The
Legend of Mount Kanlaon
There once lived on the island of Negros a
princess who lived a very sheltered life.
One day, the princess overheard her father, the king, talking to the kingdom's chief priestess. The priestess was frantic about a report that they could not find a single maiden who was unblemished.
Later, the princess asked her father what it was all about, and the king finally broke down. There had long been a seven-headed dragon threatening the kingdom, and the monster could only be appeased if an unblemished maiden was sacrificed to it.
In fear, all the women in the kingdom had cut themselves to disqualify themselves from the sacrifice. Parents cut their own baby girls so as to spare the infants from the sacrifice. But the king and the queen couldn't bring themselves to mar their daughter's beauty, and so the princess was the only remaining unscarred female in the kingdom.
The princess did not weep. Instead, she willingly offered herself for the sacrifice. Fortuitously, on the day she was to be brought to the mountain where the dragon lived, a man calling himself Khan Laon appeared. (Khan in his language meant a noble lord.) He said he came from a kingdom far away in order to slay the dragon. The king told the stranger that if he killed the dragon, he shall be rewarded with all the gold he can carry and he can marry the princess.
One day, the princess overheard her father, the king, talking to the kingdom's chief priestess. The priestess was frantic about a report that they could not find a single maiden who was unblemished.
Later, the princess asked her father what it was all about, and the king finally broke down. There had long been a seven-headed dragon threatening the kingdom, and the monster could only be appeased if an unblemished maiden was sacrificed to it.
In fear, all the women in the kingdom had cut themselves to disqualify themselves from the sacrifice. Parents cut their own baby girls so as to spare the infants from the sacrifice. But the king and the queen couldn't bring themselves to mar their daughter's beauty, and so the princess was the only remaining unscarred female in the kingdom.
The princess did not weep. Instead, she willingly offered herself for the sacrifice. Fortuitously, on the day she was to be brought to the mountain where the dragon lived, a man calling himself Khan Laon appeared. (Khan in his language meant a noble lord.) He said he came from a kingdom far away in order to slay the dragon. The king told the stranger that if he killed the dragon, he shall be rewarded with all the gold he can carry and he can marry the princess.
No one
believed the dragon could be killed, but Khan Laon insisted that his ability to
talk to animals would help him. He asked the help of the ants, the bees and the
eagles.
The ants swarmed over the dragon's body and crept under its scales to bite its soft, unprotected flesh, while the bees stung the fourteen eyes of the dragon till it was blind. But the great God chopped off its head one by one. When it’s largest and ugliest head was cut off, the dragon grew still and died.
The ants swarmed over the dragon's body and crept under its scales to bite its soft, unprotected flesh, while the bees stung the fourteen eyes of the dragon till it was blind. But the great God chopped off its head one by one. When it’s largest and ugliest head was cut off, the dragon grew still and died.
The great
god Laon bore the dragons largest head on his shoulder and returned to the
valley.There, he was net by the people with great rejoicing. But the happiest
of all who met him was the king’s lovely daughter. She and Laon were married;
needless to say, they became the ancestors of the present good people of
Negros. For the god’s great exploit , the people named the dragon’s mountain
Khanlaon or Lord Laon after him. But among of us today who want to say things
in great hurry, “Khan Laon” became Kanlaon.
- Laon really showed that he is a god by possessing such bravery and confidence to kill the dragon by himself. We don't need to be a god just to have some courage. We in ourselves can possess such bravery by facing the wrath obstacles in our life. And by his bravery the dragon's mountain was named by his honor.
- Sensitivity to others needs is an act of heroism.
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