Prints kissed Sleeping Beauty and asked her if she wood merry him. 5. The crewel animals maid fun of the Ugly Duckling. 6. Deer Cinderella went to the bawl with the help of her ferry godmother. 7. Fare Rapunzel let down her long, golden hare. 8. The Emperor was to vane two admit he could knot sea his knew close. 9. The which tried to fatten-up Hansel and Gretel two put sum meet on there bones. 10.The wolf blue down the houses of the first too pigs.

Activity 4

Read the story. Pick out the incorrect homonyms and homophones and rewrite the story using the correct words.

Won day, their was a caterpillar eating sum lovely green leaves. Sew many good things are green, he said. Im glad Im green, croaked a frog. Green is grate! Its a pity your sew plane instead. A lady bug was sitting on a rose. Green is good, but what about read?, asked the caterpillar. The caterpillar thought read was nice two. Im knot green or read, Im just plane, he said sadly. Just then the caterpillar saw a beautiful blew dragonfly. What a brilliant blew you are, said the caterpillar. I wish I were blew, he said sadly. Just then something pink and pointed came out from under the flours. It was a lizard. Your knot plane! said the caterpillar. Youre tongue is bright pink like a flour, he said. Thats nothing, said the lizard. Look at the beautiful purple spots on my back. The lizard was pink and purple. The caterpillar felt plainer than ever. Along came a bright yellow bumblebee. He was flying from flour to flour. The flours were all colors. All colors are beautiful, he said to the caterpillar. Yes, they are! said the caterpillar. The caterpillar wrapped himself in his cocoon and fell asleep dreaming of colors. He dreamed of green and read, and blew, and yellow. When he woke up, something wonderful happened! The caterpillar had turned into a beautiful colorful butterfly. No won ever said he was plane again.

Synonyms and Antonyms

What is a synonym? What is an antonym?

Synonyms are words that have the same meaning. Big and Large Funny and Humorous Damp and Moist

Antonyms are words that have the opposite meaning. Close and Open Nice and Mean Wide and Narrow

Activity 1
____ ____ ____ ____ ____ ____ ____ ____

Match the word in Column A with its synonym in Column B. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. go ignore bribe dual correspond discourse define clever a. b. c. d. f. g. h. explain double talk skillful e. tip stray march disregard

Activity 2
____ ____ ____ ____ ____ ____ ____ ____

Match the word in Column A with its antonym in Column B. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. giving female failure exciting speed ugliness clumsy deep a. b. c. d. e. f. g. h. boring beauty graceful slowness shallow receiving success male

Activity 3
antonym. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10.

Three of the words are synonyms and one is an antonym. Circle the command brag kill sad love old sharp healthy loud criticize order boast murder happy adore mature pointed sick quiet judge follow dictate show off modest cook slay giddy pleased admire dislike aged young dull prickly unwell ill talkative chatty accept disapprove

Identifying the Mood

What is the mood?

The mood is the feeling that is generated in a story. Sad Fearful Discomfort Excitement Joy Humor What can you use to determine the mood? Vocabulary Figures of Speech Context Clues Making your Own Inferences Danger Angry Light-hearted

Activity 1

Read the selections. Identify the mood or feeling of the passage. 1. The waves beside them danced, but they outdid the sparkling glee. Wordsworth Answer: _______________________________ 2. Built upon the dismal roof of sunken rocks, Some league or to from shore, on which The waters chafed and douched the wild years Through, there stood a solitary lighthouse Charles Dickens Answer: _______________________________ 3. The vine still clings to the mouldering wall, But the day is dark and dreary Henry Longfellow Answer: _______________________________ 4. Art is long, and Time is flooding, And our hearts, though stout and brave, Still, like muffled drums are beating Funeral marches to the grave. Answer: _______________________________ 5. Let us, then, be up and doing, With a heart for any fate; Still achieving, still pursuing, Learn to labor and wait Answer: _______________________________

Future Tense

How do you make a verb in the future tense?

Future tense is used to express actions that has not happened yet Tomorrow Next week The Two Most Common Methods will + (verb) She will take a rest. We will study for our exams. to be going to + (verb) She is going to take a rest. We are going to study for our exams Next year

Activity 1

Give the future tense of the verbs in parentheses.

1. The sales representative (deliver) the medicine to the different drugstores in Metro Manila. 2. I (see) you tonight after my performance. 3. The President (have) her courtesy call at the Kings Palace. 4. The bus (leave) at 7:30 tonight. 5. The Chairman of the Board (give) his welcome address at the annual general assembly of the Masapang Multi-Purpose Cooperative to be held next Sunday. 6. The mother (write) a letter to her daughter in Lebanon next week. 7. The DSWD (distribute) the relief goods to the victims of the typhoon tomorrow and throughout the week. 8. The patient (take) his medicine three hours from now. 9. The bus (arrive) at 3 oclock this afternoon. 10.We (eat) dinner at Lolas house tonight for her birthday.

Activity 2

Write in your notebook about what you will be when you grow up.

Things to Consider... -Where will you live? -What will you do? -Will you be married? -Will you have children?

Reflecting on an Essay Activity 1

Fill in the statements below based on what you learned about the essay read.

1. I think that ___________________________ (title of the essay) shows that _________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________ (main idea of the essay). 2. I _____________ (liked/did not like) this essay because _________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________. 3. Overall I felt that ______________________ (title of the essay) is _____ ____ (worth/not worth) reading because _________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________. 4. The most essential reason for _____________ (liking/not liking) the essay is ________________ ___________________________________________________ (state the sound reason) because ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________. 5. ___________________________ (state the theme) is important to this essay because ________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________. 6. The most important part in __________________________ (title of the essay) happens when ______________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________ (explain what happens). 7. I found it interesting that _________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________.

8. The part of ___________________________ (title of the essay) I liked best was ______________ _________________________________________ because ______________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________. 9. The part of __________________________ (title of the essay) I liked least was_______________ _________________________________________ because ______________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________. 10.I _________________ (would/would not) recommend _____________________________ (title of the essay) to my friends because _________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________.

Main Idea
What is the main idea?

The main idea is the main thing happening in a story. Main ideas are supported by details, which explain more about the main idea in the topic sentence. Main Idea Detail Detail Detail

Activity 1

Read each detail sentence. Choose the main idea from the box that each detail best goes with. A. The beach is the best place to spend a sunny afternoon. B. Basketball is my favorite sport.

_____ _____ _____ _____ _____ _____

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6.

The warm sun shines on the water. I love to run up and down the court. I practice shooting the ball every day. The water cools me down when it is very hot. The crowds go wild when I make an important shot. I like being able to play ball with my friends.

Bonus: Write a paragraph using one topic sentence from the box and the three details. Add your own closing sentence.

Activity 2

Write the main idea question for each paragraph. Use the Main Idea Bank to help you. What do snakes look like? How do snakes eat their food? Where do snakes live?

1. Snakes eat their prey whole. Their teeth are rear-facing, which keeps their prey in their mouths. Snakes hunt mostly at night. 2. Most snakes live in tropical areas that are hot and moist. They also live in forests, prairies and deserts. There are no snakes in Antarctica, Iceland or Ireland. 3. Snakes are flexible reptiles. They come in many different colors, and the poisonous ones are usually venomous. Snakes can be as small as two inches, or as long as 39 feet!

