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OPINIONS / COLUMNS
(July
28 – August 3, 2008) The Bard of Blaise Jopo
Guerrero The lost
name “Gods die. And when they truly die they are unmourned and
unremembered. Ideas are more difficult to kill than people, but they can be
killed in the end.” - Neil Gaiman, American Gods Once upon a
time, there was a name which was lost. It was so lost that nobody
remembered what was it exactly – people just knew that there was this name,
but they totally forgot how to articulate it. People tried very hard to look for that lost name.
They combed libraries, traveled to faraway places, excavated old sites,
investigated castles and temples, studied the stars and explored the regions
of the undead – yet, people failed to gather even the slightest trace of that
name. Well, it was not that hopeless – there were some
aged folks who still held fragments of memories of the lost name. According to them, it was originally owned by a
good-looking young gentleman - the gods gave it to him because of his
unparalleled love and concern for his fellowmen. In return for the honor
given to him, the gentleman poured all his time, talents and treasure for the
people. But because of this overly concern for the public,
the gentleman neglected himself badly – he became poor, sickly and very
hungry. One day – after gathering all his courage – he went
to his neighbors to ask for some bread and milk. He just needed small
portions, enough to regain his strength so that he can continue to labor for
his own daily sustenance. He first went to his bestfriend whom he had helped
plow his field for countless times – but his bestfriend was too busy
counting his produce that he only sent a maid to give the gentleman a glass
of water. Next, he went to the young lady he once saved from a
fiery dragon – but the lady was too preoccupied with her wealthy admirers
that she did not even go out to greet the gentleman. He went to the old woman he dutifully supplied with
free firewood until his grandson was old enough to gather logs for themselves
– but the old woman was too engrossed with her cross stitching that she did
not even hear the gentleman knocking. The gentleman rounded up all his friends to
the last push of his strength, but nobody spared him a crumb or a drop of
milk. Teary-eyed, he sat near a cliff, watching the vast sea
and waiting for hunger to usher his death. It was then that Lucifer appeared
to him. Lucifer was brightly floating just above the cliff
juggling loaves of bread while jars of bubbling milk hovered nearby. He made
an offer: bread and milk in exchange for the name that clung on the
man’s neck. This aggravated the painful susurrus in the
gentleman’s stomach; tears and saliva danced together at his quaking chin. He
closed his eyes, fought his hunger, warded off temptation and kicked Lucifer
in his mind – then he opened his eyes and accepted the offer of the eternal
fiend. Lucifer snatched the name from the
gentleman’s neck as he shoved bread and milk to him. With trembling hands, the gentleman started to
consume the food from Lucifer. And after a couple of bites from the loaf of
bread and a mouthful from the bottle of milk, he suddenly felt it – throbbing
numbness all over his body. “Poison!” the gentleman murmured. “You gave me
poison!” Lucifer chuckled. “Fool! What kind of food do you
expect to gain from the kitchen of hell?” he boomed. “A tasteless manna? No,
no, no, my gentleman, my food is eternal death!” Then the Devil laughed. He laughed a terrifying
laughter that made the earth shake and the cliff crumble – the gentleman fell
into his death as maggots and pus crawled on his emaciated body. After the gentleman died and his name was
lost, hunger, diseases and violence started to reign in
the world. Some people believed that if the lost name
can only be found and recalled – or recovered from the Devil – human
sufferings will diminish from the face of the earth. Thus, the search went on, ad infinitum.
*** BARD NOTES: A happy reading
to PNB Batac Manager Marilyn S. Mata, Provincial Treasurer Josephine P.
Calajate, Mrs. Mely Ortega and the employees of INNHS, Honda Prestige, AMA
Laoag Campus, PNB, Land Bank of the For your comments and suggestions, please email me
at bardofblaise@hotmail.com or bardoblas@gmail.com. Ilocos Times copyright 2008 |
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