A short story for my child

"Agi inside the Galang"
-Anan Capal Ampaso

In the small village of Barimbingan, a boy named Agi lived. The boy is notorious for being selfish and only caring about having fun. Instead of helping his grandmother garden their small lawn, Agi would rather play and meddle with the plants.

          One afternoon, Agi’s grandfather decided to confront his grandson for his naughtiness. Surprisingly, Instead of scolding the boy, his grandfather challenged him to his favourite game, katatapokai.

           “But there’s hardly any place to hide here, Ama” He said, looking around the dusty storage room.

          “You’ll find one soon”

          As he started counting from one, Agi hurriedly finds a place to hide among the old boxes.

“…t’lo…pat…”

Later, a galang caught Agi’s attention.  It was big enough for him, so Agi climbed inside, confident he won’t be found.

All of a sudden, the cover of the galang was removed, but the one who discovered his hiding place was a stranger.

As the stranger lifted Agi out of the galang, the boy was expecting to see their old storage room. However, a strange place greeted him instead.

Golden wares were displayed everywhere like treasures, his galang included. Various delicacies filled several silver trays and formed small food mountains.

“I’m exhausted! Why don’t you look for Sari and play with him instead?”

 “Aren’t you going to scold me?” Agi asked.

“Oh, I will! If you don’t perform your Kubing tomorrow, I will!” The man said and walked away, leaving Agi alone.

Later on, Agi caught a glimpse of a handsome fowl gazing at the faraway sky near the seashore. Its feathers a combination of majestic colors of red, orange, yellow and some green. He approached it.

Noticing Agi’s presence, the fowl spoke, “You are not Agi, aren’t you?”

“Of course I am Agi!”

“Of course you are not! I know you well, the naughty one.”

“Should I bring you home? Ama will be happy.”

“Poor boy, clueless of where your naughtiness has carried you? Until you perform Kubing tomorrow, you are going nowhere near home”

“Kubing? I don’t even know how to use it! I can just stay here and play forever. At least nobody scolds me here.” Agi answered.

“Tomorrow morning you will accept a marriage in your grandfather’s position. She is Princess Durado of barangay west, your grandmother. If she finds your Kubing performance unlikely, then she will not agree to marry you and your father will not exist, so will you? How can you play any longer if you are not born just yet?!” The fowl explained.

Agi may be naughty, but he is a smart child. He understood the situation he was in, and so he asked for the fowl to help him, “Can you teach me?”

“Very well.” The fowl began, “I am Sarimanok, the legendary bird of the Ranao, and only I can help you in this timeline. I give you a challenge, little one. It has been my wish to offer my 'salaam' to the moon, but my wings cannot reach such height. If you fulfill my wish, I shall teach you the ways of Kubing.”

 “Are you afraid of water, Sari?”

Sari looked at the boy very curiously, “I am the Sarimanok of the Ranao. How can I be afraid of water?”

Agi was silent for a while, but he later told Sari to follow him, and together they walked towards the body of the lake. “You can offer your 'Salaam' from here. Like this” Agi said, touching the moon’s reflection on the water, making ripples.

          Sari was impressed.

Like Sari promised, he taught Agi how to play Kubing.

In the morning, Agi fluently performed in front of Princess Durado and her family, while Princess Durado also performed Kulintang in front of his family. The small gathering was successful.

Agi went back to the Ranao to thank Sari, but the fowl was nowhere to be found anymore.

He asked the stranger who lifted him out of the galang.

“Bapa, have you seen Sari?”

“You mean Sari? From the folklore?”

“Folklore? But did you not say I am to look for him?” Agi looked at the stranger very curiously.

He chuckled. “Oh, my dear son! Looking for Sari was the fun you’ve always known”

“But we talked yesterday…” Agi replied confusedly.

“The same day we played katatapokai?”

Upon the realization, Agi went to where the golden galangs where displayed. Hoping Sari would be inside, he opened the galang, but saw nothing.

Mysteriously, he heard somebody counting, “…pito…walo…”, and as if on instinct, he climbed back inside the galang to hide.

          All of a sudden, a loud noise surprised Agi, and the smiling face of his grandfather welcomed him.

“Ama!” He exclaimed, hugging his grandfather. “Have you seen a handsome fowl, bigger than me, red and orange like a fire?” The boy asked randomly.

“You mean Sari?” His grandfather replied with a smile.

“Yes! You know him? Is he real?”

“Of course, he is real” His grandfather answered, helping the boy stand on his feet while wiping off the dusts on Agi’s clothes.

“Well, Ama? Aren’t you called Agi as well?” He asked once again.

“That's right. I am also Agi” He replied very amused.

         

     In the middle of the night, Agi woke up and went outside their torogan. Her grandmother woke up as well, hurrying to the lawn where Agi scurried off to. She was worried her grandson would root out her newly planted Dama De Noche again.

However, Durado was surprised upon seeing that his grandson was not playing nor messing with her lawn anymore. Instead, he was sitting near the beach and flicking an instrument she recognized.

With the waves of the Ranao in chorus with his grandson’s Kubing as the only sound of the night, the Ranao was once again as beautiful and as calm as she remember it when she was young, and it was the same beautiful night she met Sari, her old friend who taught her how to play Kulintang.