Activity 3

Circle the main idea in the paragraph and underline each detail.

1. The life of a pirate was not like what you see in the moves. Many sailors died from either falling overboard in shark infested waters or from plunging onto the deck from working the sails. Also, many pirates died from diseases such as scurvy and malaria. The only food they sometimes ate were hard tack and dried, salted meat. Its no wonder most of them didnt live very long! 2. Did you know that embroidery was a popular pirate pastime? Pirates were also known as great storytellers. As well, most pirates did not gamble as it led to fights among the crew. Pirates loved entertainment. 3. Pirates were not always men. One famous woman pirate was called Anne Bonny. Anne disguised herself as a man and joined a band of pirates around 1700. She was respected by many pirates for being so fierce. Nobody really knows what happened to Anne Bonny, but some people think she died as a pioneer in America.

Activity 4

Use the details in the box to write a paragraph. Be sure to include a topic, or main idea, sentence in your paragraph. Fish are the oldest vertebrates in the world. Fish breathe using gills.

Most fish reproduce by laying eggs. There are more than 24,000 species of fish. Most fish have bony skeletons.

Recognizing the Authors Craft: I am a Filipino Activity 1

Every writer has his own technique or style of writing. Some use a lot of parallelism or figurative language or just plain language where the reader does not have to plunge very deeply to get the message or thought. Read the essay I am a Filipino. Discover Carlos P. Romulos message and style. Will reading the essay make you a better Filipino who is proud of your own identity?

Activity 2

Answer the following questions based on the reading.

1. What positions in government did Carlos P. Romulo hold? Can we consider him one of the greatest Filipinos? 2. Study the following lines taken from the essay. What two separate ideas are expressed? How are they expressed? a. interior of a glorious past, hostage of an uncertain future b. the task of meeting my responsibility to the past and the task of performing my obligation to the future 3. Look for other examples of parallelism taken from the essay. 4. Enumerate some historical references mentioned in the essay. 5. What should we be proud of as Filipinos?

Activity 3

What makes you proud to be a Filipino? Write a paragraph on what makes you proud of your Filipino culture. Draw a picture of the thing that you are most proud of.

Authors Purpose

How do you know the authors purpose?

Authors write for many reasons! There are three main purposes for writing To persuade An author can write something to convince you to think a certain way about an issue. To inform An author writes something to give you facts or true information about a subject To entertain Authors can write fiction or non-fiction stories to amuse the reader

Activity 1
1.

Read the following writing selections. Decide whether the authors purpose is to persuade, inform or entertain.

Calligraphy is a form of handwriting. A special pen must be used. Letters are formed using up and down strokes. Old documents are usually written in this form. Diplomas, certificates and other awards are written in calligraphy. It is an interesting form of handwriting.

2. Katina and her brother Jess were playing with the water hose outside one day. Jess was hiding from Katina so she wouldn't squirt him with the water. The back door opened and Katina pointed the water hose toward the door. It was Mom and she was dripping wet! 3. This Saturday, you should go to the beach! There will be no school, so there is no better place to spend your free day with all your classmates. The weather man says it will be very hot this weekend, so the water will be the perfect place to cool down.

Im Glad Im a Little Guy

Objectives: Note details in the selection read, show comparison and contrast, identify feelings and attitudes as reflected in the selection

Activity 1

Reading is an interaction between the reader and the text. How well you understand a selection depends partly on your previous knowledge of the subject matter. How well do you know Carlos P. Romulo? Answer these questions to prepare yourself for the reading. 1. Who is the writer? 2. What do you think the text will be about? 3. How tall do you think Carlos P. Romulo was? How did he feel about his height?

Im Glad Im a Little Guy

By Carlos P. Romulo One day, in a United Nations session in Paris, I found myself in a heated debate with Andrei Vishinky, chief of the Soviet delegation. I had strongly disagreed with a proposal he had made. Suddenly, Mr. Vishinky insulted me, You are just a little man from a little country, he said. For him, that answered the argument. My country compared with his is just a dot on the map. And I stood only five feet, four inches in my shoes. Even in my home, Im a little fellow. My four sons all look down on me from a vantage of two or three inches. Even my wife is an inch or so higher than I am when she is wearing high heels. Once when she was interviewed after our marriage, she made the modest remark, I prefer to grow faintly in my husbands shadow. An acquaintance jested that his didnt leave her much room to grow in. My small stature has often been made conspicuous in my relations with famous people. During World War II, I was aide-de-camp to General MacArthur who towered eight inches above me. We went ashore together during the Leyte landing, and the first reports states: General MacArthur waded ashore in waist-deep water. General Romulo was at his side. A columnist wanted to know if this was true, pointing out that if the general was waist-deep in water, I would have drowned. In my lifetime, I have given much thought to the problem of littleness and bigness. And I want to say that Im glad to be a little fellow. That may surprise you. Many little fellows feel a sense of inferiority because of their stature. I must confess that in my younger days, I once experimented with wearing elevated shoes. But the lifts made me uncomfortable physically and mentally. They made me feel I was trying to appear something I was not. I threw the shoes away. These shoes were weakening one of my great natural advantages, which is this: the little fellow is generally underrated at the beginning. Because he is small, little is expected of him. Then when he does something well, people are surprised and impressed. In their minds, he has done a great deed.

I first became aware of this when I was on the debating team at Columbia University. My smallness made me seem like a schoolboy than a college student. Right from the start, the audience was rooting for me. To them, I was an underdog, and most people love to see the weaker party come through. It has been that way all my life. What little I do has often seemed surprising because people were expecting so little of me. We little fellows have another advantage. We usually have a special gift for making friends. People feel protective over us. They find it easy to confide in us. Most of us learn in life that friendliness is as great a force as physical strength. Small size is no barrier to personal effectiveness. Many of the great men in history were not tall. Beethoven and Admiral Nelson were both five feet, four inches. But they were giants like the poet John Keats and the philosopher Immanuel Kant, who stood a bare five feet high, Saint Francis Xavier, one of historys most inspiring religious men, was reported to be only four feet and six inches tall. Then, of course, you have the most celebrated man of them all, Napoleon I. Napoleon proved to the world what a great man he really was. Today, a period in history is called the Napoleonic era in his honor. I mentioned that Mr. Vishinsky insulted me because I dared to criticize Russia. But it did not mean I did not answer him back. I bounded to my feet and told the assembly that Mr. Vishinky was correct in his description of me, but I added: It is the duty of the little Davids here to fling pebbles of truth between the eyes of blustering Goliaths and make them behave. Mr. Vishinky frowned and said nothing.

Activity 2

Look for words in the puzzle that mean the following. Place the synonym on the lines after the word a. b. c. d. e. f. Noticeable Weaker Party Obstacle Looked Down Tell Secrets Popular _____________________ _____________________ _____________________ _____________________ _____________________ _____________________

C E A H D B M U C

O U B I O U N N O

N S P Y L M N D R N D R L C E N D E DO I D E R N F I

I P O A L R L D D

C I M N E R D O E

UO U CU O CO P C E B BR A A T E GH J GOW L G Y

S U K C T D I I M

B C S U P C DO E D N O L M S E U T

Activity 3

After reading the selection, answer the questions to build on your understanding.

