The Magical Tulolong by Tq Antiqueno

Story and Illustrations by Mark Antiqueno

he story is an adaptation of the Cuyno and Lumanta’s analogy of development to a hatching egg. The is egg not just the people who need to “hatch out of their shell” but may also be the idea of hope for the community. The Tulolong symbolizes the community’s development spirit or desire to work together for a common good. Tulolongs give birth to shiny, mirror-like eggs, which symbolize hope. Just like mirrors, hope can reflect the face of a community and its people. People can see themselves when they have hope. But when private sectors or businesses use hope for purely capitalistic purposes without understanding it fully, hope can be destroyed, thus not be able to give birth to a community spirit. When we stop having a sense of community, society falls. Leaders must be brave and imaginative enough to send people to explore uncharted territory in search of new land or new sources of hope. In the story, the King sent out soliders who were able to discover a shiny egg - a new hope. But nobody in the village knew what it was because they have been living in a hopeless generation. In a generation where hope is hard to find, we may seek counsel from religion or answers from science; but some of us continue to be unsatisfied so we go to philosophy, which always leads us to ask others, and build connections with what others know. Just like in Development Communication, the answers might be in the community all along. When hope is presented to the public, it may elicit different interpretations. Some will even try to buy hope. And when this happens, misunderstanding, confusion and even violence may happen. Hope needs to be guarded and cared for. Just like the egg, hope is costly to care for. It takes a lot of time and effort. The results of nurturing hope may not even be seen in a lifetime, which may cause people to be angry. The long time it takes to take care of a community and their hope may be misunderstood as laziness, misappropriation of public funds or even corruption. People will revolt and fight until they see how much has been done because of this hope; and how much will be lost if it dies. In the story, the villagers see the gigantic egg slowly dying before realizing that this may be their last and only hope. Reviving it entails everyone embracing it, sacrificing their selves for it, and their cooperation. To nurture the egg hope, the community decides to work together and appreciate their own roles in the community. When the time has arrived for the egg to hatch, as in the analogy of development, we must not force it open. Just like hope, forcing it on people will only kill it. And just like the gigantic cracking egg in the story, hope can make noise or cause windstorms in people’s minds. Hope can even scare people. But only until the windstorm dies down. When all is clear, when everyone is calm, hope gives birth to community spirit - the Tulolong. And this spirit will continue to breed more hope and an even stronger community.

oolong, was once a very rich village. The people in the village farmed the lands, planted fruits and vegetables to feed their families. They sold their food to other villages through the help of creatures called the Tulolong.

But ever since all the Tulolongs had died, the village didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t have anyone to help them plow their lands and sell their goods. The village eventually fell into poverty. The King asked his finest soliders to explore the world to look for the legendary last Tulolong.

Many years passed since the soldiers went to explore. But one day, during their expedition to the far side of the world, they found a mysterious cave. Outside the cave were pieces of broken mirrors. They went inside the cave to discover a very shiny egg. The egg was so shiny that the soldiers can see themselves on it. “What is this?” asked one of the soliders. “I do not know. But it looks very interesting. It might be something special” said another. So the soldiers, thinking that what they discovered may be important, brought the shiny egg back to the King.

The King looked at the egg and wondered what it was. “I have never seen an egg like this before. I do not recall any no record of any egg that is as shiny as this.” The King did not know what it was so he called the Scientist to look at it. The Scientist looked at the egg but only saw his reflection. He touched it but only felt its smoothness. He smelled it but smelled nothing. “I have examined it well. I looked at it, touched it, smelled it but still I do not understand what this is” said the Scientist. The King then asked for the help of the Priest.

The Priest looked at it and prayed for it. He read all of their village scrolls but just like the King, he saw nothing about the egg. He performed rituals around it but nothing happened. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I have prayed to the spirits for guidance. I have asked for them to grant me clarity and yet I do not know what this egg isâ&#x20AC;? said the Priest. The King, now very curious then asked for the help of the Philosopher.

The Philosopher did not have any information to what it was so he talked to both the Scientist and the Priest. “If the Scientist and the Priest both do not know and cannot understand what the egg is, then maybe somebody in the village can. Anyway we are just four here, but in the village we have hundreds to help us.” So he advised the King to present the egg to the people to see if anyone in the village knew what it was.

So the King asked for a public gathering at the center of the village. He presented the shiny egg to everyone. “Everyone! We have discovered a shiny egg from a far away land! We need your help in finding out what this is so we may use this for our village!” announced the King.

People shouted what they thought it was. “It might be some kind of jewelry!” shouted one. “I think it is made of mirrors!” shouted another. The local Businessman, with all his voice shouted: “I will buy that, whatever that it, dear King!” “No, kind sir” declined the King. “We feel that this egg is special. We must find out what this is first.”

At the back of the crowd was a young man who shouted: “Dear King, I think that is the egg of the Tulolong!” Everyone fell silent. The King asked for the young man, Leon, to come forward to share what he knew.

“My grandfather told me stories, stories of a Tulolong named Mako. Mako was the last of them, he told me. Everybody in the village loved Mako and Mako helped everyone in the village. He said that it plowed the fields with its strong body, and flew to and from the other village to bring food and goods. Nobody in the village saw another Tulolong before Mako. They were said to live hundreds of years, and Mako was the last one.”

“My grandfather also said that Mako always had a shiny ball in its mouth. It protected the ball with its life. My grandfather said that before Mako, there were many other Tulolongs, and that they all had the shiny balls in their mouths. But the villagers stole them from the Tulolongs because of their beauty and made them into jewelry, mirrors and even added them to cement to build their houses.”

