Once upon a time there lived a brother and sister on the island of Luzon. They were orphans, their parents died. Amparo was the eldest, and Esther was the youngest. They grew vegetables and flowers, sold them and fed themselves on this.
Amparo and Esther were completely different. Esther was very hardworking, she worked tirelessly, but Amparo was lazy. He didn’t even want to think about the need to get food for himself and his sister and help with the housework. Every day, he went to the bank of a deep stream and spent hours looking at his reflection in the water.
He returned home only when he began to feel hungry. Esther put food in front of him, but he was always unhappy.
- Why do you buy everything so tasteless? - he asked his sister angrily. - I can’t eat this small fish, and you feed me with it all the time!
“Paro,” Esther said affectionately, “be patient a little, tomorrow I will pick vegetables and flowers from the garden and our garden, sell them and buy pork.”
“Every day you promise me this,” Amparo interrupted her, “but you cook the same thing.”
And then one day Esther could not resist and said:
- You don't do anything to help me. The garden doesn’t have enough water, and our flowers are also withering.
- What?! - exclaimed Amparo. -Do you really want to make me your farmhand?
“It’s not good for us orphans to call each other farm laborers,” said Esther. - Think about it, there are only two of us, and we have no one to ask for help.
- I don’t want to listen to your moral teachings! - shouted Amparo. - Stay alone and eat your bony fish yourself!
Amparo went to the flower garden, picked a fragrant rose and went to the stream. And Esther, left alone, burst into tears out of resentment towards her brother, but soon began again to do household chores - she had no time to grieve.
Amparo was already standing by the stream at this time. Forgetting about everything in the world, he looked at his reflection in the water and could not see enough. He wove the rose he had into his hair. And suddenly Amparo slipped and fell into the water. Just at this time Esther approached the stream - she went to see what her brother was doing. Esther saw Amparo fall into the water, rushed to the stream and shouted:
- Paro, Paro!
Amparo was not visible, and Esther began loudly calling people for help. People came running, but saw only circles on the water. They tried diving, hoping to find Amparo's body in the water, but they never found it.
And soon everyone saw: a flower floated to the surface of the water. It was the rose that Amparo had woven into his hair, only now it only had four petals left. The flower slowly rose into the air and flew - it had wings! The amazed people did not take their eyes off the flower, and it flew, shimmering with all the colors of the rainbow. Esther ran after her, and others ran after her. And soon everyone saw how the flower flew into Esther’s garden and began to flutter, flying from bush to bush.
Those who saw this told their children about what happened, and those told theirs. And from then on, when people saw the paro-paro butterfly, they said: this is Amparo, punished for his heartlessness and laziness.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru