We lived in a teacher's village where you can find lush vegetation. There are seven (7)Talisay Trees around the school where the Village is located. According to the Village Folks, there are entities living in those trees which to their description are BIG PALACES. They told the children in town not to get close to those trees or they will disappear.
Julie is a beautiful woman with smooth-silky skin, deep-set eyes, long lashes, a well-chiseled nose, and lovely lips. She is always mistaken with Indian descent because of her features and that makes her sought-after by the men in town. She is our domestic servant when we were still young and living in Compostela Valley, Davao de Oro. She is diligent, industrious, kind, respectful, and loves children. My brothers and I love her so much and so are my parents and relatives.
One mid-afternoon, Julie told me that she is going to get her laundry outside and wait for her so we can eat lunch when Mom arrives from school... I was sitting on the balcony, playing jackstones. At first, I watched Julie getting the laundries and then continue playing. Minutes later, I looked outside and wondering who was Juliana talking with as I see no one around. I watched Julie for a moment and I played with my jackstones again when Mom arrived from school and asked me why I am staying in the balcony when it's lunchtime. Mom asked for Julie. I pointed outside at the clothesline and said that Julie is just around to get the laundry. As I was pointing outside I noticed that Julie was not there anymore, so I stood up and tip-toed (I was just 8 years old at that time) so I can see where Julie is. I was shocked when I found her sprawled on the ground like a fallen log! I screamed and run to my Mom while I was holding my breath, panting! I told Mom what I saw. We run to see if what has really happened to Julie. Mom told me to call her co-teachers (neighbor) for help. I go to the neighborhood to ask for help and two male teachers went immediately to our rescue. Mom asked them to lift Julie and bring her inside the house. As they are about to lift her, to their dismay, the two cannot lift her so they asked two male teachers to help them. Again, the four of them cannot lift Juliana as she is very, very heavy like a timber. So they call all Males in the village to help them (there are 20 teacher's houses in the Village and all of them came to our house to help). As they lifted her to get her inside the house, she moaned and moved and she became heavier. As they get inside the house and put her down on her bed, she suddenly rose up, pushed the men, and ran to the kitchen door. She is murmuring something. She became stronger and the men cannot pacify her as she is pushing them and throwing them all who attempted to block her way. She ran to the front door and she met my Mom and she told her that she is going to the PALACE (pointing out to the BIG TALISAY TREE near the High School Department, in front of our residence). She said that her suitor riding in a color gold car was waiting for her there. Mom and her co-teachers eyes are open wide as she was saying it and their suspicions were confirmed that there was an unearthly force that manipulated Juliana. What happened has scattered throughout the town folks and one of the elders in the town told Mom to get a quack doctor who is an expert on ENGCANTO (An Engcanto, according to folklore, is a mythical environmental spirit that has a human form.)
Mom did not waste her time and asked a fellow to fetch the man who has an esoteric knowledge of elementals or engcantos. The man arrived at our house early in the morning the following day and checked on Julie's situation. He asked Mom to have a SMALL BANQUET for her but reminded her not to put SALT on the food that they are going to prepare for the offering. The Esoteric Expert prepare 1 white chicken, eggs, wine, and some sweets and offered it to the TALISAY TREE where Julie has to meet her suitor. Every day, our house has full of visitors from nearby towns to visit and help Mom (Dad was sent to Manila by the school to pursue his Masteral Degree).
Julie still in bed sleeping from that day where she was found by me. One night she woke up and asked for food. As she was eating the offered food, she asked for SALT. That was the time that she was back to her senses. The offering went for a month. The Esoteric Expert told Mom that he is going to take Julie to the City and see if she can recover faster than staying in town.
Julie has recovered while staying in the City. She came back fully recovered. She narrated to Mom that while she was staying in the City she and her suitor came to town and stayed in our house watching us kids playing and Mom resting on the living room. Julie told her suitor not to lift a hand on us children as we are nice people and takes care of her while she was with us. Julie told Mom that her suitor was a very handsome man...
After several years, Julie got married to a handsome, diligent, and nice man when she went back to her hometown. They have a very pretty daughter that looks like very much of her.
An experienced through our helper Julie that I can never forget. There lots of elementals on earth that are unseen. Some are bad, others are good. They disguised in a human form as well to entice if they are attracted to you. So beware at the same time.