1. Point out references to Carlos P. Romulos height. 2. Why did Romulo consider what Vishinky said to him an insult? 3. How did Romulo take it? How would you characterize Romulo in his response to Vishinkys insult? 4. Cite three instances in the selection that show Romulos wit and humor. 5. What does Romulo mean by the following, Beethoven and Admiral Nelson were both five feet, four inches tall, but they were giants, like the philosopher Kand who stood only five feet high? 6. Enumerate events in Romulos life that had to do with his littleness. 7. What is the message of the essay? 8. Write and present a dialogue that relates to the message of the essay.

Essay Structure

Activity 4

Im Glad Im a Little Guy is an example of an essay. Draw the happy emoticon if you agree with the statement. If you disagree, draw the sad emoticon . A topic sentence specifies the main subject of the essay. A good introductory paragraph provides a clear thesis that engages the reader. A bridge that connects thoughts and ideas and holds the essay together is called a logical link.

1. _______ 2. _______ 3. _______

4. _______ 5. _______

The series of paragraphs that provides support and illustration comprise the body of an essay Useful transition words like besides, consequently, however, likewise, nevertheless, then, later, and, but, or, also, therefore, meanwhile, thus, in addition, finally, and in general, ensure a coherent essay. A paragraph that summarizes the essays point and brings it to a logical and appropriate end is called a clincher. Literary criticism is the study, discussion, evaluation and interpretation of literature like an essay. A good essay must have unity and coherence of ideas plus emphasis.

6. _______ 7. _______ 8. _______

Journal Writing

Activate prior knowledge in journal writing

Activity 1

Word Sense: For each letter of the word journal, think of words or an expression that relates well to journal writing in the form of an acrostic poem. J O U R N A L -

Activity 2

Write the question given by your teacher in your notebook and respond to it by drawing ideas from previous knowledge and experience with journal writing.

Activity 3

Choose a writing prompt from the list below. Write a meaningful journal entry responding to the prompt.
My experiences in the school canteen this week What makes me frustrated or mad? Why? What really makes me laugh? How do I spent my free time? My best memory ever A typical day in my life at school What do I dream to become in the future?

Activity 4

Write non-stop for ten minutes about any topic you choose. Avoid erasing. Use modals in your composition. Read your work to the class and ask for comments or suggestions.

Figures of Speech
What is a simile?

What is a metaphor?

A simile is an artistic comparison using like or as. She is as sweet as candy.

A metaphor is an artistic comparison without using like or as. The assignment was a breeze.

Activity 1

The following are examples of similes. Point out the object, things or people compared with the use of like or as in the following lines.

1. Renalyn slept like a dog. Answer: _______________________ and _______________________ 2. The teacher muttered under her breath, This class is like a three-ring circus! Answer: _______________________ and _______________________ 3. I wandered lonely as a cloud That floats on high oer vales and hills, Henry Longfellow Answer: _______________________ and _______________________ 4. All the wings of fairyland were beneath the moon Like a flight of rose-leaves fluttering in the mist Of opal and ruby and pearl and amethyst, Alfred Noyes Answer: _______________________ and _______________________ 5. In Flanders Field the cannons boom And fitful flashes light the gloom, While up above, like eagles, fly The fierce destroyers of the sky, C. B. Calbreath Answer: _______________________ and _______________________ 6. Standing cypress, red and tense, Holding its flower like a gun, Alfred Noyes Answer: _______________________ and _______________________

Activity 2

The following are examples of metaphor. Point out the object, things or people compared.

1. You are the sunshine in my life. Answer: _______________________ and _______________________ 2. She really ruffled his feathers by talking badly about his family. Answer: _______________________ and _______________________

3. Your throats are gleeful fountains Through which a scenic-tide flows, W. H. Hayne Answer: _______________________ and _______________________ 4. Time slides, A gentle ocean Answer: _______________________ and _______________________ 5. The sun is smoldering fire, That creeps through the high gray plain The sun is a wounded door That treads pale grass in the skies, Vachel Lindsay Answer: _______________________ and _______________________ 6. Amidst the frozen white, A tiny tip of green, First blade of grass The messenger of spring Answer: _______________________ and _______________________

Activity 3

Determine whether each one is a simile or a metaphor. Simile Simile Simile or or or Simile Simile Simile or or or

1. The fluorescent light was the sun during the test. Metaphor 2. The bar of soap was a slippery eel during the dogs bath. Metaphor 3. I feel like a limp dish rag . Metaphor 4. The pillow was a cloud when I put my head down at the Metaphor end of the long day. 5. The girls are like two peas in a pod. Metaphor 6. The baby was like an octopus, grabbing at all the cans on Metaphor the shelves at the store.

Activity 4

Make your own figures of speech! Take these items and make them into vivid similes or metaphors.

1. The sound of the wind _____________________________________________ 2. The coming of a storm _____________________________________________ 3. The sudden stop of a jeepney _____________________________________________ 4. Your classmates penmanship _____________________________________________

5. A singer who is out of tune _____________________________________________ 6. A curiously shaped tree _____________________________________________

Remedial Reading Resource s

Assessments

API Comprehension Check

DIRECTIONS: You will have 13 minutes to answer the following 26 questions. Do not mark this packet. Put your answers on another sheet.

A _________________________________________________
Henry Ford made cars. One was called the Model T. This car was strong. It was painted black. The price was low. The Model T was a good car. 1. Who built the cars? a. friends b. Henry Ford c. Model T d. roads 2. What car? a. b. c. d. was the color of the black red white yellow

B _________________________________________________
A pond is like a small lake. The water is warm and wet. It is full of living things. You can see some of them. Frogs hide themselves in the grass. Fish swim in the warm water. You cannot see the tiny bugs. The pond is home for many things. 3. What a. b. c. d. 4. What a. b. c. d. is a pond like? a bug a fish a frog a lake lives in a pond? chickens frogs pennies rabbits 5. What a. b. c. d. do fish do in the pond? dance swim walk whistle

C _________________________________________________
Arizona is a place in the United States. Arizona is a nice place to live. It has beautiful lakes and canyons. One can see clear blue streams and colorful rocks. Some parts of Arizona are very warm. People from other states go there for their health. There are lots of places in Arizona where one might like to live. 6. What makes Arizona a beautiful state? a. canyons b. factories c. huts d. sand 7. Why do people live in Arizona? a. it is cold b. it is dirty c. it is warm d. it is wet 8. Why do some people go to Arizona? a. banking b. health c. races d. sailing

D
_________________________________________________
Logging has long been an American business. Logs were cut into lumber for those who could afford frame houses. As the need for lumber grew, more and more sawmills were established. In the 1880s, new machines permitted crews to pull large logs out of the woods in record time. The use of power allowed the forest to be cut down too fast. Today, laws protect forest land in America. 9. What word best describes logging? a. eager b. fun c. work d. youth 10. What allowed the forest to be cut quickly? a. cupboard b. danger c. machinery d. property 11. What protects national forests in America? a. laws b. mills c. steam d. trees

