The Legend of Las Pinas City

General Information about Item:

  • Myth, Childhood story
  • Language: Filipino, translated into English 
  • Country of Origin: Philippines
  • Informant: Svetlana (Aika) Riguera
  • Date Collected: 11-04-19

Informant Data:

  • Svetlana Riguera (known as Aika) is a 19 year old at Dartmouth College. She is currently a junior studying Geography and Public Policy. Aika was born and raised in Manila, Philippines and she speaks English, Filipino, and Waray (a regional language). She is an avid dancer and is director of the student dance group, Street Soul as well as a member of Kappa Delta sorority.

Contextual Data: 

  • This is a story told by parents to children. Typically it is used as a bedtime story in the Philippines. It is told in many regions, not specifically Las Pinas City. 

“The name of the story is The Legend of Las Pinas City (…) Once upon a time, there lived a very poor woman and her daughter Maria. They lived together in a hut in a small town. (Informant realizes the name of the daughter is actually Pina) So while the old woman was very poor she worked very hard so that her and her daughter Pina could have something to eat. However, Pina was very lazy. She never listened to her mom when her mom asked her to do something. One day her mom asked Pina “Pina can you please water the plants.” Pina said “No, I’m lazy.” (…) The next day, two days after that Pina still refused to water the plants. On another day, the woman felt very sick. She couldn’t get up and do any work, so she asked Pina: “Pina can you please make me some rice porridge.” Pina said “Yes mom.” However, a few hours later the woman asked again “Pina have you made me porridge?” and Pina was like “No not yet.” So finally the woman got very frustrated and said in a fit of anger: “I hope you grow a thousand eyes.” The next morning the woman woke up and Pina was nowhere to be found. She looked and looked for days until finally she saw in their backyard a fruit like a pineapple. And when she looked at the pineapple she realized it was a fruit with a thousand eyes and she remembered the words she had told her daughter in anger and she realized she had cursed her daughter to turn into a pineapple (a fruit with a thousand eyes). Overcome with grief, she resolved to take care of that pineapple and she took care of it so well that the fruit continued to reproduce itself and so they had a bunch of pineapples and that’s essentially how Las Pinas city came to be – a town with a ton of pineapples.”

Associated file (a video, audio, or image file):

Aika Riguera Interview

Informant’s Comments:

  • Aika first heard the myth when she was about six or seven years old. She remembers it because her father would tell her the story. It was told as a lesson to her to not be lazy and unhelpful or else she would turn into a pineapple. The tale served as a warning to Aika. 

Collector’s Comments:

  • I found it interesting that the informant originally thought the main character’s name was Maria instead of Pina. She still remembers the bulk of the story but the details like names were interchangeable in her mind. I also think it’s interesting that this story was told to her by her father who I have not heard of much but this is the memory that surfaces. The myth also highlights a city that Aika is not from but which she remembers the lore of. 

Collector’s Name: Morgan Gelber

Tags/Keywords: pineapple, folklore, myth, legend, Philippines