Myth and Legends

The First Crocodile

Once upon a time, in a village by a river, there lived a loving couple whose name where Maria and Juan. They have been happily married for the last twenty years but still they were childless. They kept on wishing that someday they would have a child of their own. To while away their time, they raise many animals such as pigeon, pigs, turkeys, chickens, dogs, cats, which among others, provided them with a regular source of income. Juan kept one of them as a pet.

It was a black dog. He looked after his pet with loving tenderness and fatherly affection. Day in and day out he would take care to see the black dog was well provided for. At night before going to sleep, he would put his pet inside a round basket stuffed with pillows to keep him warm and then place it right on his bed. They kept on with their lives in this manner and were happy at it though they were never completely lost hope of having a child.

When going to church to hear daily mass or when traveling on pilgrimages, they kept praying for only one thing- to have a child. In their last pilgrimages, Juan made a vow that if God would give them a child, he would never allow the child to step on their ground lest the child be taken away from them in whatever manner. Not long afterwards, Juan found himself that his wife was heavy with a child. She gave birth to a healthy a baby boy whom they christened with the name Mario.

With Mario around, life became a lot happier for the couple. They gave their only son all the love and attention he needed. They also educated him and raised him as what a good Christian should be. It made Maria and Juan proud to see Mario now grown into a fine young man. However, in all these years of nurturing Mario, Juan kept his promise he made during the pilgrimage. Juan never allowed Mario to go down the house nor step on the ground.

Mario, being an obedient child followed her father’s instruction. On the other hand, the couple had the neighbors believed Mario was a sickly child who easily catches cold if allowed to play on the ground. Maria never questioned Juan all these times. She kept thinking Juan was trying to be over-protective as a father. As it was time and Mario is now fully grown up, Juan himself revealed to Maria his vow. Maria understood and accepted the truth.

Next, he asked Maria’s opinion whether Mario should know about it. “Of course, we need to tell him,” Maria replied. Together they approached their son. They had a heart-to-heart talk with him and prayed that Mario would not hate them for what they were about to reveal to him. Juan unloaded the burden in his heart. He told Mario about the secret they have been hiding from him since he was a child. Lucky enough, Mario was kind to accept the truth too.

At this, Mario came to understand why, as long as he could remember he was prevented from stepping out of their house. The farthest he went to was to sit by the stairs leading to the entrance of the house. Though Mario never went out of the house, the neighbourhood children would come to his house to play. Now that Mario is a grown up man, many young lady who had seen his handsomeness wanted to visit him. Rosal was one of his secret admirers.

Mario too, had seen Rosal, and he like her the most among his admirers. Incidentally, Juan also often reminded Mario not to entertain admirers when they are not around for fear he might forget and get down from the house. One afternoon, Rosal thought paying Mario a visit. She wanted just to talk to him. It so happened that Rosal was from out of the town and did not know about his problem of being rather sickly as their neighbors did. When she reached Mario’s house, she saw Mario by the window.

She was not aware that his parents were out in the farm.

“You must be Mario?” asked Rosal.

“Yes, I am,” was Mario’s casual reply.

“May I come up and pay you a visit?” Rosal asked.

“No. my parents aren’t in. they’ll get mad if around,” I let you in without them around,” Mario answered.

“Can you come down?” Rosal insisted. “We can talk here in the garden.”

At first, Mario resisted. Then it entered his mind that he would be worse off if their parents found Rosal inside the house than if he went down the garden. It was never clear to him what would exactly happen to him if he got out of the house. He consoled himself that if anything would happen to her, not withstanding the vow, it wouldn’t be anything terrible.

Passing himself with such an excuse, Mario finally agreed to come down. Yet the moment his feet touched the ground, terrible things began to unravel. First, the earth shook. Then a big torrent of water swept by swallowing up the house, the garden, and then the two of them. Trembling with fear, they held each other as they cried out for help. But no help ever came. It was already late in the afternoon when Maria and Juan returned home. They found out their house was missing.

What lay before their eyes was water. Half submerged above the water were two scaly creatures they have never seen before. Moments later, the two creatures swam back and forth looking in the way of the old couple. Maria and Juan did not know what to make of all these. Then they found out Mario was missing. When a neigbhor told them he saw Mario went down the garden to meet a certain young lady, everything became clear. They gave the two creatures one more look.

To their surprise they saw tears flowing out of the eyes of the two creatures, as if saying goodbye, before they swam away together. Maria and Juan were likewise again. With heavy hearts, the old couple held on to each other as they slowly walked away from the river in town. Mario and Rosal were thought to be the first crocodile couple though they were gentle and not wild like those of their later descendants as the old folks believed.