MABINI COLLEGES INC.

,
Daet, Camarines Norte

COLLEGE OF EDUCATION
1st Sem., S.Y.2020-2021

GEC 9/HIST 6 – RIZAL’S LIFE AND WORKS

ACTIVITY 4
On The Story of the Moth
One night, all the family, except my mother and myself, went to bed early.  Why, I do not know, but we two
remained sitting alone.  The candles had already been put out.  They had been blown out in their globes by means
of a curved tube of tin. That tube seemed to me the finest and most wonderful plaything in the world.  The room
was dimly lighted by a single light of coconut oil. In all Filipino homes such a light burn through the night. It goes
out just at day-break to awaken people by its spluttering.

My mother was teaching me to read in a Spanish reader called "The Children's Friend" (El Amigo de los Ninos).
This was quite a rare book and an old copy. It had lost its cover and my sister had cleverly made a new one. She had
fastened a sheet of thick blue paper over the back and then covered it with a piece of cloth.

This night my mother became impatient with hearing me read so poorly.  I did not understand Spanish and so I
could not read with expression.  She took the book from me.  First she scolded me for drawing funny pictures on its
pages.  Then she told me to listen and she began to read.  When her sight was good, she read very well. She could
recite well, and she understood verse-making, too. Many times during Christmas vacations, my mother corrected
my poetical compositions, and she always made valuable criticisms.

I listened to her, full of childish enthusiasm. I marveled at the nice-sounding phrases which she read from those
same pages.  The phrases she read so easily stopped me at every breath.  Perhaps I grew tired of listening to
sounds that had no meaning for me.  Perhaps I lacked self-control.  Anyway, I paid little attention to the reading.  I
was watching the cheerful flame. About it, some little moths were circling in playful flights. By chance, too, I
yawned.  My mother soon noticed that I was not interested.  She stopped reading.  Then she said to me: "I am going
to read you a very pretty story.  Now pay attention."

On hearing the word 'story' I at once opened my eyes wide.  The word 'story' promised something new and
wonderful. I watched my mother while she turned the leaves of the book, as if she were looking for something. 
Then I settled down to listen.  I was full of curiosity and wonder.  I had never even dreamed that there were stories
in the old book which I read without understanding.  My mother began to read me the fable of the young moth and
the old one.  She translated it into Tagalog a little at a time.

My attention increased from the first sentence. I looked toward the light and fixed my gaze on the moths which
were circling around it.  The story could not have been better timed.  My mother repeated the warning of the old
moth. She dwelt upon it and directed it to me.  I heard her, but it is a curious thing that the light seemed to me each
time more beautiful, the flame more attractive.  I really envied the fortune of the insects.  They frolicked so joyously
in its enchanting splendor that the ones which had fallen and been drowned in the oil did not cause me any dread.

My mother kept on reading and I listened breathlessly. The fate of the two insects interested me greatly.  The flame
rolled its golden tongue to one side and a moth which this movement had singed fell into the oil, fluttered for a
time and then became quiet.  That became for me a great event.  A curious change came over me which I have
always noticed in myself whenever anything has stirred my feelings.  The flame and the moth seemed to go further
away and my mother's words sounded strange and uncanny. I did not notice when she ended the fable. All my
attention was fixed on the face of the insect.  I watched it with my whole soul... It had died a martyr to its illusions.

As she put me to bed, my mother said: "See that you do not behave like the young moth. Don't be disobedient, or
you may get burnt as it did." I do not know whether I answered or not... The story revealed to me things until then
unknown.  Moths no longer were, for me, insignificant insects. Moths talked; they know how to warn. They advised
just like my mother. The light seemed to me more beautiful. It had grown more dazzling and more attractive. I
knew why the moths circled the flame.
INSTRUCTOR: Read the story above and the passage below. Afterwards, answer the following questions.
One of the stories that Teodora Alonzo told Jose Rizal was that of the moth and the flame.
QUESTIONS.
1. How the story of the moth and the flame shaped Rizal’s Social and Political ideas?
This story of the moth and the flame shaped Rizal’s social and political ideas in a way that it inspires
him and it opens his eyes on the situation of our country back then but it was afterwards when he already
understands and see real situation because at first when Rizal was still young the moral lesson he gets from
that story is to be obedient and always follow his mother for him to be not end up like the little moth. But
when he was already a grown-up man he sees the situation of the moths as the current situation he was
facing where the flame stands as the truth and freedom and the young moth was him who was looking to it
and having the urge to go near and the old moth was the people surrounds him that tells him to not even
try to go further to the flame because they know that he will just get burn but Rizal didn’t listen he doesn’t
let the feeling of being scared stop him even though he knew what consequences he might face because he
believe that there will be no change if no one will be different, who will take action and take risk. Because
imagine that Rizal and other people who fight for our freedom did not take action or they follow what the
older people say and did not take action because they got scared to be burned do you think we will have
our freedom and be a democratic country right now because I believe the answer will be no if they don’t
stand up back then we are still be colonized by other country right now.
2. What are the instances when Rizal manifested a social and political character?
Rizal manifested the social and political character when he chooses and start to fight for our
freedom, he starts to raised communicative awareness with the public by publishes articles, letters and art
works that encourage Filipinos to revolt against the colonizers, he also established La Solidaridad, a
newspaper that contains information about the abusive doings and inhumane manipulation of the Spanish
Government in the Philippines. He also studied to Europe to gain more knowledge and information on how
he will defeat the Spaniards and he also sends magazine and new paper here to the Philippines that
contains of how other country was governed to waken Filipino people, he also writes and publish novels
such as Noli me Tangere and El Filibusterismo that shows the abusive doings and to expose the
exploitations committed by the Spanish friars and government officials. This is his way of fighting the
Spanish Government, he chose to have a silent war and not a bloody war because he thinks that it is the
only way to gain freedom. Through that, other Filipinos were motivated to get that freedom they started
many revolts against the Spanish Government.