In the beginning of time, the early inhabitants of the earth did not have well formed noses as we today. What uses to be the nose were two small holes located at the middle of the face. It was a little later that the creator thought of adding noses on the face that He sent down from the heavens a boat to distribute to man to make him more handsome.
Of the five races of man formed by God, our early Filipino ancestors belonged to the brown race. Juan and his friends were browned skinned people among whites, the reds, the yellows, and the blacks living in the same island before the population of each race multiplied that eventually forced them to disperse in search for lands elsewhere to survive.
God was experimenting with noses at the time and needed a patient to put it on. He looked down from the heavens and spotted Juan. That time, Juan was playing with his friends. The Creator muddy pool. When he got up, he noticed a handful of mud sticking on the middle of his face. He and his friends tried to remove it for some time but without success. Finally, he gave up. By which time the water of the pool is cleared. He was alone when he walked over to the pool to have a look at him and was very pleased with the mud formed on his face that has dried up, as was the Creator who was watching from above.
From that day on, Juan became more handsome on account of the piece of mud on his face. Everyone in the island, including his friends began to envy him. They flocked to him, asking him where he got the “thing.” As he was an honest boy, he told them everything, and so everybody rushed to the muddy pool try to make the “thing” out of them, but the mud just fell off their faces, leaving them all disappointed and wondering how Juan did it.
On another occasion, Juan who was on the way back on an errand for her mother, slipped on a banana peel and fell to the ground on his face. As he struggled to his feet, the piece of mud dropped to the ground. He tried to stick it back to his face, but the mud would not stay on. He tried several times to put it back on, but it kept falling off. Finally he gave up. When he came home without “it,” his mother almost did not recognize him and so did his friends.
Then one day, Juan and his friends saw a boat anchored on the shore close to their village. Thinking it was just an ordinary boat they ignored it and just kept on playing. Suddenly one of the white folks came running all excited towards his village that lies on the other side of the island velling. “I’ve got myself a nose!” and even showed it to his folks. He told everyone he met that he got it from a mysterious boat that anchored itself on the shore. The boat carried plenty of noses that they remembered as the mud on Juan’s face ‘Noses for free’ was apparently what was written on the side of the boat. Soon the news spread and had almost everyone rushed madly to the boat that instant. Everyone got himself a nose. But since Juan and his friends were late in coming to the boat as they tried. To finish off their game first, they found only flat-noses. They were actually flattened by heavy footsteps during the earlier mad rush. Reluctantly, they all put it on and were happy with it just the same .
To this day, the Filipinos who were believed to have descended from the line of Juan and his friends generally have flat noses. That, according to legend, was why Filipinos have flat nose.
No wonder many Filipinos I met in the Philippines and outside asked me, ‘Pilipino ka ba?’ ‘ Ay, Pilipino ka pala?’ You see, I don’t have a flat nose.
I like the stories. If this will all be compiled in a book, I would like to see it titled as ‘The Misadventures of Juan Tamad’ or ‘Lazy Juan’s Chronicles’. XD