The Plant of Love
An English translation of the short story “Halaman ng Pagmamahal” written by L.
Salvador.
There was a couple named Malvar and Rosa. Their meeting place is located at a
giant tree of Java Plum. In the shade of it, they shared each and others’ memories.
Beside the tree is a water well made of Adobe’s brick and its brim is almost at the
level of the ground. It is forbidden for children to play or even stand close to it.
One day in April, Malvar saw plenty of big-sized fruits from the Java Plum tree, its
nearly pitch black skin shining upon him. He climbed into the tree so he could have
something to bring home to Rosa. There’s huge amounts of ripe Javas at the edge of
some tiny branches. At the will of Malvar to get it, he stepped on a fragile branch.
He continuously fell in the well that caused him to lose consciousness. Even though
the water was shallow, Malvar still drowned.
Not long after the situation, Rosa came to their meeting place. Malvar is always the
one who comes first but this time, he’s nowhere to be found. Rosa saw the bunch
of Java Plum scattered in the ground, looking like freshly picked. She then looked up
but she saw nothing and no one there.
“Let me pick this up,” said Rosa to herself. “Seems sweet and juicy.”
She first collects banana leaves. Whenever her hand is loaded, she’s placing the
Java fruits onto the banana leaves. She dropped some of it next to the well so she
came into it. The moment she bent over to pick the Javas, she noticed the person
lying inside the well.
“Oh God!” she shouted, “Malvar! Malvar!” and she lost consciousness.
Unfortunately, her body fell into the brim of the water well.
When the two of them hadn't returned home, their relatives and neighbors came
looking for them. The next day, their bodies were recovered. They buried them
exactly at the well by filling it with soil.
After a year, a plant grew into the top of the well. No flowers or fruits, but possess
remarkable fragrance.
“Malvar and Rosa have been resurrected,” stated by the people who knew about
what happened in the past, “they’ve been reincarnated as a plant.”
Since then, they have called the plant Malvarosa. Its fragrant leaves had been a
decor to the garments of the maidens along with the roses.