The Origin of The Banana Plant

In a village by the sea, there once lived a couple who had a daughter named Juana. Because of her beauty, many suitors vied for Juana. One of Juana's suitors was a fellow named Aging. At first Juana and Aging were just friends. But friendship soon turned to love. Juana's father disapproved of Aging and forbade Juana to see him. In spite of this, the two lovers found ways to see each other.

Early one evening, Juana's father arrived from the field where he had been working all day. To his surprise he saw, through an open window, that Aging was in the house sitting by the window and talking with Juana. Juana's father was angered that Juana would entertain Aging in defiance of his wishes. Quickly, he reached through the window and, with his sharp bolo¹, he struck Aging on the arm. The bolo was so sharp that Aging's arm was severed. Mortally wounded, Aging rushed out of the house. Juana rushed after Aging but it was too dark outside. Unable to find Aging, Juana returned to the house, took Aging's arm and buried it in the yard.

The next morning, Juana's father went to the yard. At the spot where Juana buried Aging's arm, there was a small green plant pushing itself up. The plant had wide green leaves and yellow fruit shaped like clusters of fingers. Surprised, he called out to Juana telling her to join him in the yard.

"What plant is this?" asked the father. "I've never seen one like it before!"

Upon seeing the plant, Juana remembered the arm she had buried on the spot the night before and she exlaimed, "That plant is Aging! It is the arm of Aging!"

From that time on, the plant with the clustered fruit that looked like fingers came to be referred as "aging", which was later changed to "saging"², which is the Tagalog word for "banana".