E _________________________________________________
Who was the greatest sweat and dirt cowhand that ever lived? It was not Tom Mix. It was not Will Rogers. The greatest was Bill Pickett. He would throw a steer by grabbing its horns and twisting the neck. This was called bulldogging. Pickett was a worker on the 101 Ranch in Oklahoma and was a useful cowhand. The rodeo was a novelty in the 1900s and Picket was one of the stars. This exhibition was a success and so was Bill Pickett. It was exciting to see him perform in Chicago, London and other towns since he was the hit of the show. 12. Which word best describes Bill Pickett? a. banker b. cowhand c. doctor d. farmer 13.What does bulldogging mean? a. to throw a cowhand b. to throw a rodeo c. to throw a rope d. to throw a steer 14. What do you think happed to Bill Pickett? a. he became popular b. he invented the rodeo c. he returned to California d. he was lost

F _________________________________________________
Congress established Yellowstone Park in 1872. Park rangers patrol the park during the year to protect the wildlife and scenery. There are seething masses of black mud volcanoes. You will find geysers that shoot water as high as 60 meters in the air. Old Faithful is the most famous because it spouts about every sixty-five minutes the entire year. The park is famous for more than geysers. It has sparkling lakes, rivers, falls and canyons. Most of the park can be reached only on horseback or by foot. For most of us, the car is the best and safest way to see the park. 15. What word best describes Yellowstone National Park? a. famous b. odd c. small d. ugly 16.What is Yellowstone Park known for? a. earthquakes b. geysers c. hurricanes d. icebergs

17.What happens to Old Faithful? a. it sleeps b. it sparkles c. it spins d. it spouts

G
_________________________________________________
Walt Disney had a dream. At an early age, he wanted to make drawings move. Animation was a new field in the film industry, but the films were in black and white, and the characters movements were jerky. Disney became the leader in making superior cartoons. In 1932, he added full color to his films and was also the first to make a sound cartoon, Steamboat Willie. In 1938, the biggest risk Walt took was to produce a full-length feature, Snow White. If it were not a success, he would be out of business. It was a smash hit, and along with Walt Disney, Donald Duck and Mickey Mouse became household words. 18. Which word best describes Walt Disney? a. artist b. dancer c. sculptor d. singer 19. What was Disneys first fulllength feature? a. Alice in Wonderland b. Cinderella c. Snow White d. Steamboat Willie 20. What do you think happened to Walt Disney? a. he became a clerk b. he gave up his work c. he joined the cavalry d. he was a success

H
_________________________________________________
The Battle of Bunker Hill was the name of a famous battle. It occurred during the American Revolutionary War. The battle was actually fought on Breeds Hill. Both hills were named after people who used the hills for pasturing their cattle. General Ward sent about a thousand Americans to make a stronghold at Bunkers Hill. When the officers arrived they decided to strengthen Breeds Hill instead. There were 3500 soldiers involved in the battle. When the fighting was over, the

Americans had lost 500 men and the British 1200. This British victory speaks of the courageous Americans who fought a force nearly three times their number. 21.On which hill did the battle take place? a. Breeds b. Bunkers c. Officers d. Wards 23.What a. b. c. d. probably happened next? the cows were milked the hills were leveled the soldiers ate lunch the wounded were cared for 22.In which war was the battle fought? a. Civil War b. Korean War c. Revolutionary War d. World War II

I _________________________________________________
How would you like to purchase a kit, assemble it and have your own private airplane? You can do it now by constructing your own ultralight. Flying an ultralight is probably the closest man will ever come to flying like a bird. Most ultralights resemble a tricycle with wings and they generally have oversized wings covered with multicolored stripes of brilliantly colored fabric. The power to thrust the lightweight phenomenon into the sky comes from a small gasoline engine perched behind the pilot. For safety, it can carry no more than five liters of fuel. It cannot go faster than one-hundred kilometers per hour, and operators do not need a pilots license. Now, with over 20,000 ultralights in the air, you too may be able to fly like a bird.

24.Which word best describes ultralights? a. airplanes b. locomotives c. sailboats d. wagons 25.What does an ultralight look like? a. a bicycle b. a jet c. a kite d. a tricycle 26.Why do people use ultralights?

a. b. c. d.

for for for for

the the the the

control of traffic delivery of mail enjoyment of flying removal of rubble

San Diego Quick Assessment

see play me at run go and look can here

you come not with jump help is work are this

road live thank when bigger how always night spring today

our please myself town early send wide believe quietly carefull y

city middle moment frightene d exclaime d several lonely drew since

decided served amazed silent wrecked improved certainly entered realized interrupted

scanty business develop considered discussed behaved splendid acquainted escaped grim

bridge commercial abolish trucker apparatus elementary comment necessity gallery relativity

amber dominion sundry capillary impetuous blight wrest enumerate daunted condescen d galore rotunda capitalism prevaricate visible exonerate superannua te luxuriate piebald crunch

capacious limitation pretext intrigue delusion immaculat e ascent acrid binocular embankme

conscientio us isolation molecule ritual momentous vulnerable kinship conservatio n jaunty

zany jerkin nausea gratuitous linear inept legality aspen amnesty barometer

Reading Activities

Short Paragraph Comprehension Activity 1

Below each paragraph are questions. Read each paragraph carefully and answer the question below.

Chito has a toy gun. His uncle gave it to him last Christmas. He and Judos played with it. Who gave Chito a toy gun? a. b. c. d. Judos He Uncle Judos and Uncle

Last vacation Dial planted some flowers in her garden. She fenced it with bamboo because the ducks get in and eat the plants. What did Dial plant? a. b. c. d. a. b. c. d. fence garden ducks flowers ducks flowers bamboo garden

What did she surround the plants with?

The owl has big eyes. It flies at night because it can see in the dark. It feeds on mice and insects. Little children are afraid of it. At night the owl is a. b. c. d. sleeping eating flying building a nest

The Lost Balloon

Anna and her family went to the park. Anna played on the swings with some new friends. When they were leaving the park, her father bought a big red balloon for her. The wind was blowing very hard, and the balloon went flying up in the sky. Anna was sad and began to cry. When Anna and her family got home, she saw something on her mailbox. It looked like a big red ball, but it wasnt. It was her red balloon that her father bought for her! Anna ran to get the balloon, but just as she touched the balloon, it popped! Out fell a note. The note said, This is a lucky balloon. Whoever finds it can bring this note and get a free balloon every time he or she comes to the park! Anna was sad to lose her balloon, but she was happy to know she could get another balloon soon.

Activity 1
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9.

Answer the following questions after reading the story.

Where did Anna and her family go? Write one thing Anna did in the park. Who bought her a balloon? What color was the balloon? What happened to the balloon? Where did Anna find the balloon? What was inside the balloon? What did the note say? Name two feelings Anna had about her balloon.

Activity 2

Draw pictures to represent the events in the story in the order they happened. Write one sentence explaining each picture.

