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The Legend of Talna

              A long , long time ago, when Philippines was still attached to Asia, there lived in the wilderness of Panay a queen fairy named Diwata. One day she had in leisure weaved a set of beautiful wings.

             It was made of lovely silk colored by the enchanting flowers of paradise.
and once it was finished, Queen Diwata called all land creatures in her realm and addressed them.
             "I will place these wings on top of a giant Lawaan Tree. Any creature that gets the wings will have the privilege of wearing it permanently."
            When the creatures saw the towering tree they were dumbfounded. "The tree seems to touch the clouds!" they groaned. That day all creatures went home with wings in their dreams and weight on their feet.
             Three of those disheartened creatures were Talna, Dumbo and Vainy.
             " I really hope to own those wings." Talna said meekly. She was a green slimy crawling creature.
             "Ha! You should look first at yourself before you begin talking about those wings." Dumbo retorted. Talna was perched on his oversized nose. He was an elephant and elephant at that time have no trunks but by then their noses were already considerable.
             "Yeah it's a funny talk for you Talna," Vainy added. She was a giraffe, and giraffe have at that time shorter but graceful neck. "You should leave great things to great creatures. I think the wings would be more lovely on my back than on your filthy body. "
              Both Dumbo and Vainy laughed at the latter's remark.
             "Maybe you are right but still I would give it a try tomorrow." Talna said seemingly unhurt by her friends' derision.
             "Ha! ha! ha! that will be the day!" cried Dumbo. " You could barely crawl the length of my trunk, and now you are dreaming of reaching the top of that Lawaan Tree. You are a dreamer!"
Talna was silent for the rest of the trip home. She thought Dumbo's words have truth in it. So she cling on more tightly on Dumbo's trunk and suppressed her dreams.
             After some time, Dumbo finally took courage. "My strength will help me get those wings!" He boasted. "It's not by accident that I am called the King of the jungle."
            Dumbo wrapped his considerable nose around the giant tree and tried uprooting it. He pulled with all his might and mightily he tried - but to no avail. He tried it everyday until he gave up, but not before his nose became a trunk as long as we know it today. Because of shame, Dumbo deserted Panay and hid in the deep forest of India.
             Long after he gave up, Vainy gave the task a try. " There's no harm in trying. My long legs will surely help." She mused. "If I get those wings I will be the most beautiful land creature. I will fly around everyday, and males will court me no end. Oh it will be lovely having those wings."
              And so everyday she jumped and stretched her neck to reach the top of the Lawaan tree, but at last she gave up. For a long while she became the butt of jokes for the unnaturally long legs and neck she developed. That is until she decided to swim to the faraway continent of Africa.
             After that the land creatures considered the task impossible. Then one day the wings fell down. Every land creatures gathered around the tree in the hope of catching the wings. Even Queen Diwata was there to see who would be the lucky catcher.
              The wings fell down for seven days and six nights and during those times no creature dared to go home, eat or sleep. Then on the seventh day there was a great uproar, for they realized the wings were not falling. Rather they were fluttering. a Caterpillar, Talna, was donning them.
               A Great silence fell when Queen Diwata addressed the victor. " I will keep my promise. From now on you will wear these wings permanently."
              "How did you reach those wings? was the booming demand of all the land creatures.
              "Yes, indeed." Queen Diwata agreed. " Tell us lucky one, how did you achieve it?"
               "At first, I dreamed of climbing the Lawaan Tree, but Dumbo pointed out that I can hardly travel the length of his nose so why should I bother climbing the giant tree. So I gave up my dream."
               "If you had given up, how come you were able to climbed the tree?"
               "Well, when Dumbo tried on uprooting the tree, he forgot I was on his nose and when he began grappling the tree, I had barely escaped his deathly squeezed."
               "Is that true?" Cried Queen Diwata. Her face showed amusement at the tale.
               "Truly, your highness. I escaped to the tree trunk and stayed there frightened to death. I climb higher and higher to avoid the assault of each hopeful creature."
               All the creatures were now laughing at Talna's story.
               "When Vainy made her attempts, she hit me more than once. Well, I thought that was the end of me."
               "You certainly have made it Talna. But I could not imagine how were you able to climb that high."
                "Your excellency, I did it by crawling to the top... wiggle by wiggle."
                And that's how Talna, the green slimy caterpillar came to be Talna the butterfly. And she lived fluttering gracefully ever after.         

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