The Pinya

            There once lived a young, sweet girl named Pina who was pampered by her mother.  She never worked and would always get whatever she wanted.  The village despised her, but the mother was happy with her little child.  The mother knew that Pina was very dependent on her and that made her happy.  One day, Pina’s mother got really ill that she could not even work.  For her child’s sake, she knew she would have to get well, but she would need her daughter’s help.

            Calling Pina to the bed, she asked her to do her a favor.  Never being asked to do anything before, Pina was hesitant but finally accepted.  The mother finally asked her to cook lugaw, or porridge because she could not eat anything solid.  Pina, who never touched a cooking utensil in her life refused to cook.  The mother begged Pina and even gave her the instructions on how to cook lugaw.  She still did not move until the mother had to yell at her.

            With an angry face, Pina went to the kitchen to make her mother some porridge.  She was about to mix in the ingredients but could not find the ladle.  She asked her mother angrily where the ladle was, but her only response was to look at the kitchen table where the other utensils were.  Still Pina could not find it and again asked angrily where the ladle was.  The mother got so frustrated that she cursed Pina and hoped that her child grew a thousand eyes so she could find it.  With that comment, everything became quiet and the mother assumed that Pina found the ladle.

            After a while, the mother could not smell anything cooking so she called for Pina.  Nobody answered, but luckily her neighbors heard her and they nursed her back.  They told her not to worry and that Pina was probably at her friend’s house.  Days passed, but Pina never came back.  The mother was frantic looking for Pina everywhere.  Pina was gone and the mother was very sad.

            One day, the mother was cleaning her backyard when she saw a grass-like plant sprouting out of the ground.  She dug it out and was surprised to see that it had a nice big fruit.  It had a thousand eyes and she quickly remembered the curse she gave to her daughter.  Distraught by the curse she gave, the mother decided to name the fruit after her sweet child Pina.  She passed more of the fruits that grew in her backyard around to her neighbors and called it Pinya, or what we call Pineapple.

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