“Nobody knew what the shiny balls were. But all they knew was that there were no more Tulolongs that followed after Mako. Mako was the last one.” “What if the shiny balls were the eggs of the Tulolong?” asked Leon.

Suddenly, people from behind started pushing and fighting people. Everyone become angry and started fighting with each other. Leon was pulled into the fight and disappeared in the crowd. Afraid that the egg might get broken or stole, the King and his soliders brought the egg back to the Kingâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s home to keep safe.

The King, Scientist, Priest and Philosopher talked about the egg and what the young man said. “The young man may have something, King. He speaks from his family’s story” said the Priest. “I can perform experiments on the egg, King, to make sure” suggested by the Scientist. “But with each experiment you do, the more damage you might cause it” said the Philosopher. “We can just leave the egg alone and let fate take its course on it” said the Priest. “But leaving it to fate and chance will not help anyone” answered the Philosopher. “We must take care of it, let it be yet keep watch on it” the King suggested.

“Dear King, let us build a house for the egg and let our helpers and other volunteers take care of it. Anyway, it is an egg, no different from a chicken’s; only bigger and shinier. We need to keep it safe and warm and let us see what comes out when it hatches” the Philosopher advised. The King agreed and had a house built just for the egg. The egg was placed in the house and had it guarded by soldiers while helpers cared for the egg. They built a fire near the house to keep the place warm. They buried the egg in hay. Helpers tended the flame continuously, making sure that it didn’t go out while the guards protected the house and the flame to make sure that no one broke in or put out the fire.

Years passed, the King, Philosopher, Priest and Scientist grew older and older, the egg grew bigger and bigger but the village became poorer and poorer. The people became more and more impatient about the egg. The people started thinking that the King might be putting in too much effort and resources on something that may have been a mistake.

“What happened to the egg that you showed us years ago, King?!” shouted a villager outside the King’s house. “We have been putting in a lot of effort into caring for that egg! My daughter has been with you, and caring for the egg for years now. She could have been helping us sell our vegetables!” shouted another. “My husband has been standing guard at the egg’s house when he could have been tending our land and planting crops!” shouted one more. “You are wasting our village’s people for an egg that may not even be special! We need everyone to take care of the village, not care for some egg! How sure are you that it was not a mistake?!” shouted a man.

They wanted the King to stop taking care of the egg and instead take care of the village better. “We need to destroy that egg! Our sons, daughters, mothers and fathers are stuck with that egg! That egg is making our village suffer!” shouted the Businessman. They thought that if they finally destroyed the egg then everyone could take care of the village again. The people, very hungry, poor and angry attacked the house where the egg was. They put poured water at the fire and put it out. They broke into the house but stopped when they saw the egg. “What is that?!” shouted one.

They were surprised. The egg grown gigantic. They walked closer to the egg and saw their reflection on it. And then they heard a loud beating. Leon, all grown-up, shouted: “It is the heartbeat of the Tulolong!” The people stayed quiet and hear the beating slow down. “The egg is dying!” shouted a woman from the crowd. “Everyone! Let us put our arms around the egg! Our bodies will keep it warm!” shouted Leon.

The people, realizing that the egg may be the Tulolong, gathered around the egg, stretched out their arms and put them around the egg. The King arrived at the house and saw the people embracing the egg. He commanded the fire outside to be lit again and for the egg to be surrounded with hay. When the fire was lit and the egg was warmed, the people heard the beating from the egg become faster again.

The King, Philosopher, Scientist and Priest, seeing what happened, called everyone in the village. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Now you know that the egg may be the egg of the Tulolong. Let us work together in taking care of it so that the Tulolongs may live again and help usâ&#x20AC;? asked the King. Everyone knelt down to the King. The King, Philosopher, Scientist and Priest knelt down to the egg.

Years passed and King, Philosopher, Scientist and Priest eventually passed away. Leon took over the village and continued the tradition of keeping the egg safe and warm continued. The people cooperated on the guard, the farming and the trading duties. The village was in complete cooperation. The village became cleaner, richer and happier.

One day, the village heard thundering crack. Everyone in the village ran to the house with the egg. King Leon went inside the house and saw a crack at the egg. He ran outside the house and announced: “The egg is hatching!” A villager shouted: “Let us help the creature inside it! We should help crack the egg open!” “No! Do not!” Shouted another villager. “We must let it hatch on it’s own! If we help it come out, it might still be to weak to live!”

The King agreed to let the egg be but he instructed to keep the fire burning to keep the egg warm. The village stayed outside the house and prayed to their spirits. They heard another thundering crack. And then another, and then another. And then they heard a very loud squeal coming from inside the house. Everyone became scared. Some ran away while some wanted to go inside the house. But the King stopped them. He asked everyone to stay calm and wait.

The people stayed outside, and continued their prayers while loud squeeling filled the air. And then the squeeling stopped. And then loud flapping sounds was heard throughout the village. Gusts of wind blew ash, dust and hay at the people. They were scared. They thought they were being attacked.

Suddenly, the gusts of wind stopped. Everything became silent. At the door of the house was a creature nobody saw before. It had horns like a carabao but wings like a giant colorful bird. â&#x20AC;&#x153;It is the Tulolong from the stories in the booksâ&#x20AC;? said the King. The Tulolong walked towards the king, and knelt down.

The king put his hand over the head of the Tulolong. The Tulolong stood up and revealed a shiny, mirror-like ball in its mouth. A new Tulolong egg.

Years passed and the Tulolongs reproduced to hundreds in the village. Each family now had their own Tulolongs to help them tend their lands, pull their carts and transport their goods. The village of Toolong was alive once again. But this time, they will never break the Tulolong eggs ever again. The End.