Alamat ng Duhat by Segundo D. Matias Jr.

Title: Alamat ng Duhat “The Legend of the Java Plum”

Author: Segundo D. Matias, Jr.

Year of publication: 2012 

Publisher: Lampara Books

                                   

 Review Title:

An objective journey through a storybook

By: * Marie Angeline F. Mallonga

Segundo D. Matias Jr wrote the Legend of the Java Plum while Rovi Jesher R. Salegumba did the illustrations in this book. The book is about how Duhat came about. A couple, after so many years of ardent praying, had a child. Before that child was born, the mother went to the highest point of the highest mountain and prayed to their God, the sun, whom they believe created everything, that her child would have fair skin because she was tired of being teased about their color. The sun answered her prayers. When she was born, their tribe, the Atas, were surprised because of the astonishing complexion of this child, who was named Duha. Whenever there were tribe gatherings, Apo Tatong, the father of Duha, always said that Duha would be the hope of the tribe because he would be sending her to school in the city. When Duha was at the right age, she did. She went to the city to take a course on teaching to fulfill her father’s plans. There, she met her prince charming, Armando. They’ve loved each other for a while since then. Because of his, Armando thought it was the right time to meet her family. Armando accompanied Duha to her province but when they got there, Armando seemed ashamed of their tribe’s color and simply left. Because of this, Duha prayed to the Gods and asked for the same complexion as her tribe because this is where she truly belongs. The God answered her prayers. Since then, she’s been consuming her time by teaching her tribe how to read and write. Aside from reading and writing, she taught them modern ways to harvest and do crafts. Since then, there area has been progressing. One day, Armando came back to ask for Duha’s forgiveness. Unfortunately, Duha did not accept his apology. She continued teaching in the shade to children and even adults. Duha asked if she could be buried under that shade where she usually taught when she died. When this happened, she was buried there to satisfy her request. Armando came back from time to time to show the Atas tribe how sorry he was. One day, when he visited Duha’s grave, he noticed weird fruit bearings. It was black on the oumore about their surroundings.

* I am Marie Angeline F. Mallonga, a 16-year-old BS Child Development and Education student at Miriam College. I graduated high school in St. Scholastica’s Academy, an all girls Catholic institution in the area of Marikina.