The Battle of the Wind and the Rain, Philippines Folktale

One sunny day, there were some harmless clouds dotting the sky. But what you don’t know is that on those harmless clouds were resting four natural forces named Thunder, Lightning, Rain and Wind.

It didn’t take long for Wind to say “Guys are you as bored as I am?” “No” the other free forces answered immediately. “Oh, come on” said Wind “Little storm won’t harm anybody.” “I feel so fluffy on this cloud” said Lightning “Leave me alone.” Wind couldn’t stand still and stirred the pot by blowing some wind at Thunder’s cloud. “Stop it” yelled Thunder. “Ha ha ha” laughed Wind. “Hey Rain” said Wind “Do you want me to blow some wind your way, too?” “No” snapped Rain.

“Oh, come on” continued Wind “Let’s have some fun.” “Can’t you be still at least for a second” Rain was getting more and more irritated. Wind sensing it, persisted “Let’s play a game, who is more powerful.” “Under one condition” retorted Rain “If I win, you will never get in my way. It will mean rainy days without wind.” Wind with a smirk on his face said “But if I win, you will never ever drop another tear on this earth.” Earth without rain means nothing would survive on earth. That’s not a good promise to make. But Rain was getting so annoyed by Wind “Fine. You asked for it. I’ll show you who is more powerful.”

So Rain and Wind looked for a place to start their battle. Rain very quickly spotted a monkey on a bamboo tree. Rain knowing that a bamboo tree is very flexible; it can bend instead of breaking as other trees. She just wasn’t sure if the monkey could hold on to the tree. But this was her best chance. So she challenged Wind “If you can knock down that monkey, then you win.” “As you wish” Wind answered boldly.

Not wasting any time, Wind started blowing heavy winds. With every breath he took in, his cheeks were getting bigger and bigger, as they were about to explode. Wind was getting more and more agitated as he was realizing that he can’t break the bamboo tree. Out of exhaustion he gave up and turned to Rain “Let’s see how smart you can get.”

“No problem” answered Rain and started her magic with dark sky and grey clouds creating a heavy rain. Monkey, with her flexible arms and legs, was still holding on to the bamboo tree. It made Wind very happy, because none of them was winning. “Let’s call it even” Wind said hastily. “Not so fast” answered Rain and swiftly changed the rain into big drops that were hitting the wet monkey very hard. Exhausted monkey climbed down to look for a place she could hide from rain.

“Does it make me a winner?” asked Rain with a big smile on her face. But Wind was already gone, too upset to face Rain. Orrrr maybe he was already showing the first signs of keeping the promise that he wouldn’t get in Rain’s way, what do you think?

Now you know when strong winds come in and they are so strong that they are taking people’s houses with them, this is why people hope for rain. When Rain comes in, the Wind should go away.