An interview with a Sirena

My name is Illuminado Acerden. I am twenty-four years of age. I am from the village of San Roque, in Tolosa, Leyte. I work as a bank teller in Manila, but every holiday season I go back to my hometown to visit my parents who live as fisherfolk.

I was standing by the beach near my house when I first met her. She was beautiful, more beautiful than any woman I had ever seen before, or since. She wore a small crown of gold nestled within her golden hair.

I was afraid of her at first. I would sit quietly by the beach and would just watch her swim through the water like a gentle breeze. I wasn’t brave enough to approach her, she came to me.

We started to talk then, about life and all the things that surrounded it. She told me about the magic that she had, tales of seas unreachable by man and monsters both fantastical and mundane. Through all this was one story she would always go back to.

I asked her if I could record the story and, to my surprise, she agreed. It seemed that she was not as private as I once thought.

I collected my recording instruments and sat by the river. She came around sunset and even helped me set up. She was especially enamored by the recorder, it was probably the first time she saw such a thing.

I will continue with the transcript of the interview, unedited.

ILLUMINADO: Can we start with your name please?

SIRENA: What do you mean ‘name’? What is a ‘name’?

ILLUMINADO: It is what other people call you, surely you’re called by something?

SIRENA: I was called a Sea Nymph once…. A very long time ago.

ILLUMINADO: Alright I guess we can just call you the sirena. We can start with your story, I hope that you don’t mind if I ask questions to clarify some points?

SIRENA: Of course, you humans are a very curious breed. Ask as many questions as you desire.

ILLUMINADO: So where does your story start?

SIRENA: It started here, many moons ago.

ILLUMINADO: Do you mean in San Roque?

SIRENA: Yes, where you humans leave your boats.

ILLUMINADO: Alright, please continue.

SIRENA: There was this pair of humans, one called Rodrigo and the other, Julian. They were both people of the water.

ILLUMINADO: Do you mean they were fisherfolk?

SIRENA: Yes, they took their catch of the fish of the sea and took it back to their village.

ILLUMINADO: Could you describe them?

SIRENA: Rodrigo was a simple man, though very handsome. His beauty could rival even the denizens of my kingdom. He was also devoted to his mother, a very filial son. Julian was different, much older and much more experienced. He knew the ways of the sea and gave proper respects to the spirits living there.

ILLUMINADO: What do you mean ‘proper respects’?

SIRENA: The sea does not belong to humans, it is a realm filled with danger and spirits. You would all do well to know that respect begets respect and if the spirits of the water are not sated your kind would never have fish in your nets.

ILLUMINADO: Please, continue your story.

SIRENA: The pair sailed until the sun went below the horizon, to a part of the sea that was deep. It held the promise of a better catch for the fish were larger than in the other waters. Suddenly, they heard music the likes of which were not for human ears. They turned and saw a gigantic black ship.

ILLUMINADO: What was happening on the ship?

SIRENA: There were men and women dancing and drinking jovially on the ship. Rodrigo wished he could join them, but Julian knew that these were no ordinary people. Rodrigo said out loud that he wished to be on the ship and Julian scolded him and told him to be quiet. He knew that words carry power around the enchanted and wisely kept his mouth shut. It was not the case for Rodrigo. He wished three times that he could be on the black boat and on the third time Julian was startled by a splash by Rodrigo’s side.

ILLUMINADO: What happened then?

SIRENA: They saw a beautiful sirena, one such as me. Her face glistened in the silver moonlight. The sirena asked Rodrigo if he wanted to go on the ship and the man answered ‘Yes!’, without delay. Before Julian could say anything, Rodrigo plunged into the water and vanished under the waves. Julian called loudly into the night for his companion, but it was no use. Rodrigo was with the sea.

ILLUMINADO: What happened to Rodrigo?

SIRENA: The sirena brought Rodrigo to the black ship through the water. With the aid of her magic he could breathe in the water as easily as he could on land. Once on the ship, the sirena’s fish tail became legs and they danced with each other the whole night. The sirena then brought Rodrigo to her kingdom under the sea, changing form once again to become half-fish. She introduced him to the king and queen of the kingdom, her parents. They were seated on an oyster throne and before them was a beautiful pearl larger than any Rodrigo had ever laid eyes on. For nine days the sirena gave to Rodrigo all the beautiful things in her kingdom, to make him forget of his village by the sea.

ILLUMINADO: Why only nine days?

SIRENA: On the ninth day Rodrigo began to miss his mother and begged the sirena to return him to his village. She did so, for she knew that they were in love and told him that if he ever wanted to return to her kingdom all he had to do was call her by the seashore.

ILLUMINADO: And did Rodrigo do that?

SIRENA: For the nine days that Rodrigo was missing his mother feared the worst. She said prayers for her lost son, convinced that he had died out at sea. When he returned she was so afraid of losing him again that he forbade him to ever go near the ocean.

ILLUMINADO: He didn’t listen to his mother, did he?

SIRENA: No, he loved the sirena too much. One night once everyone in the village was asleep he went to the shore and called out for his love. The sirena appeared and took him back to his kingdom where he spent the rest of his days.

ILLUMINADO: What happened to Rodrigo afterwards?

SIRENA: Humans do not live as long as the people of the sea. There were many good years that the sirena and Rodrigo spent with each other, years where love shined true. But afterwards there came the pain of knowing that things couldn’t last between a child of earth and a woman of the water.
ILLUMINADO: What happened to the sirena?

