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There lived a happy fisherman in a little town of Shilankko. His name is Kolme. He's a very generous person too, everybody living in the land of Shilankko loves him around. He's got a good body built and his tanned skin and curly hair uncut up to his shoulders add more appeal to his rugged personality. His parents died when he was just a little boy. He's living alone in a little nipa hut he built for himself. Typhoon always comes to visit the island they used to live, and everytime it rain he always prayed that it won't resolve to be another disaster. Of all strong typhoons that came in the past, he could also count on his fingers the times he had made shelter for himself again and again.
He has grown some root crops and during his time of harvest, he like to invite people to his small hut to dine with him. He is loved by everybody living in the island thus making him very lucky and glad even of his lowly life.
His livelihood comes from farming, fishing and diving for some treasures called pearls. But there's only one kind of pearl that he was dying to have, the Shilankko pearl. Shilankko pearls are precious and priceless-folks said, and a very hard find. Since boyhood, he has gone to the deepest part of the island reefs but he has never seen any shilankko pearl, and that makes him so curious whether shilankko pearl really do exist. It was rumored that a man who also used to live in that island before, dived and found shilankko pearl and made wealth out of it. It made the man rich-the reason why that man moved to a different place.
His daily catch goes straight to the market place, and just leaving some for his dinner. He also needs money for his bare necessities. The sight of women carrying children on their back while working is just an ordinary market scene but he felt so much pity for these women thus sometimes he'll just offer some of his catch for free, one smile is enough for him as in return for his kindness. He promised himself not to settle down unless he'll have some savings and real big money in his pocket, and a nice comfy house to live. He has a secret admiration for that pretty girl living up the hillside, but he knows it's so imposible to win her hand in his kind of situation. Everybody knows everybody living in the island, and Kolme is just the kind of person where everybody really likes to hang around when he's not out to sea or tending at the little farm he's toiling.
In a nearby island of shilankko, there's also an island not far away where an old woman is living alone in a little thached house made of wood and grass near the coast by the creek. Rumors had been spread that this woman is practicing witchcraft and children of shilankko were so afraid even just to hear her name when people talked about her.
It's been also said that this old woman can make people sick or even cause death without any reason or sickness. Shilankko's old folks also said that this woman is very old... maybe she's as old as the island she's been living. Some people also talked about the man who has found one shilankko pearl who went to the island to see her to ask for her help, and after the day when he found the pearl, he just dis-appeared.
Others also said, that this woman is kind and friendly, but nobody doesn't really want to bet their lives going out into that other island risking their lives just to see the witch they believed she is, their everyday duties are more important to attend to rather than looking at this ugly old witch and they don't want to get sick too by being so nosey.
One bright moonlight night, while Kolme was heading back home from shore after his fishing hours from the sea, she saw an old woman dressed in black walking at the beach and she looks sick and tired. Through the bright moonlight Kolme could tell that she needed a hand to walk.
"Good evening granny, can I be of help?" kolme asked.
"Yes, son can you help me walk, I need to be home before dawn to the other island." she said.
"I almost knew everybody living in this island, but I think this is the first time I've seen you here." said kolme to the old woman.
"I'm not from shilankko, as I've said earlier I came from that island out there." the old woman said haughtily.
"Then how did you get in here?" kolme asked with wonder
The old woman did not seem to listen, as she continued speaking.
"Just tell me if you could be of help, I felt very tired and sick." the woman sounds ill with her husky old voice.
"Okay, I'll carry you on my back then." kolme answered.
"No, you need to take me into that little boat of yours and take me back home to my island." the old woman said.
"Well, you're very lucky to find me here, other fisherman can also be of help but nobody would dare take you to that island out there, you know?" kolme spoke while oaring his fishing boat out to sea.
"Why did you say so." the old woman asked.
"There's been a rumor that there's a witch in that island and she can make people sick." kolme answered.
"And do you believe about what you heard?" she asked.
"Well, to see is to believe though...But I don't take the risk, I'm just human and an ordinary fisherman capable of being hurt beyond my power." kolme answered while oaring hardly.
It's been almost dawn when they reach the island. The woman said her thanks to the kind fisherman for taking her back to her island safely.
"I want to invite you to come to my little hut." the old woman said as she points to the little hut by the creek near a shady tree.
