The Legend of Woodpecker (A translated Filipino fiction)

Back in the days, there was an old man who is going from town to town to preach. Some people say is was the Apostle Peter but others also said that its St. Paul.

Nevertheless, one day the preacher arrived at a remote town after a long travel time. The old man was exhausted and also starving.

The elderly secretly felt delighted upon reaching a house with the fragrant smell of baked bread in the air. He went to the house from where the sweet smell of bread is coming from and seek the owner who is a woman.

The woman makes bread which are for sale. Several customers ordered that day so a lot of breads were already cooked when the old man arrives. But the woman hesitates to give away the cooked bread because they were too large.

The woman asked the old man to wait. She will bake a new one she said. The woman prepared a small dough for the apostle. When the dough was baked it still came out big.  Again the woman prepared another dough which is smaller then baked it. However, she still hesitates to give it because she thinks it is still big to be shared. The woman kept baking several times but again and again she set them aside to cook a smaller dough.

The old man knows the reason why he has been waiting for a piece of bread but still not given by the woman.

In effect, the old man said: "Excessive blessings were bestowed on you but you are still so selfish. From now on, you will work hard for everything especially what you eat."

Soon the apostle left to look for a kind heart who will give him something to eat.

With just a few steps made by the preacher, an event happened in the house which he left. The woman gradually transformed her appearance and turned to a bird. The cat immediately noticed it and sprang. The bird immediately flew just before the cat seizes it.

In the fear of turning into a bird, the woman flies towards the woods. There she did not stop in pecking the tree to get something to eat. The bird is now the woodpecker or batuktok in Filipino.

This story was translated from our local Filipino language.

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