Si Durian fiction

In a town in Mindanao there is an old woman better known as Tandang During.

He lives at the foot of the mountain. Her little cottage stood in the middle of her large yard surrounded by trees.

Tandang During is often made by mothers afraid of their adopted children. They say it is a witch's race so should be avoided.

Tandang During is accustomed to living alone. Since the death of his wife and children he has never left the foot of the mountain. He was a quiet man and as he got older he would rather take care of plants.

Tandang During is bad so people avoid it. At the death of his loved ones many offered help but he declined. Then people would gradually move away from him until he became a scare to the nasty children.

Years passed. Formerly nasty kids were grown up but Tandang During was still that way. Alone in the hut at the foot of the mountain and unfriendly to the people.

One night the breeze threw a strange odor into the community. They didn't know what that smell was and where it came from. The odor persisted for the next few days and intensified. People decided to look for the source of the odor.

They all came to Tandang During the hut to make sure the smell was there. They searched the old man but could not find it. Instead they turned their attention to a tree whose fruits had hard bark and sharp thorns. Because it is too ripe the fruits begin to open. A man climbed a tree to get some fruit. They closed their noses when the fruit was opened but were equally impressed with the taste of that fruit. They picked up the fruits and brought them home.

When they met an elderly resident in the area and asked what fruit they had, their answer was the same. "The fruit of Tandang's crop during that time", they said.

During that time the elders understood them. So when they gave it a fruit and the acquaintances asked what it was, it said the fruit's name was during that time. It eventually becomes durian.

One of my favorite fruits