Once upon a time, in the vastness of the Sulu Sea, an island called Ubian was ruled by a well respected and diminutive Sultan named Panglima Diki-Diki. With his 3'2" royal stature, all honors, loyalties and respect that fits to a prince were conferred unto him by his subjects.
Sultan Diki-Diki long lived a bachelor until Cupid shoot an arrow into his heart when he was already 50 years old. Spring of youthful love ran through him and began to be enamored by Ajaratol, a coy petite princess who appropriately a tad shorter than him and lived in an island not far away. Not all princely objects of desire are easily attained when you have a rival of the same stature. Maharajah Kiram, proudly stand at 3'8" has been persistently courting Ajaratol for a year before Diki-Diki came into the scene. Just like a scene from Helen of Troy, the two rival suitors engaged in a war to win over the fair lady's heart. Diki-Diki became the victor but not of the heart of the princess. Disgruntled Kiram hied-off in South Ubian with a broken heart and shattered pride. A major retaliatory plan was looming to avenge his defeat and to win the heart of lady love.
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| Aguinaldo's Breakfast by Sir Ambeth Ocampo |
Sultan Diki-Diki long lived a bachelor until Cupid shoot an arrow into his heart when he was already 50 years old. Spring of youthful love ran through him and began to be enamored by Ajaratol, a coy petite princess who appropriately a tad shorter than him and lived in an island not far away. Not all princely objects of desire are easily attained when you have a rival of the same stature. Maharajah Kiram, proudly stand at 3'8" has been persistently courting Ajaratol for a year before Diki-Diki came into the scene. Just like a scene from Helen of Troy, the two rival suitors engaged in a war to win over the fair lady's heart. Diki-Diki became the victor but not of the heart of the princess. Disgruntled Kiram hied-off in South Ubian with a broken heart and shattered pride. A major retaliatory plan was looming to avenge his defeat and to win the heart of lady love.Panglima is a civil title equivalent to a General in the military while Maharajah correspond to a Colonel in the Moro Blue Book. With the eminent position of the former, the latter's counselors pointed out the disadvantage of staging another war with the Panglima. Diki-Diki didn't waver from the threat of retaliation as his army were twice as big as Kiram. An American government agent intervened in the situation to avert bloodshed and talked with the rival parties out of open war and persuaded the defeated rival that in this 21st century, the ladies had to be permitted to say whom they wanted(?). Kiram allegedly relinquished his love interest.
Diki-Diki began dating Princess Ajaratol and enjoyed the outings in his royal yatch. On his avowal of love asked her to reign with him, he was defiantly slapped with a NO. His heart was torn and broken, wept and sulked in his palace for a week. The elders the ministers of his court were worried about their emotionally wrecked prince, they used their combined power of persuasion and influence to the unwilling bride. It took two days of arguments, pleadings and flattery before she agreed to marry Diki-Diki.
The royal Lilliputian wedding took place in Jolo with all its pomp and regalia. In the spirit of sportmanship, Kiram came to the wedding not as a mere guest but as the couple's Best Man. Their matrimonial bliss fell short when Diki-Diki sailed to Manila and was diagnosed with the dreaded leprosy. He was allowed a return to Ubian and bid farewell to his people prior to his admission at a leposarium in Culion. But shortly upon his arrival, the disease wore him down,caught pneumonia and died. The marriage didn't bear a fruit!
I wonder who lives happily ever after!
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