The Golden image of Sri Visaya [series]

Title

Creator

Bryant, Alice Franklin

Language

English

Source

The Young Citizen. 3 (4) May 1937

Year

1937

Subject

Children’s stories

Children's conduct of life

Sri Visaya (image)

Rights

In Copyright - Educational Use Permitted

Fulltext

: 18 THE YOUNG CITIZEN Ma11, wsr THE GOLDEN IMAGE :J3y ALICE FRAN/< (Continued .fl'urH superintendent of schools was out here last week and called a meeting of all T HEN Pablo told about overhearing the teachers. He announced that your . his father and mother talking father's pupils had the highest average about the depression, about his in the standard fourth grade examinatrip into the island, his friendship with tions of any class in the province. He Ulan, the gold they got in the mountain said your father had proved what could stream and the loss of it in the water- be done by intelligence, initiative, and fall. industry, even when one's schooling is "We lost it all" he lamented "except very limited. We are sure now that he just a little I h~d in my pock~t. See, . will never be dropped." here it is!" All this time Ulan had been a source "My boy," his father replied," this is only fool's gold that you have in your hand. But without having any gold, your mother and I feel rich in having a son who is brave, and who tries to help us. "And, by the way, we have some good news for you. The Presidente's daughter is to be married next month, you know. Well, she noticed what becoming, well-made dresses Rosario wears" (Rosario was Pablo's young aunt) "and asked who made them. When she heard that Rosario made them herself, she engaged her to make all her trousseau and ~e dresses fo1· her bride's maids. Your aunt and mother have been helping her. She hopes to get other sewing after the wedding is over." "We have even better news than that, too," said his mother. "The provincial of great interest to all the household. Mr. and Mrs. Reyes felt very grateful to him for befriending Pablo. "Wont you stay with us, Ulan and .start to school, when it opens again?" asked Mrs. Reyes. But Ulan felt ill at ease and said he thought he had better go home. "What is in the bag, Pablo?" asked Rosario. "That? Oh, that's just a .little old saint. We found it in a cave and thought it was gold, but it's probably c>nly brass." And he pulled out the image. "Oh," said his father taking it in his hands, "I think it is gold. What a find you have made! It is l).ot a saint, at least not a Christian saint. It looks Indian. You know many hundreds of' years before either Spaniards or Mo1\.~a;y. 1931 THE YOUNG CITIZEN 119 OF SRI VISAYA LIN BRYANT the April issue) hammedans came to the Philippines, there was a great deal of Indian influence in these islands. I shouldn't wonder if this image were made during the empire of Sri Visaya. If this is solid gold, it is very valuable just as gold. But it has an added value as a rare antiquity. Just a few days ago I I saw in the newspaper that a scientist from a large museum in America was in the islands making a collection of Philippine articles. Now I am going to write him about this image." Mr. Reyes wrote to him, and in a few days received a telegram saying that the scientist would come at once to see the image. Meanwhile Pablo and Ulan were the heroes of the day. Pablo had made Ulan sta ;, . "L'.iok here," he said, "you've got to stay, because, if we get any money out of this, half of it is yours." But one night they all W'lllt to sleep as usual on the floor of the sala--Ulan next to Pablo--and when they woke up in the morning he was gone. In tcwn he had felt just as lost as Pablo lrnd in the forest at the time he found the monkeys eating his corn, and he had decided to go back to his home. Pablo felt very sad about losing the companion of all his adventures, but was cheered the following day ·by the arrival of the scientist. The latter was delighted with the image. He bored a tiny hole from top to bottom, and another from one side to the other. "It is solid gold," he anannounced. "Moreover, it is Philippine gold, and I shouldn't wonder if it were gold produced on this very island. This dreamed of having. is a most unique treasure. On behalf of the museum I can offer you five thousand pesos for it." So the scientist took away the image, and the Reyes family became the proud possessors of more money than they h a cl ever "Pablo," said his father, "you are the one who found the golden image. No matter what happens, we must save enough of this money to send you to the university." "No, thanks," replied Pablo. "I don't want to go to the university. Just save enough to buy me a ticket to Mountain Province after I finish high school. I will get a job in the gold mines there and learn all about gold mining. Afterwards I will come back and find Ulan, and then we will find some real gold!"

Media