A cave

Title

A cave

Language

English

Year

1935

Rights

In Copyright - Educational Use Permitted

Fulltext

312 THE YOUNG CITIZEN December, J.9.J;i INTERESTING PLACES A CAVE By JOSE FELICIANO '' IN chc mountain fastness of Sibul. a well-known health resort of Bulacan, there is a cave whic'.1 has ever anracted sight-seers from far and near. "Rcnacimicnto" the people call it. Some day you may chance to find yourself at Sibul, and like many of those who have been there, ·you too may want to see this cave. I sh,111 try to picture this cave to you. Once mar;: I sec it in my mind's eye. Standing before it. with several companions. I sec nothing particularly striking on dw outside. Before us is a huge rock overgrown with plants. mostly vines. At the bottom of this rock is a narrow opening. which. we are told. is the mouth of the cave. Hanging over this opening arc sm,111 projections of rock. which lcok veq decorative. At the mouth of the cave we find hc;ips of ashes. evidently che remains of fires built by thosc who have entered the cave before us. Those fire>; have lighted tlll.'ir way into the darkness. In order to gd inside the cave. one has to bend low. nay. almost crawl. My· comp;inions and l need not build a fire, for we have a powerful flashlight. Slowly Jnd carefully we mJke our way inrn the cave. Inside. we sec but a faint light, which comes from che entrance. Suddenly we hear the flu•:· tcr of many wings'. What is the meaning of this.' We h;we intruded upon the sleeping inhabitants of this gloomy hollow of the earth. They arc the bats. Aided by our flashlight. we now begin to explore the place. How fearfully fantastic it looks! 'J./c mow aboll[ slowly. for the ground we walk on i., cut up with sharp-edged st6ncs, and the top of thc cave is most irregular. Near the entrance. the ~ir is damp and cool; but as we descend into the bottoni the air becomes drier and warmer. We dare not venture to reach the very bottom. for we know not what JWJits us there. Fear begins to fill our hearts. So we hurry back to the sunlight and the open air. I know it will be long before the picture of this cave fades away from my memory. * Academic Division, Bureau of Education. MELINDA (Continuation) A Story By Antonio Munoz On the third day she went to visit the place. On the mound stood a bcJutiful tree. The fruits were'. of diHcrent shapes, sizes, and colors. As the branches swayed ro and fro, sweet melodics passed through the leaves. Melinda was happy, v;:ry happy. She picked a fruit and opened it. It contained a pretty dress. She opened another. There was a pair of shoes inside. Every fruit containcd something very pretty and very uscf ul. Th;:rc were a coach. a pair of white hors..,s. and many other useful things. The objects werc small while they were inside but when sh..: drew thcm out. th::y bccJmc large. \\.'hen she haJ seen them all she carefully put each one back int0 its place. Just beforc she left the place. she leaped to .i stone in the brook. As she looked down to see i1· the fish was there, something struc)< her forehead. She looked at her reflection in the water. A bright star shone on hcr forehead. Hastily she went home for she was afraid. Her step-mother looked at her and gazed at the beautiful star on her forehead. She tried to remove 1t. She even W<!nt as far as scraping it with a knife. At last she thru>;t the pointed end of the knife into the skin and tried to dig the star ouc. It was vain for it did not movc. When she found out that she could not remow ir. she got more soot from the stove and smeared Melinda·s foreli:ad until the star was completely hidden from view. Not uncil then was she reli..:ved. '"How did you happen to get that star~ · she asked. Melinda told her the truth. t Please turn to page 3 19)

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