Folk narrative from Jovellar, Albay

The White Deer

Once upon a time, there was a place blessed with natural resources. The people of this place were thankful to God for giving them a rich land. They survived by planting and cultivating their lands, and some of them were hunters.

In this place, there was a part which people called Someinoum. This place was considered enchanted because this was where most animals vanished.

One day, while the people were doing their usual jobs, they noticed an unfamiliar animal. This animal was like a deer. What made it so unusual was the color of its fur which was as white as cotton. The folks believed that the deer was a pet of an enkanto. The people feared to catch the deer. They knew that once they caught it, the enkanto would get mad at them and might cause famine.

One day, however, a group of hunters from other places heard the news about the unusual animal and decided to hunt for it. The hunting began but because the deer was swift, the hunters were not able to catch it easily. They studied the deer’s movement and its favorite food. Upon learning that the deer loves to eat a fruit called iba, they set traps to catch the deer.

One day while the deer was eating, it was trapped by the hunters; they used the fruit iba to catch the deer. But when the hunters tried to chase it, the deer suddenly and mysteriously died.

As the days passed, the people suffered from famine; there was a great starvation. The people believed that the enchantress got mad because of what happened to the white deer, believed to be its pet. As an offering and as a respect to the deer, the folks decided to adopt the deer’s name, and they named their place as Puting Usa. After naming the place after the white deer, everything returned to normal.