"Next time granny, I need to go back to my island right now, tonight is not good for fishing, you know when the moon is up.....and tomorrow I'm doing farming and sewing the holes of my fishing net too." Kolme said as he said and waved goodbye to the old woman and oared back to sea.
He woke up late that morning then he remembered he needs to sew his fish nets so he could use it again few days later. he paced slowly straight to the kitchen to fill his empty stomach before starting the day. His small hut stands behind a big rock near a well he dug for himself, people shared his well as their source of water supply and everyone is always welcome to go and bathe and do their laundry.
After sewing the fishnets he hurried to the nearby farm he's toiling planting yams, cassava and corn. It was almost late in the afternoon when he finished at the farm. He planned to just hang out at the neighborhood's small patios to get a drink or two with some fishermen in the village. For the village folks, full moon is not a good time to go out fishing, they used to wait till the third quarter moon and everyone were very superstitious.
That night Kolme went home after a few rounds with some friends and other fishermen, he took out his bolo-big dagger which he wrapped 'round his waist and put it on the small stool near his bed.
Few days has passed, and life in the village was just as usual. That night even though dark clouds hid the quarter moon in it's wings, the soft breeze that sways the coconut vines showed that the sea was very calm and very still, Kolme thought that he'll have the best catch that night and the next day will also be the best day for diving pearls. He was checking his boat's head and tail lights made of a round flourescent bulb which was hanged out on a bamboo pole and started out his gears and headed to the sea.
And that night he has the best catch he's ever had.
Full moon was again hanging up in the sky and as usual, Kolme readied himself to go for a quick rounds with some friends. He prepared himself to go out that night. As he was walking down the narrow corner to the highway lane....an old woman caught his sight, walking towards him and the looks of her is a bit familiar to him like before.
"Hello! good evening.." Kolme called out.
"Hi! there, oh, my aching legs.." She sigh.. "Can you carry me on your back this time?." the woman said.
"What happen? granny, did you move to shilankko?" Kolme asked.
"Com'on young fella, carry me on your back and take me to your hut, I need to straighten up this tired limbs of mine." the old woman beg.
"Granny, I'm going out tonight for a drink....but well, you can stay in my hut if you want while I'm out." Kolme answered shyly.
He carried the old woman back to his little nipa hut.
"Granny, I have some eucalyptus and peppermint oil maybe this will ease your tired cracking limbs." Kolme chuckled.
"I also have some ginger powder here if you want, just feel at home here in my humble shack." Kolme said as he was facing out to leave.
"You can also sleep here if you want to, I can settle down outside on that bamboo bed I made when it becomes very hot in here." Kolme ended pacing out.
Kolme came home past midnight, he arrived very silently and never made any noise, he doesn't want to wake the old woman retiring inside his hut.
The weather is warm and windy outside while settling down to sleep on his bamboo bed. Kolme never said anything to his friends about the old woman sleeping in his shack that night or else they're going to make fun about it.
The following day, he woke up earlier just like all ordinary days that passed, he went up to peep inside just to see that the old woman was not there, she's gone without even saying goodbye or a simple thanks of all his kindness, she's gone but the apron she's wearing was still on the bed where she slept.
That day, the fisherman waited for the old woman to come back to his little hut but she never appeared.
Many days had passed but the old woman did not come back to his little hut, so he decided to go to the other island where she dropped him the last time.
There he saw her sitting on an old cracky bench outside her old hut made of sticks and wood, under the shade of an old flowering kapok tree. When she saw him, a wide smile from her face greeted him with a warm welcome was all she did offer and leading him to sit and wait while she make a potion of drinks for both of them. The old woman said,
"I knew you're going to find me one day, and I knew that you heard a lot of rumors about that old witch." she spoke.
All Kolme could do is just listen.
"I was here in this island for a long long time...and I want you to know that I'm not a witch, but an old woman who knows the boundary of the land and sea."
"My folks left me this portion of land where all my olds did lie now, and will be my lying bed too...I knew things that young people hesitate to learn the old ways, from the bark of that tree to the cliffs of those rugged terrains down way and up way to hills and that murmuring ocean is my own true world, and I love living here alone away from the flickering and blinding neon lights of the city, that's how they made a witch out of me."
