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The Monkey and the Sun

Myths are the ancient means of comprehending nature and the spiritual and the Philippines is not without them. This is to compare two which are taken from up north and down south by virtue of two authors’ pursuit of our heritage derived from the oral tradition, translated by interpreters, of the few ethnic peoples who have managed to keep themselves away from the hands of the colonizers. The Monkey Marries a Princess is a Bukidnon myth while Love of the Sun God is a myth from the province of Rizal. As a Visayan,* I will discuss them primarily in terms of love, deducing what may be some of the cultures of people representing Mindanao and Luzon.

The latter is of the Sun, a god who falls in love with Ishna. The former is the Monkey, armed with magic, who woos a lady whom no one has succeeded to win. The Monkey declares his love then wins his girl by affrighting that he will flood the place if his request for marriage is not accepted. If this myth is to be held true, this may be their tribal account of the great deluge which many cultures have asserted to have happened sometime in the distant past. The Sun god, comparably, is a voyeur who can neither verbalize his love nor take his girl on to his carriage as it will consume her life because after all he is the Sun, who shines at day and rides away with his chariot to let the moon relieve him at night. Here is a tribal animism of the sun, unknown to them as the center of a solar system; observable at day but not at night.

However negative the Monkey’s way of winning love enough for his father-in-law to not want to live with his daughter’s husband; the Monkey shows he loves his wife by bringing a wild boar and a hive full of honey “extraordinarily” to the powerless in a period of drought but quite ordinarily for someone who has magic. The shrinkage of things is not new if I am to look back on the book Alice in Wonderland. Their difference lies in each protagonist’s presence and absence of knowledge for why things just shrink. When the Monkey cultivates, shares his produce and unites all his in-laws in order to get the best harvest they can never achieve without the Monkey, I see a possible explanation for how the Bukidnons must have been taught through generations on how to sustain themselves in agriculture. Thanks to the ingenuity of the Monkey.

The Sun subdues his enormous admiration by planting sunbeams on the girl’s lips but gets her pregnant just the same. The girl cannot explain her unpleasant condition to her father who eventually disowns her as she knows no man. I see a cultural taboo on pregnancy outside marriage and at the same a belief in what can be a divine conception. Possibly, a breed of heroes is to come from these unions between a mortal and an immortal, like the Grecian way of thinking.

Then we have the Monkey again who has a spirit guide—source of his magic, who grants his wishes while the Sun, independently god himself, can do as he desires. Bukidnon then believes like the early the Filipinos before the coming of Spanish colonizers in deities and anitos as Rizal Province believes in the existence of gods like the Sun and other gods like whom Ishna, prayerful as the Christian Virgin Mary, offers her prayers to.

The ladies admired here are described to be with special qualities. Ishna waters the plants and is sung with songs by birds. In her absence, like Demeter goddess of agriculture is wearied in search for Persephone, everything else becomes dry. Lifeless. The woman of the Monkey is not named but described as a princess fair as Snow White who loves the Monkey because she screams of what seemed to be a murder seeing the Monkey’s skin afloat on the river. I see from Ishna a figure representing the caretaker of mother earth and from the Bukidnon princess, a wife’s loyalty to what or who has become by fate, her husband.

In the end the Monkey is revealed to be Bataay, a handsome young man who disguises himself out of fear that he will be loved only by his outward appearance and the honor that precedes him while the Sun looks down on his wife happily to see his child with a face radiant as the sun. Together, they take care of the earth.

Both stories reveal the desire of a story teller for happy endings. Although not all old and contemporary stories or movies end as lovely, the animated movie Little Mermaid for example which is an adaptation widely sold out with Ariel marrying the prince instead of losing her prince to another bride and dying to become the first sunrise and sunset.

For us who have forgotten our varied myths to embrace Christianity, Mary (not Ishna) is impregnated by the Holy Spirit (not by the Sun god) years after God created the world which man has to toil like Bataay with his own hands as punishment for the fall of Adam and Eve.

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*Magellan landed in the Visayas in 1521 which led to the colonialization of the Philippines by the Spaniards.

The short stories are found on:
pp 121-126 titled “The Monkey Marries a Princess” from the book Bukidnon Myths and Rituals c2000 by Carmen Unabia.
pp 177-179 titled “Love of the Sun God” from the book Myths and Legends of the Philippines c2007 by Marlene Aguilar. A heritage book by Jamayco, Inc. Quezon City.

Rama

Except for the fact that Rama is a lawyer, I have not heard of any major accomplishments he has done for the city. Either the credit or discredit goes to the mayor for whom he plays second fiddle to.

The last time I physically saw Rama was when he graced an oath-taking ceremony for professionals where he tried to be funny. To my dismay, I was far from being impressed seeing him stand their on behalf of the city, without any preparation for his speech but it was a relief to hear some substance in the governor’s message, although she, on behalf of the province, was reading the most from a manuscript. At least, there was an effort made for that speech.

The first time I saw Rama was back when he was campaigning again for vice-mayor. He is good-looking in person. Immediately I wondered who could be his love interest because the last time, he was rumored to be with a local councilor though I heard he’s married but separated.

Recently, the balded mayor is tagging him to have been sleeping with the enemy. Enemy– who? No other than the same governor mentioned above, related to the former mayor who was previously a staunch supporter of the mayor but now turned into his archenemy.

Rama has always allied himself with the current mayor but the tide has turned again.

I have never thought seeing a vice-mayor together with a governor could mean anything other than a call of duty but then why not if the governor herself is single and available?

How politics has turned into showbiz!