TOMAS CLAUDIO COLLEGES

Higher Education Pioneer in Eastern Rizal

Taghangin, Morong, Rizal, 1960 Philippines

I. INTRODUCTION:

A story of an orphan girl is a folktale genre that speaks the culture of Subanon people. Subanon
is a tribe indigenous to the Zamboanga Peninsula Area, particularly living in the mountainous
area of Zamboanga Del Sur and Misamis Occidental, Mindanao Island. Subanon or Subano,
derived from the word ‘’suba’’, a Visayan word meaning ‘’river’’, as most of their settlements can
be found near rivers or mountain streams. The author of the story is Emerson B. Christie, a
government official and ethnologist. The setting of the story is at somewhere in Zamboanga
Peninsula.

The main characters of the story are the orphan girl, the widow’s son, Manamat, Sultan and
Shareef. Moreover, the minor characters are the huge spider, the beautiful woman, and the
Makayaga. However, the story talks about the tragic love of an orphan girl and the widow’s son.
The widow’s son fought a good fight for love with such bravery in his heart to protect the orphan
girl against to the namely, Manamat and to the Sultan’s power. To sum up, this works of Mr.
Christie is a great story and popular in other regions.

II. ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Having a great story comes with a great author. The writer, itself, is named Emerson B. Christie.
He was a government official and ethnologist. He was born in March 17, 1878 and died on
November 29, 1967. A linguist and teacher in the Philippines from 1901 to 1904.

He was became an assistant in the Ethnological Survey of the Philippines from 1904 to 1907.
In 1901, he wrote the Subanons of Sindangan Bay. He also worked with the Subanon people of
the Philippine Island. He worked for the State Department as a special assistant and was a Chief
of its Translation Bureau between 1928 to 1944. And lastly, he also worked to mediated the
‘’Chaco’’ boundary between Bolivia and Paraguay.

III. SUMMARY

In the beginning of the story, the orphan girl dreamed about a beautiful woman who warned her
to leave her place. The girl did not act upon on it. On the dawn of the third day, a giant spider
approached her and reminded her about the dream and so the girl quickly put her clothes on
and start running. As soon as they reached the well, the spider had pointed out the direction to
where the girl should flee and so she fled up to path he had pointed out, for she was now filled
with terror.

Quickly, the Manamat chased her until she reached the top of the ridge. On the second day, she
saw a hut from where a young man lives and because of exhaustion, the girl fell on the floor.
One of the Manamat tried to seize the widow’s son by the waist, but receiving a great blow and
so was killed. The fight went on between the serving man and the widow’s son on one side until
all the latter were killed, save the chief the Gunluh, whose name was Makayaga. The sultan
heard about the orphan girl and send a representative to ask her hand for his son but the widow’s
son refused. The sultan asked his men to kill the widow’s son but the Shareef and the wise men
reminded him that he should not kill the widow’s son. The marriages were arranged between
the widow’s son and the orphan girl and the sultan according to the line of his hands, will marry
a beautiful woman in Mecca.
IV. RECOMMENDATION

I recommend this story because it presents the ancient war of love. It is a folktale type of
literature that expressed the culture of Subanon people. This story is famous in Zamboanga
Peninsula, and because of the books that are subject to Philippine Literature, it has been widely
known in other regions. Most of the students all over the country, exert an effort to make a film
about the story.

Despite of its popularity, Emerson B. Christie is a foreign blood that able to create a legendary
story about Subanon people. Also, the story is an inspiring and captivating whereas the widow’s
son able to fight for his love to the orphan girl. Moreover, it has a moral lesson, for instance, if
you love someone, you should do the right thing to win the love without hurting some people.
Another moral lesson I want to share is even if you have the power, you should use it in a good
way. Consequently, the story of an orphan girl, written by Emerson B. Christie is indeed
satisfying to read and I absolutely share it with my loved ones.

V. REFERENCE

Books

Maglaya, Rommel., Gagalang, Jocelyn L., Hernandez, Mark Ryan R., Besa, Lynn M., Francisco,
Karen Arlyse R. 2014. Philippine Literature – K12. Jimczyville Publications.

On-line Sources

www.scribd.com/document/247835848/The-Story-of-the-Orphan-Girl-Analysis