This story is dedicated to my hometown, Ligao City.
Once upon a time in the forest of Kaligawan (which was not yet a city or sitio but a vast forest). Now a town and known as the City of Ligao, there lived a couple who had run away, Dante and Iza. They lived in a small hut in the middle of the forest. This hut was built by Dante before they ran away.
Dante was hardworking, kind, handsome and loving, while Iza (who was a Chinese with whiteness) was caring, very loving and tender. Because of her love for her husband, Dante, there was not a day that he did not cook delicious food for him. Meanwhile, Dante never tired of bringing her fresh flowers after she came home from work.
One day in town, Dante went to the market to buy his wife some delicious chocolate to make it different. He passed by a shop selling cooking utensils and immediately fell in love with a large frying pan. He thought his wife would like it because of its beautiful shape. Instead of chocolate, he would give it to his wife.
When he returned home, his wife was not there. He looked for her all over the house but she was not there. When he went to their beautiful garden full of delicious fruits, vegetables, flowers and spices, he found her. He immediately cried when he saw her. She was there in an area full of vegetables... lying on the ground lifeless. On her knee, a trace of a wild snake bite could be seen. The snake bit her while she was picking vegetables so that she could cook another delicious dish for her husband when he returned from work.
Since the death of Iza, his beloved wife, there has not been a day that he has not cooked delicious dishes in the pan that he would have used as a welcome gift. He believes that even in the afterlife, she can taste the delicious food he cooked. He loved it very much and never forgot it. Until he grew old. He was alone. He never left the hut where he and Iza lived.
On the day of his death, when he closed his eyes from his bed... in the place where their hut stood, a hill gradually grew. A hill without a peak. A hill that, when you climbed it, looked like a big frying pan.
At first, it was called Burol na Kawa. And during the Japanese era, a drunk Japanese soldier made fun of it.
"W- what???", the Japanese soldier asked.
"Hill na Kawa kan is the name of the kan. (Hill na Kawa is the name of that one.)", replied a young man from Ligaoeno.
"Kawa kawa...kawa kawa.... Kawa kawa...Hahaha..." the Japanese soldier repeated over and over.
Eventually, it was just called Kawa kawa.
THE END.
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