{"id":10233,"date":"2024-08-29T12:00:18","date_gmt":"2024-08-29T11:00:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/combonimissionaries.co.uk\/?p=10233"},"modified":"2024-08-29T08:17:25","modified_gmt":"2024-08-29T07:17:25","slug":"oral-literature-why-the-sea-is-salty-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/combonimissionaries.co.uk\/index.php\/2024\/08\/29\/oral-literature-why-the-sea-is-salty-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Oral Literature. Why the sea is salty"},"content":{"rendered":"

Long ago, the sea was not salty. People got their salt from the mountain of salt across the sea. One day, the people in the village ran out of salt. But they could not set out to sea because the waves were high, and the wind was strong. Their small boats would not withstand the strong wind. Needing salt very badly, the villagers remembered Ang-ngalo.<\/em><\/p>\n

Ang-ngalo was a huge giant who lived in a mountain close to the village. When Ang-ngalo<\/em> went fishing, the water was only up to his knees. When he walked around the mountains, the highest mountain stood no higher than his ankles.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhy don\u2019t we ask the giant Ang-ngalo<\/em> to stretch his legs across the sea? Then we don\u2019t have to ride our small boats!\u201d exclaimed an old man. \u201cYes, indeed,\u201d agreed the others. \u201cLet\u2019s go and ask Ang-ngalo<\/em> to help us.\u201d<\/p>\n

So, the people went to see the giant. They begged him, \u201cAng-ngalo<\/em>, we are running out of salt. The mountain of salt is across the sea, but we could not use our small boats because of the strong winds. Please allow us to use your legs as bridge to cross the sea.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ang-ngalo<\/em> was a kind giant. He was willing to help the people. So, he went to the other side of the sea and sat by its shore. He extended his legs which reached the island where the people waited. The men and women with their empty sacks and pails climbed on his legs and walked toward the mountain of salt. \u201cPlease be careful not to move your leg while we are crossing,\u201d they reminded Ang-ngalo<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Unknown to Ang-ngalo<\/em>, his heel landed on a hill of red ants. Before long, the ants were crawling all over his legs. Ang-ngalo<\/em> was afraid of ants. He trembled with fear at the sight of the ants. He closed his eyes and waited until the last villager reached the other side of the shore. Then he quickly bent his knee and washed the red ants with seawater. Ang-ngalo<\/em> was relieved.<\/p>\n

Soon the villagers came back with their sacks and pails full of salt. \u201cPut back your leg now, Ang-ngalo<\/em>. We are ready to go home,\u201d the men shouted.<\/p>\n

But Ang-ngalo<\/em> was overcome with his fear of the bites of red ants, so, he refused to stretch his leg. \u201cPlease, Ang-ngalo<\/em>,\u201d pleaded the women. \u201cWe need salt to dry fish and meat. Without salt all our food will get spoiled.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ang-ngalo<\/em> pitied the men and women. Because of his kindness, he stretched again his leg across the sea. \u201cHurry!\u201d he told the men. \u201cThe red ants might crawl on my leg again.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYes,\u201d answered the villagers. But they laughed and talked as they walked slowly on the giant\u2019s leg. \u201cHurry! Hurry! The ants are crawling on my leg now,\u201d he trembled with fear. \u201cSuch a big man who\u2019s afraid of ants,\u201d laughed the men. They walked slowly as before.<\/p>\n

\u201cHurry! Hurry!\u201d shouted Ang-ngalo<\/em> again. \u201cThe ants are biting me now!\u201d But the villagers did not listen to him. They walked slowly and told Ang-ngalo<\/em> not to mind the ants.<\/p>\n

Ang-ngalo\u2019s leg was full of ants now. They started biting him and his leg was burning with itchiness. At last, the giant could not help lifting his leg. He dipped his itchy leg in the water to get rid of the biting ants.<\/p>\n

The men were caught off guard. They fell into the sea with their bags and pails of salt. Ang-ngalo<\/em> saved the life of each villager. But the salt the villagers dropped all dissolved in the water, which is why, to this day, the sea is salty. (Folktales from the Philippines) \u2013 (Pixabay)<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Long ago, the sea was not salty. People got their salt from the mountain of salt across the sea. One day, the people in the village ran out of salt. But they could not set out to sea because the waves were high, and the wind was strong. Their small boats would not withstand the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":10234,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"default","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"set","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10233","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/combonimissionaries.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10233","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/combonimissionaries.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/combonimissionaries.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/combonimissionaries.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/combonimissionaries.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10233"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/combonimissionaries.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10233\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/combonimissionaries.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10234"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/combonimissionaries.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10233"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/combonimissionaries.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10233"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/combonimissionaries.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10233"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}