The Awakened

Chapter 4 - The Glowing Tree

The three went to Uncle Ed's house and Phi introduced his two classmates who were interested about a balete tree.

Uncle Ed was sitting on the outside of the hut pouring a gallon container 'tuba' or coconut wine to a mug. Phineas introduced his classmates.

"Balete? Ah, you're one of those", Uncle Ed said.

Angel was a bit embarrassed. "I was just asking."

"I don't believe I've seen a balete here", Uncle Ed said. "Ah, that's why you were looking for Enkantos. You thought Enkantos live in balete trees?".

"Yeah, we honestly thought so", said Rupert.

"Oh, so do you want to hear about Enkantos then?", Uncle Ed.

"Yes! Please do Uncle Ed!", said both Angel and Rupert.

"Come with me then, I'll show you something", Uncle Ed said bringing with his mug and container of coconut wine.

They came to an orchard of star fruit with a glowing tree nearby.

"Oh wow! Is that an Enkanto tree?", Angel said and ran towards it.

"Hey wait for me", Rupert shouted running after Angel. Then said, "Oh they're fireflies".

They came to a mango tree with fireflies surrounding the tree making it look like it was glowing.

They sat by a tree log and Uncle Ed started telling stories about the Enkantos while drinking coconut wine from his mug.

"I'm originally from Samar but my family is from Negros. When my wife's father passed away, he left the farm land to my wife. I came with my family here in Negros and found work as a farmer here. After some years my wife passed away and left me the farm.

Anyway, in Samar, there is rumored to be a mythical city of Enkantos called Biringan. Biringan City is said to be a modern city with glowing high-rise buildings, splendid houses, and technology far more advanced than what we see only see in big cities like Manila or Cebu.

People mistranslated the word 'Biringan' as meaning to 'Black City'. Nor 'Biringan' is the Waray is the dialect of the locals who live in Samar for 'hanapan ng mga nawawala' (where one finds the lost). It is absurd to think of a single Filipino word and is a Filipino phrase.

You see kids, Biringan comes from the word 'biring' that originated from the word 'kiring'. Kiring is a Waray name of a local fruit native native here in the Philippines. Do you want to guess what Kiring is?", asked Uncle Ed while pouring another coconut wine on his mug.

"The orchard here", Phi said. "A local fruit native to tropical South East Asia. It is called star fruit in English."

"Yes, it is. Smart boy. Anyway, 'Kiringan' or 'Biringan' literally means star fruit orchard or a place where lots of star fruits are growing. Similar to the 'palayan' or rice paddies where we grow 'palay' or rice plant.

The story behind Biringan is that the rumors started when people got lost or never came back when they went to gather some star fruits where it was growing abundantly in the forest. A Waray phrase 'Wala na sila mobalik sa dihang miadto sila sa kiringan/biringan', which translates to 'they never came back when went to the star fruits orchard (or place where lots of star fruits are growing)'. And about seeing a magnificent glowing cities. What would you think if you were very drunk and see that", Uncle Ed pointed to the glowing tree surrounded by fireflies.

"Oh, you guys are too young to drink. Anyway, a very drunk man would likely to see a tree surrounded by fireflies as a glowing building and dream about cities of magnificent glowing house and super natural beings. Especially if the drunk man had not spent their lives tending in the farm and went home at dusk. And those who were said to have never came back. It was because they were reported by the star fruit orchard owners trespassing their property. So they are likely to be spending their time in local jailhouses.