beauty

Among the many legends I have heard nothing captured my attention than the story of the star-crossed lovers. Maybe because I’m a hopeless romantic. Perhaps watching too much romantic movies and believing the “happily ever after” ending? But this story didn’t end that way, it ended with a catastrophe.
With his toothless smile, the village chief told the story of a king and a goddess. The chief was a very good storyteller for I was transported back in time when these mountains was still untouched by modern civilization. Their ancestors considered it as a sacred ground. The forest is so thick that the foliage touches one another covering the mountain like an umbrella.
The legend says that the goddess guards the forest. Anyone who got lost or injured find their way back with the help of the goddess. Now the king was obsessed to find the goddess with indescribable beauty. He commanded young men to search for the goddess with a promise of great wealth. To make the long story short, a young man named Matubo and the goddess fell in-love. This incurred the wrath of the king. He asked his sorcerer to make a potion to make him powerful so he can avenge the injustice done to him. After drinking the potion, the king became a fire monster. He went to the mountain to exact his revenge. The monster king struck the young man with his fiery balls and killed him. Even the goddess healing powers cannot bring him back to life. Summoning all her power and strength, the goddess trapped the monster king and puts him to sleep. The legend goes that she roams around to guard the mountain. They say that if you have a good heart you can hear her melodious voice. But when the goddess became sad and vulnerable, she puts here defenses down and the sleeping monster king awakens.
How can a mountain so beautiful become so catastrophic? Perhaps we have saddened the beautiful goddess for the devastation of mother nature in the name of progress? Twenty plus years ago when Mount Pinatubo wreaked havoc in the lives of people not only in the Philippines but the neighboring countries as well. It killed a thousand people and brought heavy cloud of volcanic ash that turn the day into a night. Just like a doomsday movie but this time it’s for real. But today, Mount Pinatubo holds a beauty that covers its tragic story. The blue-green crater lake is a sight to behold. Just like the story of the goddess, she has an indescribable beauty.