Simah - The Pearl Warrior

Gitanos - The Sea Gypsies

It's about 6:15 in the evening when Simah and Alexis arrived at the Chief Tribe's Home.

An old man with a scarf on his head can be seen sitting on a straw mat lying on the bamboo floor of the tribe's traditional wooden home suspended over the sea water.

"Good evening Chief Pedro," uttered Simah.

"Good evening, Simah and Alexis, I've heard from your Uncle Rudy that you're now here for good and he told me you'll pass by today. Hence, I have been waiting for the both of you. Come inside as me and my wife prepared a simple dinner."

The old man stood up and went into the dining area. On the table you can see steamed sweet potatoes, okras, eggplants, grilled fish and clam soup.

"Let's all sit down and eat," suggested Chief Pedro.

"It's a good thing you've decided to come back here Simah and stay here for good. You can teach the small children how to dive for pearls. You see, all they do now is begging for alms on the street. They already forgot that we Gitanos are the sea gypsies. We live and survive because of the sea, either we fish or dive for pearls."

"That's one of my goals Chief, to teach the children how to dive for pearls the traditional way as what my father taught me."

"Ah, speaking of your late father, I can still remember, how good he is in diving. He is one  of the three men who caught the giant oyster with the biggest pearl in the world inside. Unfortunately, that day an earthquake also struck our island. Hence, they've lost it and we haven't seen it even today. After that, your father persistently looks for it everyday, up until you were born, but sadly, he hasn't found it again. Hence, he decided to stop as he needs to move to the city together with your mother for your bright future. Seeing you now, all grown up and successful made me happy as your father's decision was definitely worth it. It's just so sad that he died in the city. I've just heard from your uncle what happened to him. I am so sorry for your loss Simah."

"It' okay, Chief, it's been a year since he has passed. I must admit it was hard for me and mother without him, but we are surviving. That is also the reason I need to go back here as I was offered thrice my salary in the city to work here."

"I think that salary is not enough . After all, you are the greatest sea diver today, Simah."

"Well, if you will allow this old man to tell a story while we enjoy our dinner. I will  narrate to the both of you the Legend of our Ancestors. After all the great sea diver of our time deserves to know it."

"As told by my great grandfather, a princess was traveling to Meribella to pursue the love of her life and their story began when she sneaked out of the palace and disguised herself as an ordinary girl, that day the princess and the mysterious man met in the local market where he is trading goods. After that, each and every month the princess will sneak out of the palace just to meet this man from our Island. Months turned into years, and their relationship prosper. Until one day, the princess needs to decide whether they will continue their secret relationship or not as the King is already arranging her marriage to the Sultan of Margalit. The princess who was head over  heels in love with the peculiar man decided to gather the guards who are loyal to her and before dawn sailed the sea to go to our Island, but on their way here the Sultan and his guards intercepted them and they captured the princess. Frightened with what happened and sure punishment from the King the loyal guards of the princess decided to continue traveling to our island even without the monarch, met the man that the female ruler was in love with and informed him of what happened. On that day as well, the loyal guards learned that the man is the son of the Chief Tribe and with the blessings of the Chief, they stayed here for good. The series of bad fortune continued as the Chief's son was lost at sea in pursuit of the love of his life. The chief searched for his offspring for years but with no luck. Up until this moment, no one knows what truly happened to his one and only son. He was deeply saddened by this event, but continued to lead the tribe. He focused himself on how to improve the quality of living of his tribe. He then discovered that the loyal guards whose spleens are much bigger than the average human being are great pearl divers who can hold their breath under water for several minutes and walk freely beneath the sea in search for pearls. In the kingdom where they came from pearls are abundant, but they were amazed  as they discovered that in our island, pearls are much bigger and more brilliant and fishes are bountiful here, too. As an exchange of them living here, they teach the locals how to dive for pearls. From there on, we became well known pearl divers and some branch out and became fishermen as well that they learned from locals."

"Years passed,the royal guards married the  local girls and started a family here. The Chief Tribe decided to call the people here "Gitanos" or sea gypsies to commemorate the royal guards who became immigrants and taught us how to prosper and live in the sea."

"Wow, what a wonderful story chief, now we know our legend, thank you for sharing it with us," uttered Alexis.

"As much as we want to stay here Chief, to listen to your wonderful stories. I think, it's getting late now, we better be going as Simah's first day of work will be tomorrow," added Alexis.

"Thank you Chief for accommodating us, for such an interesting story and for the sumptuous dinner, I hope this will not be the last time you will tell us a narrative and to invite us of course in your humble abode," said Simah.

"Of course Simah, this will be the beginning of many. I'll be glad to be a storyteller again. You're both welcome to drop by here whenever you like most especially if you need help," said The Chief.

Alexis and Simah walked under the bright moonlight and safely arrived at Uncle Rudy's house.

"Thank you Alexis for today, see you again tomorrow," Simah timidly voiced out.

"Don't mention it Simah, I'm looking forward to seeing you again tomorrow, have a good night, I'll better be going now."

Alexis slowly walked home away from Simah's sight.

Simah entered the house and she saw her Uncle Rudy and Auntie Leticia watching a local telenovela.

"Good evening Uncle and Auntie," greeted Simah.

"Oh, Simah, it's good that you're now here, let's go on the balcony and enjoy this newly brewed ternate tea before we go to sleep," her auntie suggested.

After that, they all went to bed.

Simah can be seen moaning and restless in her sleep, she is dreaming and in her dream a man can be seen free diving in the deep blue sea of Meribella. He can see lots of corals and fishes under water, he dived deeper and deeper until he saw a big clam. He tried to open it and a sparkling white thing hides inside of it. As the man tried to grab it, the water became dark and mushy until he cannot see a thing, it's jet-black. He wants to scream for help but he cannot as he is under water, his heart began to beat faster and he struggled to breath and dark slowly faded into white....

Simah awakens, grasping for her breath and all sweaty.

"It's that weird dream again," she said to herself.

She deep breathed several times to relax and finally looked at the clock. It's 8 in the morning already. She needs to hurry up, it's the first day of orientation for her new job.

She grabbed her towel, and hurriedly went to the shower room to take a bath.

"Simah, come and eat your breakfast first before you go to work," her auntie implied.

"Who can resist the smell and of course the taste of the famous dried fish of my Auntie Leticia, paired with champorado (chocolate porridge made of freshly ground cacao beans and glutinous rice), I can't wait to eat and finish this all up," mumbled Simah.

She grabbed and put in a whole dried fish into her mouth and munched it at once. You can hear the crispiness of it. Next, she put a big amount of powdered milk on top of a bowlful of champorado, scooped it and hurriedly put it in her widely opened mouth.

"A beautiful morning indeed with this food, the glorious sight of Meribella and not to mention my Uncle and Auntie who is spoiling me a lot," Simah sighed with delight.