Battle Island (The Legend of Apo lsland)
by: Maria Elena Paterno
Apo Island is a small island in the
Mindanao Sea near Negros Occidental province. It is a beautiful island surrounded
by waters teeming with fish and other marine life but it is also dangerous.
Jagged rocks and swift, deadly ocean currents make it difficult for boats, to
land on Apo Island.
But once upon a time there was no island in
this part of the Mindanao Sea. People there tell a strange story of how the
island came to be.
On the southeastern tip of Negros
Occidental there once was a rich village ruled by a brave chief named Apo Daulin.
Apo Daulin and his people had come from the southern island of Mindanao. They
had braved the waves and the open sea to settle here and build a new life for themselves.
Apo Daulin's village was peaceful. There
were plenty of beasts in the forest to hunt and plenty of fish in the sea to
catch. The villagers were happy and content. And although the chief had guards
to watch out for invaders, many of the villagers had set down their weapons for
fishing nets of tools for farming. They did not expect enemies in their new
homes.
They were wrong.
One still night, when the moon was only
half full, a small fleet of boats slid silently into the cove. The invaders
were ruthless pirates! A guard called out a warning, but it was too late. The
pirates were landing on the shore! Their boats were called vintas, and from the
pattern on the sails, it was easy to tell that they were from the southern
island of Sulu.
The pirates descended on the village with
bloodcurdling cries. Their sharp weapons glinted in the moonlight. The
villagers scrambled for their weapons, but many were rusty from lack of use.
Men and women fought bravely against the invaders, but no matter how hard they
fought, they could not hope to win.
The battle lasted until dawn. Many of the
villagers were wounded. They could no longer stop the pirates from looting
their houses. The women tried to defend themselves with their kitchen knives.
But they were tied up, gagged, and brought to the boats.
The villagers were angry, of course, and
Apo Daulin was the angriest of all. "To the boats!" he shouted.
"We must catch the pirates!"
But the villagers' fishing boats were no
match for the swift and steady vintas of the pirates. Apo Daulin and his men
pursued the vintas to deep water, but it seemed that they had little hope of
ever catching up with them.
Suddenly the vintas' sails loomed larger
and larger. Were the villagers finally gaining on them? Then Apo Daulin's men
realized what had happened. The vicious pirates had turned their boats around.
They wanted a sea battle!
Apo
Daulin and his men were ready. Brown hands tightened their grips on their newly
sharpened spears. The villagers waited for the onslaught. The enemies' swift
vintas rammed the small fishing craft and the water churned white.
The villagers fought bravely. Many warriors
were wounded in the battle. Some were thrown into the sea and drowned. It was a
long hard fight, but in the end the curved blades of the pirates won over the
hunting spears of the village warriors. The ocean turned red with blood.
The battle was over.
Apo Daulin and his brave men were dead.
Seeing this, the captured women in the vintas
let out a loud wail. They prayed that they might join their loved ones in
heaven rather than suffer at the hands of the pirates.
Their prayers were answered, because when the
pirates put up their sails again, a huge storm arose. The vintas were tossed
about like feathers in the angry waters. The pirates were good sailors, but no
skill could battle nature's fury. The whole fleet sank.
The storm raged through the night. The next
morning, the other villagers, those who had been wounded in the first battle,
came out of their huts to see what was left of their village. A child saw it
first. With a loud cry he pointed to what seemed like a huge rock in the sea.
It was near the spot where the second battle took place.
"It looks like Apo Daulin," said
the child in Wonder. He came out of the water to guard our village!"
"Yes, that must be our Apo," said
the child's grandmother, who had come out of their hut when she heard his cry.
"It is Apo Daulin, risen from the sea to shield our village from further
attacks."
Some of the people got into their bancas
and paddled to the rock, As they came nearer, they thought they could see Apo
Daulin himself sitting on top of the island. The wind seemed to carry the
voices of their friends who had died in battle.
Even today many mysterious accidents happen
around Apo Island. Small boats are dragged down by the deadly currents. And
some divers disappear, never to be seen again. It is said that the angry spirit
of Apo Daulin is still there, watching over his beloved people.
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