Mariang Kalabasa
(An Excerpt)
One day, King Pilipo was hunting in the forest. While hunting a deer, he was separated from his guards. It was high noon already
so the king felt very thirsty. He looked for a place where he could get some water until he found the nipa hut of a maiden named
Maria. Maria easily identified her visitor as the king himself and promptly served him with a glass of water.
After the king drank the water, Maria threw the glass away. The king, who got upset by Maria's behavior, asked her why. "For you
are the king and no one else deserves to drink from the glass that was touched by your lips...", Maria politely replied. After hearing
Maria's explanation in a sweet and courteous voice, the king was pleased and thought of Maria as an intelligent woman. When the
king's guards found the king in the hut, they all went back to the castle but the memory of Maria never left the mind of King Pilipo.
The king commanded his soldiers to bring Maria to the castle.
While Maria was in the castle, the king got even more impressed by her intelligence especially on the matter of growing a fruit of
squash inside an earthen pot. Until one day, King Pilipo announced to the entire kingdom that he would marry Maria. However, all
the people in the kingdom were not happy with the news because Maria was not from nobility. Maria was just an unknown, ordinary
woman from the forest. They gossiped and secretly laughed about the marriage and particularly about Maria's poor standing. Maria
felt ashamed and rejected by the society. She attempted to run away and just forget King Pilipo.
Title of the literary selection
"Mariang Kalabasa"
Conflict #1
Type of conflict
Non-violent resolution​