Mothers 40th Birthday

Mae: What should we do for Mothers birthday this year? Rico: We should make it ______. She is 40 years old this year! Father: Yes! She will enjoy this very much. Rico: Of course, Father! We love Mother very much. Mae: I will prepare the ______. It is not a birthday ______ without it! Father: I can cook fried chicken. I know that is her ______ food. Mae: That sounds ______! Rico, what will you do? _____: I will get the cake and invite all our family members. I hope ______ is feeling well. She has been ______ lately Father: We can all work ______ to clean and decorate the ______. Mae: Im very ______! It will be a great party. (later that day, during the party) Mother: Wow! What a ______ party! Thank you to my family for organizing this for me! I am truly blessed. Mae, Rico and Father: Youre welcome, Mother! We love you! Happy birthday!

Activity 1

The drama is missing some very important words! They are all listed below. Rewrite the drama in your notebook with the words filling the correct blanks. Look at the words around the blanks to determine which is the correct word. Rico wonderful special Lola spaghetti favorite sick celebration

house excited delicious together

Activity 2

Vocabulary Focus: Make vocabulary charts for the words listed below. Afterwards, reread the story to see if the meaning changes. together cook organize

Activity 3
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8.

Answer the following questions about the drama.

Whose birthday is it? How old is this person? What foods were prepared for the party? Who attended the party? When is your birthday? How old will you be on your next birthday? How do you celebrate your birthday? Who attends your birthday celebration?

The Hottest Day Ever

I woke up one May morning in a warm sweat. I ran to the refrigerator to get a cold drink, but the refrigerator was broken and all the drinks were as hot as me. I walked over to my electric fan, but it wasn't working either. I then turned on the television and finally realized that there was a brownout. Later that day, I went to the beach to cool off. I dove right in! I swam for two hours before I was tired out. My friend Jenny then bought me an ice cream cone. I got a vanilla ice cream cone with rainbow sprinkles. Even though it was really hot, I did have a lot of fun. I hope to go back to the beach on the next hot day.

Activity 1

Vocabulary Focus: Make vocabulary charts for the words listed below. Afterwards, reread the story to see if the meaning changes. Sweat Sprinkles

Warm

Activity 2

Answer the following questions about the story.

1. What did the narrator want from the refrigerator? a. a ham sandwich b. a fan c. a drink d. an apple 2. Why does the electric fan not work? a. It was broken. b. It needed batteries. c. There was a brownout. d. It was not oiled. 3. How many hours did the narrator spend swimming? a. 1 b. 2 c. 3 d. 4 4. Who bought the narrator an ice cream cone? a. Eric b. Samantha c. Joe d. Jenny 5. What was the flavor of the ice cream? a. mango b. vanilla c. chocolate d. ube 6. Where does the narrator want to go on the next hot day? a. The city. b. Lolas house. c. To the river. d. The beach.

Activity 3

With your classmates, divide up the following objects and draw them on a sheet of paper. Afterwards, organize yourself in the order that the story took place Electric Fan Brownout Happy Drink Beach Ref

Jenny Ice Cream Swimming

Dove

Sweat

Television

The Missing Basketball

One morning, Paul decided to play with his friends. He went to his bedroom to get his basketball, but it was not there! He checked under his pillow. His mother told him to check near the sink in the kitchen. Nothing! Paul ran to the living room and looked behind the couch. Still nothing! He was upset and went outside to tell his friends they could not play basketball. Then, he was surprised to see the basketball sitting just outside his house! He must have left it there the day before! Paul and his friends happily played basketball for the rest of the day.

Activity 1

Vocabulary Focus: Make vocabulary charts for the words listed below. Afterwards, reread the story to see if the meaning changes. Sink Couch

Pillow

Activity 2

Look at the pictures below of different parts of the house. Identify as many parts of each picture as possible. Use these words in a sentence using an adjective to describe them. 2.

1.

3.

4.

Activity 3

Identify which prepositions are used in the story. identified them, try to use them in another sentence.

Once you have

Talias Special Day

Talia is going out to eat tonight. It is a special day. She wants to look very nice for her night out. First, she gets her hair styled by her favorite hair dresser. Then, she gets her finger nails painted pink. A woman comes over to her house to paint her nails. Talia is not happy with the color. She asks the woman to change the color to purple. She likes the purple very much. It is almost time to go out. Talia goes home and looks in her closet. She tries on a pair of light blue pants with a white shirt. She tries on a red dress with a black belt. She tries on a brown skirt with a green top. She wears the red dress. Many of her friends and family are at the restaurant when she gets there. She hugs her mother and father. She gives her grandfather a kiss. Talias sister gives her a big smile. Her best friend, Asra, gives her a present. Talia is 18 years old today. Happy Birthday, Talia, they say. You look great! I feel great because all of you are here, says Talia.

Activity 1

Vocabulary Focus: Make vocabulary charts for the words listed below. Afterwards, reread the story to see if the meaning changes. kiss paint

style

Activity 2

Answer the following questions about the story. b. She is not happy with pink. c. Her friends tell her to change it. What does Talia wear out? a. light blue pants b. a brown skirt c. a red dress What does Talia do when she sees her parents? a. She smiles. b. She says hello. c. She gives them a kiss. Who smiles at Talia? How old is Talia? Why does Talia feel great? a. because her nails are purple b. because her friends and family are there c. because her hair is cut

1. What is Talia doing for her special day? a. She is having a party. b. She is going to a restaurant. c. She is making dinner. 2. Why does Talia want to look nice? a. It is her birthday. b. She is going on a trip. c. She is going to church. 3. What does Talia do first? a. She picks out a dress. b. She gets her nails painted. c. She gets her hair cut. 4. Why does Talia change the color of her nails? a. She is not happy with purple.

5.

6.

7. 8. 9.

Activity 3

Consider how your own life relates to the story.

1. What do you do to celebrate your birthday? 2. Are there certain things that always take place on someones birthday? 3. Describe what you did for your last birthday.

Planting a Garden
We eat lots of fresh vegetables at our house. My mom is a very good cook and knows how to make them very delicious. Sometimes vegetables are expensive to buy at the market, so we decided to grow our own. We all picked our favorite vegetables. I said eggplant and carrots. Dad wanted kang kong, squash, and potatoes. My brother Andrew said he wanted tomatoes. Mom chose bitter gourd and corn. Dad bought seeds at the market. We all helped prepare part of the backyard for our garden. We used shovels to make holes in the dirt for the seeds. We put three seeds in each hole. I checked on the garden every day to see if any vegetables were coming up. After about a week, I saw tiny green leaves where the carrots were planted! I called to my family in the house to come and look. Then, each day, more leaves appeared. In two months, we could eat the vegetables! Everything we grew was delicious. Dad said it was the best corn he had ever tasted! Mom cooked everything very well. Even though it was a lot of hard work, my family had a lot of fun planting vegetables in our garden.

Activity 1

Vocabulary Focus: Make vocabulary charts for the words listed below. Afterwards, reread the story to see if the meaning changes. Expensive Appear

Shovel

Activity 2
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8.

Answer the following questions about the story.

How many people are in the family? Please name them. What vegetables does the family decide to plant? What tools does the family use to prepare the garden? How long did it take for leaves to appear? How long did it take to grow the vegetables? What are your favorite vegetables? How do you like to cook your vegetables? Where do you get your vegetables?

