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Once upon a time, a greedy and arrogant king ruled a small faraway town. King Barabas was feared by his constituents however, he was also secretly hated by the people. The king was moody and would give his servants irrational tasks. He would often scold them if his commands are not done. The king also loved to eat, sleep at spend his wealth on useless things.
A big drought came to the kingdom. The harvest was not good and even trading was low. All of the kingdom was asked to be prudent in their spending and save until the drought was over.
All of the people adhered to the call and made their own ways of saving up except for one person. The king violated his own rule. He didn’t care about his starving people. He continued his luxurious ways and spent as if there was no crisis in the kingdom.
While the people would eat only once a day, the king would have feasts for himself. He would ask his servants to cook different kinds of expensive and exotic dishes. The worst part is he would not even share the food with his people or even his servants even if the food was abundant. He would not even allow his servants to eat his leftovers instead he let it alone until it gets spoiled.
One day while the king was having his usual eating fest in the palace yard, an old beggar came to ask for alms. She asked the king for some food since she was starving. But the king just ignore the beggar. Instead he commanded the beggar to leave as he was losing appetite due to the beggar’s smell.
This angered the beggar. She told the king he was greedy and for that he was to be punished. Before the beggar could even finish her sentence, a thunder was heard and lightning struck. The king’s appearance was slowly transforming. He cried asking for forgiveness but it was too late. The beggar suddenly disappeared while the king was turned into a plant.
The people saw what happened to the king and came nearer to inspect the plant. They saw a small rounded fruit which had a small crown on its tip. They agreed that it was indeed their greedy and gluttonous king, Barabas who was turned into a plant.
From then on the plant was called bayabas from King Barabas’ name.
A big drought came to the kingdom. The harvest was not good and even trading was low. All of the kingdom was asked to be prudent in their spending and save until the drought was over.
All of the people adhered to the call and made their own ways of saving up except for one person. The king violated his own rule. He didn’t care about his starving people. He continued his luxurious ways and spent as if there was no crisis in the kingdom.
While the people would eat only once a day, the king would have feasts for himself. He would ask his servants to cook different kinds of expensive and exotic dishes. The worst part is he would not even share the food with his people or even his servants even if the food was abundant. He would not even allow his servants to eat his leftovers instead he let it alone until it gets spoiled.
One day while the king was having his usual eating fest in the palace yard, an old beggar came to ask for alms. She asked the king for some food since she was starving. But the king just ignore the beggar. Instead he commanded the beggar to leave as he was losing appetite due to the beggar’s smell.
This angered the beggar. She told the king he was greedy and for that he was to be punished. Before the beggar could even finish her sentence, a thunder was heard and lightning struck. The king’s appearance was slowly transforming. He cried asking for forgiveness but it was too late. The beggar suddenly disappeared while the king was turned into a plant.
The people saw what happened to the king and came nearer to inspect the plant. They saw a small rounded fruit which had a small crown on its tip. They agreed that it was indeed their greedy and gluttonous king, Barabas who was turned into a plant.
From then on the plant was called bayabas from King Barabas’ name.