TUNGKUNG LANGIT AND ALUNSINA

A. BRIEF BACKGROUND OF THE STORY

The story of Tunkung Langit and Alunsina is a myth from Panay. A myth is a traditional
story, especially one concerning the early history of a people or explaining some natural or social
phenomenon, and typically involving supernatural beings or events.

B. SUMMARY OF THE STORY

In the beginning everything was shapeless and formless. The earth, the sky, the sea, and
the air were almost mixed up. In a word, there was only confusion. Then from the depth of this
formless void there appeared the god Tungkung Langit and the goddess Alunsina.

It was not known just where these two deities came from but it is related by old Bisayan
folk that Tungkung Langit fell in love with Alunsina. After he had courted her for many years,
they married and made their home in the highest part of heaven. There the water was always
warm and the breeze was forever cool. In this place order and regularity began.

Tungkung Langit was a loving, hard-working god. He wanted to impose order over the
confused world. He decided to arrange the world so that the heavenly bodies would move
regularly. On the other hand, Alunsina was a lazy, jealous, selfish goddess. She sat at the
window all day doing nothing.

Sometimes she would leave her home, sit down by a pool near the door, and comb her
long, jet-black hair all day long. One day Tungkung Langit told his wife that he would be away
for some time. He said he must make time go on smoothly and arrange everything in the world.

When he was gone, Alunsina set the breeze to spy on Tungkung Langit. Tungkung
Langit found this out and he became very angry. After he returned home, he told her that it was
ungodly of her to be jealous since there were no other gods in the world except the two of them.
 Alunsina resented this reproach, and they quarreled. In his anger, Tungkung Langit drove
his wife away. No one knew where she went. Several days later, Tungkung Langit felt very
lonely. He realized that he should not have lost his temper. But it was too late.

Once vibrant with Alunsina’s sweet voice, his home became cold and desolate. In the
morning when he woke up, he would find himself alone. In the afternoon when he came home,
he would feel the same loneliness creeping deep in his heart because there was no one to meet
him at the doorstep or soothe the aching muscles of his arms.

For months, Tungkung Langit was in utter desolation. He could not find Alunsina, try
hard as he would. And so, in desperation, he decided to do something in order to forget his
sorrows. For months and months he thought, but his mind seemed pointless; his heart weary and
sick. He needed something to ease his lonely world.

One day, while he was sailing across the regions of the clouds, a thought came to him. He
would make the sea and the earth, and the earth and the sea suddenly appeared. However, the
sombre sight of the lonely sea and the barren land irritated him. So he came down to earth and
planted the ground with trees and flowers.

Then he took his wife’s treasured jewels and scattered them in the sky, hoping that when
Alunsina would see them she might be induced to return home. The goddess’s necklace became
the stars, her comb the moon and her crown the sun. However, despite Tungkung Langit’s
efforts, Alunsina did not come back.

Until now, some elders of Panay say Tungkung Langit lives alone in his palace in the
skies. Sometimes, he would cry out his pent-up emotion and his tears would fall down upon the
earth. When it thunders hard, it is Tungkung Langit sobbing, calling for his beloved Alunsina to
come back, entreating her so hard that his voice reverberates across the fields and the
countryside.
 C. ANALYSIS OF THE STORY

This story teaches us that jealousy can destroy the relationship of two people even how
much they love each other. This story is not only suitable for couples but also for sisters,
brothers, and others who have a relationship with someone. If we will not control our emotions,
our jealousy to others might move us to do things that would cause harm to that person or even
to ourselves. It can also lead us to make decisions that we might regret in our entire life. This
story teaches us to be careful in every action that we will take because we can’t change what we
have already done. It’s difficult to take away the pain that we caused to someone. In the vice
versa versa, we should trust our love ones. If we really love them, we can trust them with all of
our heart. Trust is the most needed factor to lengthen your relationship with someone else. In
long distance relationship, trust is very important to sustain your relationship. Even how much
you love that person if you don’t have trust don’t hope that your relationship will last.

Our emotions are very strong, it can manipulate our minds to think different things, good
and bad things. It can also harm us if we not control it. It can lead us to decisions that can get us
in trouble and can harm us. The story teaches us to be wise in every decision we make. Decisions
can make us feel happy or sometimes sad. There are decisions that people don’t analyze much
and they don’t mind it that decision can be good or bad for them.