"People said, witch can make you sick, didn't they." She asked.
"Well, I've heard about that, but I didn't know what they meant about it, I was too busy with my everyday life than to listen to rumors where I couldn't get a dime out of it, and I don't believe in witches"...He paused. "The reason why I come here today is just to give you back the apron you left at the hut and also I want to know how you're doing." He said shyly.
"That apron belongs to you now, it will help you do things the easy way." she said smiling.
While they were sipping their cup of tea made from her own potion from barks and leaves and fruits of trees, all Kolme could hear are the sound of frogs croaking and some bush birds singing, while the warm breeze swayed the palm trees and kapok trees nearby, it was really so silent in there, the world they're standing is so far away from the hustle and bustle way of life in the city.
All his townfolks feared of seing- this old woman they called witch, is now a friend of his.
The old woman broke the silence.
"Are you not wondering how I got to your island when the moon is full?" She asked.
"Yes, I did wonder sometimes." He answered.
"Every full moon is my best time to look for herbs and plants to gather and make potions out of it." She said as she paced slowly to her dirty kitchen and took something out from the wooden mortar under the large kettles near a mumbo-jumbo looking thing, it's an old tiny book.
"And.. every midnight falls, I lost my strenght, when full moon is not very bright." she said after a short silence.
"I want you to know- only you, that I'm giving you my secret." she mumbles softly.
"I can stay young if I want to, but I'm tired of being alone all my life and I want to die a natural death, that is by getting old...ask me then why I choose you to be the person I want to leave my secret when I passed away." She asked with a loving tone in her voice.
"well, will you tell me why?" Kolme uttered softly.
"You're a very good, fine man, honest and helpful and I want to help you lead a good life too, first that apron I'm giving you will help you have a good catch, all you do is wrapped it around you waist when you're down there diving for shilankko pearls, but use it only every full moon, remember,"ONLY FULL MOONS." She said while drawing a round circle in the air.
"Secondly, I want to leave you this tiny book, handed down from generations lastly to you, everything you want to know is written in there, but you can only use and read it during full moons."
"I'm leaving soon and I want you to listen to me carefully, never ever tell anyone that you've been here,." she said as she handed him the little book like a mother to a small child.
Kolme didn't know whether he's doing the right thing. As he walked down to the shore to head back home, all he felt was, there was something in him that made him so glad and why he accepted and believed the old womans words, anyway, he'll lost nothing by just believing. And now all he was thinking about, is the woman he's been dying to marry.
Some days passed. He rose up one fine morning, and took a quick look at the sun. It was still so early he could tell. The sun is his clock. He sat on a stool to make his tea, made of medium-burned rice and dried-fruity-jujubes and ginger- his favorite morning drink, he put the olden teapot up the fire and boil his favorite tea.
Kettles were still unwashed, and the bamboo water poles are still to be filled up, his clothes also need washing, but he just sat there pondering what to do next.. sipping and sipping slowly the warm tea, savoring it's aroma which soothes his humble soul feeling the moment as it slips away.
Trudging slowly down to the shore by the sea... the tide is low, women and children are enjoying an early swim while fishermen are already out to sea. He was thinking about diving for pearls that day, but he just sat down at the ivory colored beach sand looking far away; out where the clouds meet the earth, the sea is calm and the waves are so tame. Seagulls diving their morning hunt are just routine sight that's very familiar to him all his life.
He wrapped around him the apron, the old woman gave him and tied it carefully and tightly onto his waist, the tiny book was also in his pocket which he wrapped tightly with a waterproof film so he could carry it during his dive.
Kolme readied down for a dive, like the seagulls in the air..
kolme felt, he's going down and down to the heart of the blue ocean, small fish, big fish, and all oceanic creatures and mammals gave their way just like the king's been passing for morning rounds...there he felt so free, his spirit soaring so camly...then, like a blinding light from heaven, there he saw the biggest of all clams open up its vasty oystered mouth widely for him, and the precious pearl- first time in his life he'd ever seen, makes his eyes glitter, just like it's being offered on his knees from the gods.
All folks living in the island were wondering where Kolme was. He was gone. The last time they did see him was when he went one early morning for a swim.
When the tide was low and the moon was full.