Activity 3

In groups, rewrite the story in drama form. Try to not use narration, but stage direction is acceptable. Be prepared to present this with props to your classmates.

Carlsbad Cavern
How would you enjoy the experience of having lunch 750 feet below the surface of the earth? This is just what hundreds of people do every day when they make the trip through Carlsbad Cavern National Park. The regular trip starts at the cavern entrance at ten thirty each morning. Two hours later the trip stops for thirty minutes in the famous underground lunchroom. Freshly prepared lunches are provided along with seats and tables for one thousand people. Hundreds of people avail themselves daily of this unusual service. Many also mail postcards or letters from this underworld. In the face of such comforts it is almost impossible for the visitor to realize that he is 750 feet under the ground. This is indeed a unique lunchroom in the underground world.

Activity 1
the story. Definition

In your notebook, make a vocabulary chart for the bolded words from

Synonyms Place the vocabulary word here!

Sentence

Picture

Activity 2
1. 2. 3. 4. 5.

Recall the details of the story.

The Carlsbad Cavern is _____________ below the surface of the earth. Tourists stop for a thirty minute period in the ______________. Freshly ______________ lunches are served there. ______________ and ______________ are provided for over one thousand people. Postcards and letters may be ______________ from this underworld.

Activity 3

Identify the main idea of the paragraph. The main idea of the paragraph is a. b. c. d. interesting places to send letters. the best time of day to eat lunch. the cavern national park. a unique lunchroom located in Carlsbad Cavern.

My Friend
I have a new friend at school. She cant walk so she uses a wheelchair to get around. She comes to school in a special van that can transport four people who use wheelchairs. The van brings my friend and another boy to school. My friend is in third grade with me, and the boy is a fourth grader. I like to watch my friend get in and out of the van. The driver pushes a button and part of the van floor lowers to the driveway to form a ramp. My friend just wheels up the ramp and goes inside. After she is inside, the driver pushes the button and the ramp puts itself away. When it is time to get out of the van, they do the same thing again. Sometimes I help open the door so she can roll right inside. My friend and I do everything together. Our teacher lets us sit together in the front row, and we always go to lunch together. My friend moves so fast down the hall that she always gets the best seats in the cafeteria. Sometimes we trade sandwiches. At recess, we always play on the same team. My friend sure has strong arms. She hardly ever misses a shot when we play basketball, and she can throw the farthest of anyone in third grade.

Activity 1

Vocabulary Focus: Make vocabulary charts for the words listed below. Afterwards, reread the story to see if the meaning changes. Transport Hardly

Wheelchair

Activity 2
1. 2. 3. 4.

Answer the following questions about the story.

Why does the friend use a wheelchair? How does she get in and out of the van? Why are her arms so strong? What daily activities might be difficult for someone in a wheelchair?

Pookies New Home

Pookie was just a baby. He was six weeks old, and he weighed three pounds. Even though he was a baby, it was time for him to leave his mother and go to a new home. A nice lady drove up in a blue tricycle. She picked up Pookie and held him close. His little heart beat so fast! She kissed him, and he licked her face. The nice lady said she would take Pookie home with her. Pookie had a new mom! He got in the tricycle and they drove away. Pookie had never ridden in a vehicle before, and it scared him. The nice lady kept talking and patting Pookie. He finally relaxed, and stretched out to rest. Soon the truck stopped. Pookie looked around when the truck door opened. The nice lady said, I am going to call you Pookie. Pookie, these are your new brothers, Buck and Buster. These are your new sisters, Daisy and Mutley. Pookie looked at his new brothers and sisters. They looked nice, and he was eager to play with them. He spent the whole day chasing his new brothers and sisters. They all ran, and they all barked. Then it was time to eat. Pookie and his new family went in the house and had nice meal. Pookie decided he liked his new home. Soon, he fell fast asleep.

Activity 1

Vocabulary Focus: Make vocabulary charts for the words listed below. Afterwards, reread the story to see if the meaning changes. Vehicle Hardly

Lick

Activity 2
1. 2. 3. 4. 5.

Answer the following questions about the story.

How old was Pookie when he went to his new home? How many brothers did Pookie have? Who picked up Pookie in a blue tricycle? What did Pookie want to do when he saw his new brothers and sisters? What did Pookie do after he ate a nice meal?

Activity 3

An inference is a conclusion that be made based on what you already know. Use clues from the story to make an important inference! What kind of animal is Pookie? What clues did you find that made you think that?

The Colors of the Rainbow

I decided my favorite color is the rainbow. It has all the colors in it: red, orange, yellow, blue, green, and purple. They are all my favorite colors. How could I ever choose just one? Red makes me feel like smiling. I love red cards and shiny red apples. My favorite type of candy is a red gum drop. My favorite flower is a red rose. Im happy when I get to see a red sunset. Blue makes me feel like taking a nap. My bed is fluffy blue and white with clouds all over it. I love the blue sky and ocean. Blue bubble gum is the best flavor of ice cream. Yellow makes me feel like jumping rope. I love the sun in summer and the full moon in the fall. Our meadow is full of yellow flowers that dance in the breeze. Jackfruit is one of my favorite treats, and it is bright yellow. Fuzzy yellow ducklings always make me laugh. Green makes me feel like climbing a tree. I love playing in the grass and the fields. Green mangoes are my special snacks. My favorite place to go is a forest filled with trees and grass. Orange makes me feel like drinking cold juice on a hot day. I like to wear my orange bracelet that my Lola gave me. Purple makes me feel like eating grapes. I use my purple crayon so much it is almost gone. My favorite backpack is purple, too. Whenever anyone asks me what my favorite color is, I tell them it is a rainbow.

Activity 1

Vocabulary Focus: Make vocabulary charts for the words listed below. Afterwards, reread the story to see if the meaning changes. Breeze Fluffy Fuzzy Nap

Rainbow Meadow

Activity 2
1. 2. 3. 4.

Comprehension Focus: Answer the questions after reading the story.

What are the colors in a rainbow? Name five things that the narrator loves. What is your favorite color? What does it make you think of? Draw a picture of five things described in Colors of the Rainbow.

Chicago
Chicago is the third largest city in the United States. Over three million people live in the two hundred and twenty five mile area of Chicago. The world's first skyscraper was constructed in Chicago in 1885. Today, some of the world's tallest and most famous skyscrapers are found in the city. Located in the heart of the city is the one hundred and ten story Sears Tower, which is among the most famous skyscrapers ever built. Chicago is often called "The Windy City." It is assumed that this is due to the City's weather, but in the 1990s 11 major U.S. cities outranked Chicago for average annual wind speed.

Activity 1

Answer the following questions about the story.

1. How many cities in the United States are larger than Chicago? a. 1 b. 2 c. 3 d. 4 2. Which of the following is true? a. Chicago is the largest city in the world. b. Chicago is home to some of the worlds tallest skyscrapers. c. Chicago is the windiest city in the United States. d. None of the above 3. How many people in millions) live in Chicago? a. 1 b. 2 c. 3 d. 4 4. What is one of Chicagos most famous skyscrapers? a. The Sears Tower b. The Sienna Tower c. The Times Tower d. The Empire State Building

Activity 2

Write three things you learned about the city of Chicago.

