The Legend of Amorsico Hill
By Adelino L. Masigla
Just behind the small school building is a hill the children used to call Amorsico. Every afternoon as the classes ended
each one would play, race up hill and would slide along the grassy slope. Some would run even higher up to the hut to
hear stories from Lola Terya, an old lady, as she prepare for the family’s evening meals. Among the familiar listeners
were Aldo and the brother and sister Jess and Rosing. And here they first heard about the Legend of Amorsico Hill:
“Long time ago, before the wheel was invented, there lives a family in a house atop this hill. With them was a beautiful
daughter they called Amor. She was so named because of her lovely looks and beautiful brown eyes. There was no
other house nearby and Amor would play alone with dragonflies and butterflies and she would name them according
to colors. At night she would be amused with the glow of the fireflies. The sounds of the nocturnal birds and insects
were music she would imitate. As Amor grew she learned to call her playmates with surname “sico” which for her
means "my friend" or a "my playmate." She would call the yellow butterfly as “yellow-sico” the dragonfly as “dragon-
sico”, the firefly as “firey-sico” and so on. For her all things around are friends, the insects, the birds, the trees, the
grasses, and everything. She would treat each one with kindness and compassion.
Although alone as a child she lived a very happy life until she became a very beautiful young lady. Nevertheless she
remained to be a faithful sico to her friends until one day a stranger came riding a carriage pulled by a horse. To the
amazement of her parents, beneath the carriage are two wheels that makes the travel so much faster. Her parents
thought that with this carriage on wheels the transport of their harvest to the town proper will be faster therefore
earning more money. Without hesitation after serving meals, the parents asked what it would take them to have the
carriage and the horse. Politely the stranger while staring at Amor said that he would be very happy to take their
daughter as his wife and give a pair of horse and carriage as gift. Without much bargain the parents willingly agreed
knowing very well that they would not lose their daughter anyway should she became the wife of the stranger.
But not for Amor whose tears started to fall for the first time in her life. Upon hearing the accord between the stranger
and her parents, she slowly walked out of the house. The sight of her tears did not escape the attention of her sico
and with her sobs every one around understood her predicament. "Nobody can take you away from us" --cried her
friends. Not long afterwards all the sicos were swarming around Amor at a speed no one can imagine then gradually
the beautiful and lovely Amor vanished in the air. When her parents and the stranger went out of the house to look for
her, they were astonished to fine the ground filled with knee-deep grass which pores sticks to the cloth as one passes
by. ”
As Aldo, Jess and Rosing were walking down the hill that afternoon their clothes and pants were stuck with amorsico
pores. They did not took the pores out until they were far away from the hill and at home, for if they did as the legend
say, they would be hurting the feelings of Amor and her friends she used to call with surname sico, and they
themselves will turn into an amorsico grass.
Such is the legend of amorsico hill.
By Adelino L. Masigla
Just behind the small school building is a hill the children used to call Amorsico. Every afternoon as the classes ended
each one would play, race up hill and would slide along the grassy slope. Some would run even higher up to the hut to
hear stories from Lola Terya, an old lady, as she prepare for the family’s evening meals. Among the familiar listeners
were Aldo and the brother and sister Jess and Rosing. And here they first heard about the Legend of Amorsico Hill:
“Long time ago, before the wheel was invented, there lives a family in a house atop this hill. With them was a beautiful
daughter they called Amor. She was so named because of her lovely looks and beautiful brown eyes. There was no
other house nearby and Amor would play alone with dragonflies and butterflies and she would name them according
to colors. At night she would be amused with the glow of the fireflies. The sounds of the nocturnal birds and insects
were music she would imitate. As Amor grew she learned to call her playmates with surname “sico” which for her
means "my friend" or a "my playmate." She would call the yellow butterfly as “yellow-sico” the dragonfly as “dragon-
sico”, the firefly as “firey-sico” and so on. For her all things around are friends, the insects, the birds, the trees, the
grasses, and everything. She would treat each one with kindness and compassion.
Although alone as a child she lived a very happy life until she became a very beautiful young lady. Nevertheless she
remained to be a faithful sico to her friends until one day a stranger came riding a carriage pulled by a horse. To the
amazement of her parents, beneath the carriage are two wheels that makes the travel so much faster. Her parents
thought that with this carriage on wheels the transport of their harvest to the town proper will be faster therefore
earning more money. Without hesitation after serving meals, the parents asked what it would take them to have the
carriage and the horse. Politely the stranger while staring at Amor said that he would be very happy to take their
daughter as his wife and give a pair of horse and carriage as gift. Without much bargain the parents willingly agreed
knowing very well that they would not lose their daughter anyway should she became the wife of the stranger.
But not for Amor whose tears started to fall for the first time in her life. Upon hearing the accord between the stranger
and her parents, she slowly walked out of the house. The sight of her tears did not escape the attention of her sico
and with her sobs every one around understood her predicament. "Nobody can take you away from us" --cried her
friends. Not long afterwards all the sicos were swarming around Amor at a speed no one can imagine then gradually
the beautiful and lovely Amor vanished in the air. When her parents and the stranger went out of the house to look for
her, they were astonished to fine the ground filled with knee-deep grass which pores sticks to the cloth as one passes
by. ”
As Aldo, Jess and Rosing were walking down the hill that afternoon their clothes and pants were stuck with amorsico
pores. They did not took the pores out until they were far away from the hill and at home, for if they did as the legend
say, they would be hurting the feelings of Amor and her friends she used to call with surname sico, and they
themselves will turn into an amorsico grass.
Such is the legend of amorsico hill.
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