Myth and Legends

The Firefly

Fireflies in the local dialect are called alitaptap. They are often seen at the night flickering their tail lights in the bushes in Maynila. Fireflies are about the only creatures other than man that used fire, so to speak. How it came to use fire is related in the legend that follows. In the early times, the fireflies were small ordinary insects. They did not carry fire with them. They have been known as alitaptap as they are still known today. Unlike the fireflies now, the earlier generation of fireflies fly out only during the day.

During the night, they would usually rest themselves under the leaves and flowers of the plants they happened to stop at soon as darkness came over the land. They were generally afraid to come out during the evening except when it was full moon. One early evening, the fireflies wondered where to hide for the night. They spotted a sunflower bush and some of them hid under his leaves. Some hid under the buds of the flowers, while still others hid under it’s petals.

“But why are you hiding?” asked the sunflower. “Why do all of you seem so frightened? Are you afraid of the dark?”

“No, we are not afraid of the dark,” the insects answered.

“Then tell me, what are you afraid of?” asked the sunflower.

“We are afraid of the fruit bats.”

“Why are you so afraid of the fruit bat? What harm can the fruit bat do to you?”

“It’s because they eat us up,” said the insects.

“If they see us they would catch us, and if we are caught that would mean the end of our lives.”

“Well, it’s really very cruel of the fruit bat to be doing these to you,” the sunflower said.

“Can you imagine just how many fruit bats there are?” complained one of the insects.

“That’s why we’re getting fewer and fewer in number.”

“Well if that’s the way things are, you’ll be finished before time,” said the sunflower. “How much I pity all of you”

“We don’t even know what is best to do to protect ourselves,” said the insects.

“But, I was wondering why is it that you don’t come and hide in my stem when the moon is bright?” asked the sunflower.

“Well, if the moon is bright, it is difficult for the fruit bat to catch us,” spoke one of the fireflies.

“They get blinded by the brightness of the moonlight,” followed still by one of the insects.

“Well, that’s it. It cannot see the light,” reasoned the sunflower. “I’ve got an idea. I will tell you just what you should do.”

“Well, what? What should we do?” asked every one of the insects.

“The idea is for each of you to carry a torch of fire,” said the sunflower. “Then go in groups when you go out in the night. The fruit bat would be afraid of you. He wouldn’t try to get close to you without getting burned.”

“That’s very true, that’s it!” exclaimed the fireflies together.

“Guess that’s the best thing for us to do, isn’t it?” asked one of the younger fireflies.

That was what the fireflies did. One dark evening, each of them carried a small torch of fire to their tails and then they came out together. They were like high-flying embers altogether. And the fruit bats did not dare to get near them all. The fireflies were all jubilant. They flew around and around the sunflower stem.

“Thank you, sunflower. We are now free!” shouted the fireflies.

From then on, every time the fireflies wanted to go out during the dark night they would each bring with them these small torches of fire then come out together to roam leisurely around the bushes, fluttering from one sunflower plant to another. That was how and why fireflies of the present generation we see today have lights on their tails.