The Origin of Camote Weevils

Written by Antonina R. Balluga on .

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Once upon a time there lived a selfish couple who had an only daughter named Enchi-a. They lived on a hillside near a river.

The couple had a camote patch beside their old cottage wherein Enchi-a spent most of her time weeding, cleaning and cultivating every day.

The family was poor. They subsisted only on camote so Enchi-a took good care of their camote patch.

One day while Enchi-a was busy working on the camote field, an old man who was walking along the river happened to see the cottage of the selfish couple on the hill. He followed the path leading to the cottage.

When the old man approached the cottage, he found Enchi-a working on the kaingin.

“I am thirsty. Please give me water to drink,” the old man meekly said.

Enchi-a was astonished to see the man who looked haggard and rugged. His face and hair were wet with perspiration. His feet were dusty.

Out of sudden pity for the old man, Enchi-a dug three camotes from her patch. She washed and boiled them hurriedly. When it was cooked she served them to the old man.

While the old man was eating the boiled camotes, the selfish couple arrived. They were very mad upon seeing the old man eating their camotes.

“Why are you here? Who told you to come? Don’t you know that our camotes are for our family? Go away. We don’t need you here,” the selfish husband said.

The poor old man got up slowly and went out of the house. When he was about to leave the cottage, he turned to the selfish couple and said, “You are selfish human beings. What you have on earth does not belong to you. They belong to God. You are here on earth to make use of them. Therefore, you should share them with others.”

The man disappeared. All of a sudden the couple grew smaller and smaller. Their heads and feet disappeared. They were turned into weevils by the poor old man beggar who turned out to be a fairy. From that time on, weevils began to make holes in camotes. The old folks believe that it was because of the selfish couple who did not like to share their camotes with the poor beggar.

 

 

Reference   

 

Balluga, Antonina. “The Origin of Camote Weevils. In Folk Tales of Mountain Province: Retold for Children-Grade V, 1st ed. Baguio City: n.p. 1960, 3-4. 

Notes

This folk tale was produced by Area - - A during a Division Curriculum Workshop held in Baguio City, Philippines on February 9-17, 1960. The workshop’s theme was “Enriching the Curriculum Through the Development of Local Materials.” 

“Division” in Division Curriculum Workshop refers to a schools division of the Department of the Education. It could have been then the “Mountain Province Schools Division.” 

From the early 1900s until mid-1960s, Mountain Province in the Philippines was made up of the provinces: Benguet, Ifugao, Kalinga-Apayao and Mountain Province, and chartered city, Baguio City.

With Republic Act No. 4695 implemented on June 18, 1966, Mountain Province was divided into four provinces namely, Benguet, Ifugao, Kalinga-Apayao and Mountain Province. One retained the name, Mountain Province, which now refers to itself as the new Mountain Province.

Kalinga-Apayao became independent provinces namely, Apayao and Kalinga on February 14, 1995.

The five provinces---Apayao, Benguet, Ifugao, Kalinga, Mountain Province with the addition of Abra--- and Baguio City were constituted into the Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR) on July 15, 1985. (YBelen,6December2014)

 

 

 

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