SIRENA: She traveled far from her kingdom, eventually going to the village where Rodrigo came from. She swam by the seashore in remembrance of her lost love, never forgetting the joy that she had when they were together but tempered by the pain of loss.

ILLUMINADO: Were you—- I mean—–

SIRENA: Was Rodrigo my lover?

ILLUMINADO: Yes, was the sirena you?

SIRENA: That is up to you to decide. You know you remind me of him.

ILLUMINADO: Of Rodrigo?

SIRENA: No, you would never travel under the sea. I mean Julian, Rodrigo’s friend.

ILLUMINADO: Because I’m wise?

SIRENA: Because you know that enchanted people aren’t like humans.

We ended the interview there and the sirena swam towards the ocean. I never saw her again and I keep the recordings with me until such time that I can find someone I trust enough to tell the story to.

There were tales of sightings of a half-fish woman with golden hair near San Roque, the witnesses only catching a glimpse of her before she vanished into the sea.

But I know that her heart is filled with longing for her lost love, forever lost beneath the waves.

Written by Karl Gaverza
Copyright © Karl Gaverza

Adapted from The Sea Nymph. Tiston in Philippine Folk Literature: The Legends. Eugenio. 2002.

Sirena Illustration by Abe Joncel Guevarra
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You must trust and believe in people, or life becomes impossible. I think someone named Anton said that. Whoever he was, his words ring true. Especially after what happened.

It started last week with Steffi Talavera. She was never the most well liked person in town. She had the attitude where gossip came first above everything, including the truth. She was found by the beach. Everyone else assumed she had drowned, but lolo Angelo knew.

No one would listen to him until it was too late. Kevin Encina was the next one found, he was a college student studying to be a lawyer. His lifeless body was set on the street of his house. His mother still hasn’t spoken to anyone.

Portia Infante is still missing. She went out two nights ago to buy something from the sari-sari store. She never returned home.

At that point people started to listen.

Lolo Angelo gathered the rest of the elders and set a meeting. It lasted two days and at that point three more people were either missing or dead.

When the elders were finished they gathered the barangay and gave us a simple warning.

“Beware the whistle, and trust no one.”

The younger generation, myself included, laughed at the suggestion. In times like these we needed to band together and stay united. We thought we knew everything.

If only she listened. Aliah was stubborn, she wouldn’t let anyone tell her how to live her life. We were texting the night she disappeared. She told me that her mother was whistling to her from outside the house. That was the last thing she ever sent.

It only got worse once Marcelo and Darwin, the Alvarez twins, went missing. Their lola begged them to stay home, but they were getting too bored at home. They were only gone for five minutes when their lola heard a whistle. She didn’t even run outside, she knew they were already gone.

I’m even scared when I do my laundry. In these parts it’s common to whistle to summon a breeze to dry clothes. I always thought it was a peaceful way to tell nature what to do. Now I’m not so sure.

This afternoon I walked by manang Cecilia’s house and she was drying her clothes. I almost had a heart attack the moment I heard her soft whistle.

It’s getting to the point where I don’t even trust my own family. The elders talked to my mother and told her that this won’t end soon. She told me not to respond to her, no matter what happens, even if I knew she was in the next room.

It’s just trust right?

I look at my friends and don’t even listen to their voices. When they call to me I make sure I see them with my own two eyes before I go to them.

Every new day I ask myself if I’m next. If my mother will ever forgive herself for letting me out of her sight, it’s almost too much to bear.

I ask the one person who I know will tell me what’s going on.
Lolo Angelo was old, older than anyone in Dulag. No one really knows how old he is, but they talk about him in words of respect.

His house is near mine, along the same street. I go at noon, my mother wouldn’t let me go out at night and I don’t think I’d even consider it, not after everything that’s happened.

I walk inside and take his hand to my forehead. I didn’t bother to hide the fear on my face. He would find out one way or another.

He looks at me and answers my unasked question. “It won’t stop until it is finished.” I ask him what ‘it’ is and he shakes his head.

He doesn’t know, no one does. No one even knows what it looks like. It just takes you in the night with only a whistle as warning.

I start to cry. It’s not fair. I just want this to stop. I just want my friends back.

Lolo Angelo tries to comfort me with an embrace. He tells me this has all happened before and it will probably happen again.
Fifty years ago he lost his sister to ‘it’. She was just seven years old. She had just gone outside to answer the door. They both heard their mother’s whistle and she went out to let her in. That was when it started.

The disappearances and the dead lasted for months. People were too scared to go out at night.

Lolo Angelo said maybe that’s what ‘it’ wanted, to see the fear and mistrust it could create among the village.

Whatever it wants I won’t wait to see what it does.
The elders and my mother won’t leave the life they know behind, even if it’s tainted by death.

I pack my bags and say my goodbyes. I refuse to be another victim to an unknown killer.

As I take the bus to the city I breathe a sigh of relief. It’s finally over.

I look out to my new life and fell safe for the first time in a long time.

Until I hear it.

My heart nearly stops and I beg my body to stay where it is. Lolo Angelo told me that there might be a shadow before I hear the whistle and I pray to God he’s wrong.

I look at the moonless sky and hear my mother’s sweet voice.

I should have listened.

Written by Karl Gaverza
Copyright © Karl Gaverza

Aghoy description given by Oreon Peregrino

Aghoy Illustration and Watercolor by Marc Magpantay