Activity 3

Write three things you would like to learn about the city of Chicago.

How Many Cavans?

Noel, a farmer in Anilao, kept a record of how many cavans of rice he raised each year. In 1970 he harvested 25 cavans. In the second year, 45 cavans were harvested. The third year showed a crop of 15 cavans. The following year the harvest was 35 cavans. The next two years showed a production of 55 cavans and 65 cavans, respectively.

Activity 1

Fill in the chart. Write the year under the column Year and the number of production under the column Cavans. Year _____________________ _____________________ _____________________ _____________________ _____________________ _____________________ Cavans _____________________ _____________________ _____________________ _____________________ _____________________ _____________________

Activity 2

Answer the following questions using the chart you created and the reading selection. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. What year showed the smallest crop? What year showed the highest production? Which year did not show any gains over the previous year? What year showed an increase? How much did production increase that year?

My Rocket Ship
When I fall asleep, I dream about what it would be like to have a rocket ship. If I had a rocket ship, my first destination would be the Earth's moon, which is called Luna. When I got to Luna I would jump all around. Because there is little gravity I would be able to jump very high. After I finished jumping all over the moon, I would fly to Saturn and travel around Saturn's beautiful rings. On my way to Saturn, I would try to avoid a number of asteroids. Asteroids are large pieces of rocks and minerals. In my science class I learned that would take me almost my entire life to travel to Pluto. Pluto is the last Planet in our solar system. Because it's so far from our Sun that it is super cold. I wish I could see Pluto up close.

Activity 1

Vocabulary Focus: Make vocabulary charts for the words listed below. Afterwards, reread the story to see if the meaning changes. Destination Gravity

Activity 2

Answer the following questions about the story.

1. What is the name of the Earths moon? a. moona b. muna c. mooon d. luna 2. Which of the following is true? a. You would not be able to jump on the moon. b. The moons gravity would allow you to jump high. c. The Earth has less gravity than its moon. d. None of the above 3. What is a unique feature of Saturn? a. It is a moon b. It has lots of water. c. It is bright pink in color. d. It has rings. 4. What are asteroids made of? a. vitamins b. ice c. plastic d. rock 5. Why is Pluto a cold planet? a. It is too close to our sun. b. It is far away from our sun. c. It is outside our solar system. d. It has no moons. 6. What are asteroids made of? a. Luna b. Pluto c. Earth d. Saturn

Running Late!
The alarm went off one Monday morning. Chito did not jump out of bed as he usually did every school day. Chitos mother called him to get ready for school but the rascal just buried his head in his pillow and shut his eyes again, while the minutes slipped by. Then, the seven oclock bell rang at the school nearby and he was instantly out of bed! He took the fastest bath of his life and barely dried off before putting on his clothes for school. There was hardly any time for breakfast, but he was so hungry that he ate everything in one gulp. As soon as Chito opened the door to leave, he ran out and closed it so hard behind him that the house with such a bang that the walls seemed to tremble. He ran off to school in hope that his teacher would not notice he was late.

Activity 1

In what order did Chito really do these things? Arrange the phrases in the right order from 1 to 12. h. swallowed his breakfast ______ i. dashed off to school ______ j. dressed himself ______ k. hopped out of bed ______ l. slammed the door ______

a. took a bath ______ b. opened the front door c. woke up d. buried his head e. rushed madly out ______ f. dried himself g. grabbed a towel

______ ______ ______ ______ ______

Activity 2

Identify the main idea of the paragraph. The main idea of the paragraph is a. b. c. d. the structure of Chitos house. Chitos mothers morning routine. Chito sleeping late before school. the quality of Chitos pillow.

Activity 3

Write another paragraph to the story. Consider what could happen on his way to school or what his teacher could say to him when he arrives late.

Country Life, City Life

Henry: Hi Henry! How is life in the country? Davie: Hey Davie. Life in the country is fine. How is life in the city? Henry: Its great. I love the trees, flowers, birds, and insects. Davie: Insects!? Eww, thats gross. Henry: Well, how is life in the city? Davie: Its great. I love the buildings, cars, streets, and bright lights. Henry: Bright lights!? I hate bright lights! Davie: Yeah but in the city I can take a jeepney to school. dont even have to walk. Henry: Thats nice. But, in the country I go to school near my house so I dont have to take a jeepney either. I walk to work. Davie: Doesnt that hurt your feet? Henry: Sometimes, but it is worth it because I get to eat food that comes straight from the farm next door. Davie: Mmmm, food from the farm sounds good. I wonder it is better than the food you can eat at restaurants in the city!

if

Activity 1

Answer the following questions about the vocabulary in the dialogue. c. he also does not have to drive to work. 4. If an action is worth it a. the value of doing that action is high enough. b. the action has no value. c. the action is old. 5. When you wonder, you a. play. b. think. c. imagine. d. B and C.

1. If something is gross, it is a. tasty. b. disgusting. c. A and B. 2. If a light is bright, it is a. dark. b. low. c. strong. 3. When Henry says, I dont have to drive either, he means that a. he likes to drive. b. he also has to drive to work.

Activity 2

Recall the details from the story and answer these questions.

1. Who lives in the city? a. Henry b. Davie c. Both Henry and 2. What does Davie think is gross? a. Birds b. Insects c. Flowers d. 3. What does Henry hate? a. Buildings b. Cars c. Streets d. 4. How does Davie get to school? She ___. a. rides in a carb. takes a trike c. takes a jeep d. 5. How does Henry get to school? a. He rides a bicycle b. He rides a carabao c. He drives a motorcycle d. None of the above

Davie Trees Bright lights None of the above

Activity 3

What do you think are the good things about living in the country? What do you think are the good things about living in the city? Make a T-Chart to compare the two lifestyles. Afterwards, write two paragraphs about where you would prefer to live. Country Life City Life

A Ghost Outside Our Window!

Last night, my brother and I asked a few friends to stay overnight to help us watch out for a ghost. This ghost usually peeped in at our bedroom window as soon as we put out our lights. At eight oclock, we readied our flashlights, candles and whatever else we thought would frighten this ghost away. Then we darkened the house, putting the lights out one by one. The last light to go out was that in our bedroom. We bunched together silently, our hands getting clammier and colder every minute. There we saw it-the dark figure moving its dark head up and down at regular intervals at the window. Terror seized all of us. After some fear-stricken moments, a braver cousin got up and, with a trembling finger, switched on the light. To our great relief, what we thought was a ghost was only the shadow of a dress placed on a clothes hanger. Its up and down movement was caused by a slight breeze stirred up by the electric fan.

Activity 1

Vocabulary Focus: Make vocabulary charts for the words listed below. Afterwards, reread the story to see if the meaning changes. trembling clammier

flashlight

Activity 2
1. 2. 3. 4. 5.

Answer the following questions about the drama.

Why were they scared? What did they get to scare the ghost? Did they see the ghost? Who turned on the light? What was the ghost in the end?

Activity 3

Think of something that really scared you at one point in your life. Does that still scare you? Why or why not?

Activity 4

What are some things that Filipinos are oftentimes scared of? Think of three and write a sentence or two about the history of why people are scared by them!

