“Hunger can make one do terrible things.” The fire was getting stronger as Lolo started to prepare our meal.
I never liked the outdoors, but Lolo was adamant that he teach his grandchildren the survival skills he knew. Today was my turn and hunting for food was on the agenda.
Lolo always made it a point that he would treat our food with respect. He had caught a deer and showed me how to slit its throat in a way that would minimize the animal’s suffering.
“We must never take too much.” Lolo said as he cooked the deer on the fire. “This deer is one of the older ones, and the young can breed for the next season.”
“Do you see that?” Lolo pointed towards the sky. “The stars know the terrible burdens of hunger.”
“Do the stars get hungry lolo?”
“No, but there more things in the sky than just the stars. Have I ever told you about the hungry scorpion?”
“When the moon is full and the stars are out, that is when it hunts. No one knows where it came from or why it stalks the night sky, but it doesn’t matter. Its legs crush the stars beneath it to get to its prey.”
“What does it hunt, Lolo?”
“The moonlight always leads it to its victim. Some nights it can catch the moon, slowly engulfing it in its massive jaws, but even then there are those that remain vigilant.
Humans know that you should never take too much or there won’t be any left for the future, but beasts like the hungry scorpion only know their hunger. If it ever fills its belly with the moon, then the world will be plunged into darkness, and the scorpion, after realizing it had eaten its only meal, will hunger again.”
“And then what will it eat Lolo?”
Lolo took the cooked pieces of deer and set them in front of me.
“Whatever’s left.” Lolo answered.
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Written by Karl Gaverza
Copyright © Karl Gaverza
Story inspired by Tambanakaua (Manobo) myth in Philippine Folk Literature: The Myths. Eugenio. 2001.
Tambanakaua (Manobo) Illustration by Leandro Geniston from Aklat ng mga Anito
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Watercolor by Catherine Chiu
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