The Story of Ulka The Merchant
by Ruskin John D. Desingano
The rays of the sun gradually enters through the thick eyelashes of Ulka and the cold breeze coming from the silong of their house keeps Ulka fall into a deeper sleep, so deep that she had a dream.
She sits in a weel structured throne made out of bamboos from the highest cliff of their banwa. Petty chiefs and kings go to her just to offer gifts. She is admired by her people. When she arrives, the people yell “Long live the Queen! Long live Ulka! Ulka! Ulka! Ulka!
“Ulka! Ulka!” someone shouts. It is not from her mind anymore but from her ears.
“Ulka! Ulka! You are again dreaming!” Marikit says.
“You will not be a Queen or You can neither be a Hara nor Timawa. You were born a slave and you will die a slave too!” Marikit adds.
‘I will be a Queen! I will lead them!” Ulka urges.
“Yes in your dreams, Ulka!” Marikit says.
Marikit and Ulka prepare for a very long period of working. They go to LIWAN-the central market of their banwa. Ulka is a merchant but a slave. She has a charismatic way of persuading people to exchange their product to her master’s. Ulka is her master’s favorite. But, on that very day, when the sun is covered by the grayish cloud and it seems that a heavy rain will fall. Ulka, standing and not frightened by the coming storm, meets a Chinese trader. The trader offers her a Chinese paper. Ulka is so amazed by the paper because unlike the bamboo where they etched their alibata, the paper is so smooth like a leaf that sways with the air.
“And what will I do with this paper?” Ulka asks.
“Remember what I will say,
Hole in the paper, open the door
Show me the future and let me explore” uttered by the Chinese merchant.
The words that uttered by the Chinese trader made Ulka close her eyes. She does not know what she feels. It is as if the words go through her veins and force her to utter the chant.
“Hole in the paper, open the door
Show me the future and let me explore” Ulka chants.
She become more sensitive than before, the cozy air whisper to her ears saying “Ulka, unroll the paper. The futures are now yours and seek it yourself.”
Ulka slowly peeks through the hole and, on her great astonishment, she throws the paper away.
“I saw the future! There will be drought on our town! Our town needs to prepare!” Ulka shouts.
She immediately goes to her Raja. She warned them. The Raja believes her but offers a condition- if her prediction fails, her head will be cut.
After a week, no more water flowed, the wells dried up as well as the plants. But because of Ulka’s warning, the people were able to store food and water.
Ulka, from being slave, becomes a timawa and babaylan. She predicts lives, cures illnesses and advises the Raja. However, Ulka, from being a kind slave, becomes a boastful and greedy woman. She becomes greedy not only to richness but also to power. And in an unexpected chance, she again met her friend, Marikit.
“Oh dear friend, Look at yourself! And look at me now!
see the difference?” Ulka boastfully says to Marikit.
“Remember what I will say,
Hole in the paper, open no more,
Take away the future and close the door!” Marikit chants.
“Who are you?! Why do you know that?!” Ulka says with a furious voice.
Marikit disappeared. Ulka rushes to balay and she looks for the paper. She looks for the hole and she becomes calmer and relaxed when she saw the hole is still there. She sleeps. Ulka wakes up, she is surprised by the crowded people looking for her. They need her premonitions, cures illnesses and pieces of advice for their lives.
Ulka confidently unrolls the paper and on her great surprise the hole is not there anymore. She does not know what to do. She cannot foretell the future without the paper.
Using a knife, she forcedly makes a hole in the paper. And the light comes out from the hole. Everything seems so quiet and the house becomes darker but Ulka was not bothered. She peeks through the hole and she throws away the paper.
“It is not the future anymore but the hell, the underworld!
They are coming for us”, Ulka says.
“No, they are coming for you!” a woman appears from nowhere.
“Who are you?!” Ulka exclaimed.
“I was Marikit, the Chinese trader and I am the goddess of earth”, the woman says.
“Please, Marikit! Duta! Close the hole” Ulka begs.
“Yes, I will” the woman answers.
Duta, the goddess of earth, molds a mass of soil to cover the balay where the hole and Ulka dwell. The mass of the soil then become a very high mountain. But the hole to underworld is so powerful that it creates a hole on the top of the mountain. Duta, before leaving her people, advises to guard the mountain because the time will come and it will give curses among mankind. They pray to Duta to help and save them from the coming adversity.
Time passes and then months.
The people around the mountain continue their living without forgetting of what happened to Ulka.
But on that very day, when the rays of the sun enters through the thick forest and the cold breeze from the sea makes the town people calm. The mountain releases a hot sulfur, ball of fires and ashes. And the mountain shakes the whole banwa and scares the whole town. The people who surround the mountain scream the name of the woman who brought this curse to them,
“Ulka!
Ulka! Ulka!
Ulkan! Ulkan! Ulkan!
Bulkan! Bulkan! Bulkan!
