Kablay.
A name I have not heard in generations.
But I guess neither have you?
What do you know about the shark?
I mean really?
Did you know Kablay was the first shark?
All because of his greed.
Sit down, I’m not going to hurt you.
I’m the god of the sea, not of sickness unlike Sidapa.
Today I am taking human form, something different for a change.
Though I can’t really swim well, I don’t know how you fisherfolk manage.
Oh well, now where we?
The greed, right.
He was in charge of all the fishing boats in his village, growing fat from his many luxuries.
It even came to a point where the fisherfolk were forced to farm on the hillsides.
It did not work in their favor as that time a great drought swept through the land, destroying their only other source of food.
Hunger followed; the villagers could only subsist on what little fish they could catch.
And this is when I appeared.
I disguised myself as a poor beggar. Cliché I know, but the other gods swear to its effectiveness.
So, there I went, begging for scraps of food.
And he behaved as you would expect, throwing me out, telling me to ‘Jump into the sea.’
What else could I do?
The mortal had to be punished.
But I am not indiscriminate.
I went to all the fisherfolk’s dwellings and warned them
There would be a cataclysm.
Lightning struck the earth and the sea groaned as if an omen.
I told them to flee to the mountains.
But Kablay stayed.
He thought that the tempest would force the fisherfolk to buy even more from him.
Profits over people.
I joined the villagers at the mountain’s slopes.
And we saw the destruction I had wrought.
The winds uprooted trees. Even Kablay’s house, made of stone, was brought low.
Waters collected to become a tsunami, washing away Kablay and his family, resigning them to the deep.
Oh, the shark?
I’m getting to that.
Mortals are so impatient.
Anyway, the village was destroyed and yet the fisherfolk cheered.
Kablay’s greediness was ended and they rejoiced at his punishment.
The old beggar said that Kablay’s body twisted to become a fish no one had seen before.
His legs turned into a tail, arms into flippers and his skin was stretched out to cover his body and new head.
And thus ends the tale of Neguno and Kablay.
Pick your jaw off the floor, all the villagers know this story.
I’m positive you heard of it before.
Well not from a god, of course.
So, what other tale do you want to talk about?
The Duyung?
Ahh… that brings back so many memories, not all good.
So let me tell you the tale.
Huh?
Why did you ask me to stop?
I just like telling stories, again, I won’t hurt you.
Every few decades I pick a mortal to tell my stories to their people.
The worst thing to a god is to be forgotten.
Why you?
Fishing is in your blood and I only pick people of the sea.
You have my word as a god to a mortal.
Now where were we?
=———————–=
Written by Karl Gaverza
Copyright © Karl Gaverza
Inspired by Neguno in Philippine Folk Literature: The Myths. Eugenio. 2001. (Sources Specified)
Illustration by Niño Acero
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