The Story of the Moth, Jose Rizal, and his Mother
Copyright © by Jensen DG. Mañebog
Doña Teodora Alonso Realonda (fondly called Lolay in the Rizal family) played an important role in the life of the national hero, Dr. Jose P. Rizal. She was said to have suffered the greatest pain during the delivery of her seventh child, the younger of her two sons, Jose. Her daughter Narcisa recalled:
“I was nine years of age when my mother gave birth to Jose. I recall it vividly because my mother suffered great pain. She labored for a long time.
Her pain was later attributed to the fact that Jose’s head was bigger than normal” (Bantug and Ventura). But this would not be the only pain that she would suffer on account of this son.
Read: The Interesting Tales of the Jose Rizal Family by Jensen DG. Mañebog
Lolay was the first teacher of the hero—teaching him Spanish, correcting his composed poems, and coaching him in rhetoric. On her lap, Jose learned the alphabet and Catholic prayers at the age of three, and had learned to read and write at age 5.
At an early age, Rizal thus learned to read the Spanish family Bible, which he would refer to later in his writings. Rizal himself remarked that perhaps the education he received since his earliest infancy was what has shaped his habits.
The mother also induced Jose to love the arts, literature, and the classics. Before he was eight years old, he had written a drama which was performed at a local festival and for which the municipal captain rewarded him with two pesos. (Read more about Rizal’s greatness)
The story of the moth
To impart essential lessons in life, Lolay held regular storytelling sessions with the young Rizal (also called Pepe). Doña Teodora loved to read to Pepe stories from the book ‘Amigo de los Niños’ (The Children’s Friend).
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One day, she scolded his son for making drawings on the pages of the story book. To teach the value of obedience to one’s parents, she afterward read him a story in it.
Lolay chose the story about a daughter moth who was warned by her mother against going too near a lamp flame.
Though the young moth promised to comply, she later succumbed to the pull of the light’s mysterious charm, believing that nothing bad would happen if she would approach it with caution.
The moth then flew close to the flame. Feeling comforting warmth at first, she drew closer and closer, bit by bit, until she flew too close enough to the flame and perished.
Read: Jose Rizal’s Collaborations with Other Heroes by Jensen DG. Mañebog
Incidentally, Pepe was watching a similar incident while he was listening to the storytelling. Like a live enactment, a moth was fluttering too near to the flame of the oil lamp on their table. Not merely acting out, it did fall dead as a consequence. Both moths in the two tales paid the price of getting near to the fatal light. (Interested about Rizal’s love life?)
Many years later, Rizal himself felt that the moths’ tale could serve as an allegory of his own destiny. About himself, he thus wrote:
“Years have passed since then. The child has become a man … Steamships have taken him across seas and oceans … He has received from experience bitter lessons, much more bitter than the sweet lessons that his mother gave him …
“Nevertheless, he has preserved the heart of a child. He still thinks that light is the most beautiful thing in creation, and that it is worthwhile for a man to sacrifice his life for it.”
Against Rizal’s further education
Doña Teodora was remarkably against the idea of sending Jose to Manila to study, arguing that he already knew enough and that “if he learns more, he will only end up on the scaffold” (Bantug, p. 37), probably fearing that the little moth’s fate would befall her son if he learns a lot.
This stand she reiterated when Rizal had to go to the University of Santo Tomas for higher studies. Aware that Spanish officials frowned at learned Filipino, she told her husband: “Don’t send him to Manila again; he knows enough. If he gets to know more, the Spaniards will cut off his head” (as quoted in Zaide, p. 46).
Read: The Interesting Tales of the Jose Rizal Family by Jensen DG. Mañebog
Doña Teodora never ceased to worry about his bright son. In 1884, after Rizal gave a toasting speech in Spain at the banquet for the winning Filipino painters (Juan Luna and Felix Resurreccion Hidalgo), his assail to the unworthy Spaniards in the Philippines received a great deal of reactions.
The general sentiment was that it would not be good for him to return to the Philippines. This caused Doña Teodora much worries that she turned ill. (Read more about Jose’s family)
Upon recovering, she begged his son through a letter not to meddle in things that bring her sorrow, and to comply instead with the duties of a good Christian … continue reading
*If you want to know more about Rizal (e.g. Rizal girlfriends), search here:
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Read: The Colorful Love Affairs of Dr. Jose Rizal by Jensen DG. Mañebog
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The Interesting Tales of the Jose Rizal Family by Jensen DG. Mañebog
Read also: Teodora Alonzo: Jose Rizal’s Mother
Related: Jose Rizal’s Love for Teodora Alonzo, His Mother
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