Myth and Legends

The Camachile Tree

The guamachil tree or camachile as it’s local variety is more popularly known, has widespread branches that bend remarkably without breaking. However, instead of flowers, it has thorns growing out of it’s leafy branches.

How it came to possess thorns is related in the legend follows. In a certain thick forest, there grew a camachile with it’s usual widespread branches but without the thorns. Besides him, there grew many other kind of trees that shed beautiful and fragrant flowers that drew the attention of many travellers who happened to pass by the place.

Unfortunately for the camachile, he bore no flowers at all. No one really bothered to look at him although he was the only one among them who was able to stand against the strong wind that broke most of their branches and blew away their flowers.

Unlike the other trees, the camachile has the natural ability to bend it’s leafy branches with the wind without breaking. Still, he remained desirous of possessing flowers to display on with leafy branches.

One day, a tribe of young vacationers camped near the area where the camachile thrived. As usual, everyone began admiring the flowers of his neighboring trees. No one even came near him.

He felt unhappy. He was finally moved to air his displeasure, “Oh, gosh! Why can’t I bring forth flowers so I’d look attractive like the rest of them?” “That’s not a problem,” came a reply that surprised the camachile. He looked down to know where the reply came from.

“I am down here below,” shouted he cadena-de-amor crawling around her base. “Oh! You must be new here. I never noticed you before,” said the camachile. Then shifting his eyes lower down his trunk to get a closer look at the cadena-de-amor, he could not resist saying.

“You do have lovely flowers and a wonderful scent to go with it! Oh, what was it you were saying?”

“Thank you. What I wanted to say is that if you really desire to have pretty flowers, why don’t you allow me to climb up to your branches?” said the cadena-de-amor smiling.

“Well, why not? Climb up!” said the camachile tree that readily agreed to the seemingly wise suggestion of the cadena-de-amor. The cadena-de-amor began to climb upwards. In no time it was on every available branch of the camachile. “It is great up here! I can see a lot of things from up here! I want to stay up here forever!”

Sooner than she had spoken, the campers have all began to flock around the camachile tree and wondered how the flowers of cadena-de-amor got up there so quickly. “This must be the most beautiful tree around here,” remarked one of the campers much to the delight of the camachile tree.

“You may certainly stay up here for as long as you like,” whispered the camachile to the cadena-de-amor, happy with the remark he heard. That evening, two campers even slept underneath the camachile tree.

However, the following morning, just when the campers have packed up and left, there came the bees, the butterflies, the ants and other creeping creatures that used to frequent the cadena-de-amor, much to the dismay of the camachile as she was soon find out.

Starting with a few hundreds and then thousands of them started camping, and crawled all over the branches of the camachile. Altogether, they were a heavy bunch, and the noise they made wasn’t the least to the liking of the camachile. He kept her cool though and prayed and hoped they would eventually go away.

A week passed, yet still many of the creatures kept coming. The camachile could no longer stand the strain so he decided to voice out his complaints to the cadena-de-amor, saying, “You never told me you have so many visitors before.

They’re always stepping all over me, blocking my view of the sun, the blue sky and the breeze. And your vines, they held all over me and getting thicker by the day I can hardly breath anymore. I’m taking back my words. I want you and your little friends to leave before the end of the day.”

But his complaint went unheard. The cadena-de-amor was so absorbed with the wonderful views around him from up there. He just preferred to play deaf. Next, she tried to plead but it didn’t work out either. Desperate, he cried his heart aloud to the heavens.

Lucky for him, the gods heard his lamentation and took pity on him and made him grow thorns that pricked heavily on the leaves and branches of the cadena-de-amor. The latter decided to crawl down back to the ground.

Free again at last, the camachile felt grateful. To this day, he proudly show his thorns that he preferred over any kinds of flower after the terrible experience he went through.