THE ORIGIN OF THE BANANA

Long ago, a pretty girl lived with her parents in a small nipa hut. Many

young men offered to marry her but she did not like any of them.

One day, a stranger came to the girl’s barrio. It rained so hard that he

had to run to the nearest house. It was the prette girl’s house. The stranger

and the girl fell in love with each other. The rain grew stronger every minute

so that the stranger could not go home.

Finally, the rain stopped. Before leaving, the stranger asked the girl to

marry him. Thr girl refused because she did not want to leave her parents.

They shook hands and said goodbye. The girl held the stranger’s hand so

tightly that they were left behind. She didn’t know that the stranger was

enchanted.

Tearfully and downhearted, she quickly buried the hands in their

backyard. After several month, a plant grew where the hands were buried.

Its fruits were shaped like a person’s fingers. These were the forst bananas.
 NOAH

Hundreds of years ago, the people on earth were very

cruel. There was one man, however, who was good. His
name was Noah.

God told Noah that He was going to punish the people.

Noah was told to build a big boat, called an ark, so that he
and his family and other animals might be saved.

Noah and his three sons built the ark. When it was
finished, he called some animals and birds into it. Then he
and his family went in, too.

Then it begun to rain. It rained day and night for forty

days. Flood covered hills and mountains but Noah’s ark
floated safely. At last the rain stopped. The water begun to
go down. Noah sent a bird to see if the land was already
dry. The bird came back at once. Noah then knew that the
land was not yet dry. After a few days, Noah sent out the
bird again this time the bird came back with a leaf between
its bills. Noah knew that the plants are already growing. As
soon Noah and his family came out of the ark, they built an
altar and thanked God for saving them.