TJ Visits the Farm

During the eight years since he was born, this was the first time TJ had been in the farm. To him, a barn and grass were a marvelous sight. A carabao and a goat were strange creatures. TJ missed tall buildings and narrow streets. However, he soon began to get acquainted. TJ first investigated the trees. Though hardly a scientist, he made all kinds of tests. He felt and tasted the bark and leaves. He swung high on the branches. Finally he tasted the fruit on the trees and found them bitter. The carabao now attracted his attention. He tried the same tests, but obtained different results. He tried to swing on its horns and feel and taste its skin. The swish of its tail in his face was his reward. When he tried to push the carabao over, it calmly moved away, leaving TJ to fall into a heap. Not discouraged, our hero contained his investigations. This time he poked a beehive. The angry buzz has no meaning for him. Then the bees came out in full force. TJ spent several days in bed considering his adventure. On the day of his departure, TJ drew up a list of good and bad things on the farm. In the former he placed the cow, fruit, trees, the pond and the hayloft. As evils he considered beehives, snakes, and creaking frogs. The carabao he could not place in either column. Nevertheless, on his return to the city, TJ began to appreciate the value of the country. He missed the shady trees and cool breezes. He recalled the merry searches in the woods for guavas and star fruit. For the first time in his life, he realized that even chores, even on the farm could be more pleasant.

Activity 1

Vocabulary Focus: Make vocabulary charts for the words listed below. Afterwards, reread the story to see if the meaning changes. Investigation Consider

Bitter

Activity 2

Recall the following details of the story.

1. TJ is __________ years old. 2. The attracted his attention. 3. A cow and a carabao were __________ creatures. 4. TJ poked into a __________. 5. When TJ returned to the city he began to appreciate the value of __________. 6. He searched in the woods for __________ and __________. 7. TJ tried to swing in the cows __________.

Activity 3

Think about if you moved somewhere new. What are things that you would miss about your home? What would you like to see in a new place?

The Legend of Maria Cristina Falls

A long time ago, Agus River, the only outlet of Lake Lanao, was navigable. Boats from Taraka across the lake could go down all the way to Iligan. There were very few rocks in the river. It was also deep and wide. Prince Bantugan, the mythical hero of the epic Daragan, heard of Lake Lanao and its unconquerable people. The warrior prince decided to pay Maranaos, then known as Iranaon or Illanun, a visit. He wanted to win the people over to his side. Prince Bantugan summoned all his followers, who were as numerous as an army of ants. He told them to cut down the biggest and tallest tree. The tree then must be made into a big boat. After many months, the boat was finished. Its front looked like a crocodile. They named in Rinamuntao Mapalao. When it was ready for launching, Prince Bantugan ordered his bravest warriors to arm themselves. They stocked the boat with both food and ammunition. Then they set sail for the Agus River. After two days of hard sailing, the group arrived at the town of Maria Cristina. Here they stopped to rest. Meanwhile, words about the coming of Bantugan reached Lanao. The people were alarmed. They gathered and prayed to the tonongs (supernatural beings). They prayed for several nights and days. The tonongs heard their prayers. They sent a storm and an earthquake. The Agus River started to swirl, overflowing its banks and flooding the places nearby. The earth shook and at the spot where the Rinamuntao Mapalao was anchored, a huge gap opened up, swallowing both the boat and its passengers. As a result of the earthquake, a deep ravine was formed. Later, water began to cascade over this, forming a waterfall. This became Maria Cristina Falls.

Activity 1

Vocabulary Focus: Make vocabulary charts for the words listed below. Afterwards, reread the story to see if the meaning changes. summon anchor

navigable

Activity 2

Copy this chart in your notebook. Think of different adjectives used to best describe a waterfall.

Activity 3

Answer the following questions about The Legend of Maria Cristina Falls.

1. What is the only outlet of Lake Lanao? 2. What words are used to describe the Agus River? 3. Who was the mythical hero of Darangan? 4. Why did he plan to visit the Iranaon? 5. How did the people feel when they heard about the coming of Prince Bantugan? 6. What did the tonongs do to stop the prince from reaching Lake Lanao? 7. What happened to Bantugan and his men? 8. Trace the development of the plot. a. Agus River was navigable. b. ________________________________ c. ________________________________ d. ________________________________ e. ________________________________ f. ________________________________ g. ________________________________

Activity 4

Make a group with 5 other students. Separate the story into six parts and have each member of the group draw a picture and a short description below.

Going Fishing
Scene 1
Mother: Wake up! Its time to go fishing! Jomar: Its so early! The sun isnt even up yet! Rosie: Im hungry for breakfast. Do the fish eat breakfast? Father:Yes! That is why we are awake so early. We must try to catch the fish when they are hungry too. Mother: Pack up your things! You will have a long day on the water and a lot to learn about fishing. Jomar: That is my favorite fish! Rosie: Let us see if Mother can cook some today! Father:Yes, we are all very hungry. Lets go home now. Jomar: Thank you for teaching us how to fish, Father!

Scene 3
Mother: How did you like fishing with your father? Rosie: At first, we did not like it, but then it got very exciting when we got to bring in the net. Jomar: We really learned a lot. Father:Rosie and Jomar were wondering if we could have milkfish for lunch since we caught so many. Mother: That is a great idea. Children, let me teach you how to cook milk fish, just as my mother taught me. (after a short cooking lesson, they sit at the table) Rosie: This is delicious! Father:Now you all know all the work it takes for one meal. Jomar: Yes. You and Mother work very hard. Thank you for teaching us how to fish and how to cook. Mother and Father: Youre welcome children. Rosie and Jomar: We love you!

Scene 2
Jomar: This is so boring! Weve been here for so long and nothing is happening. Rosie: My brother is right. Where are all the fish? Father:Were about to start the most exciting part-bringing in the net. I always used to help my father with the net when I was little. Rosie: I want to help, Father! Jomar: Me too! Father:Thank you, children. Rosie: Wow, there are so many fish! Jomar: There are so many different kinds of fish, too! Father:This is the milkfish, the national fish of the Philippines.

Activity 1

Vocabulary Focus: Make vocabulary charts for the words listed below. Afterwards, reread the story to see if the meaning changes. Net Boring

Activity 2
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8.

Answering the following questions related to the story. Why do they wake up so early? What are they going to do? How are Jomar and Rosie related? Do Rosie and Jomar like fishing? What is Jomars favorite fish? Who did Father go fishing with when he was little? Who taught mother how to cook milkfish? What two skills do the children learn?

9. What is your favorite fish? 10.What have your family members taught you?

Graphic Organizer s

Vocabulary Chart
Meaning Tagalog, Dialect and Synonyms

Use it in a sentence

Place vocabulary word HERE

Draw a picture

Prediction Worksheet
Title: _____________________________________ Directions: Look at the picture on each page. Describe what you see and then make a prediction about what will happen next. Where is it in the story? page 1, paragraph 2 page 1, paragraph 4 page 2, line 1 page 4, end of the page What do you see? What do you predict will happen next?

Story Map
Title Author

Setting

Characters

Problem

Rising Action

Solution to the Problem

End of the Story