A love that continues to the after-life—this is the gist of the myth on the undying Sampa-Guita love story.
Guita was a beautiful princess of a strict king who ruled his subjects ruthlessly. According to this myth, the king had high hopes for his only daughter and hoped that one day Guita would meet a fitting prince from a strong kingdom. The myth says she was educated in one of the best exclusive schools abroad designed for royalty.
However, according to the myth, Guita secretly befriended a slave named Sampague—or Sampa, as he was fondly called by friends—as she roamed her father’s kingdom. Guita eventually fell for Sampa. The myth says the cruel king learned of the affair, and became furious. He ordered Guita to stop seeing Sampa and cut the madness. The myth says, the king threatened his daughter about continuing the love affair.
According to the myth, to avoid the King’s wrath, Sampa and Guita eloped and went deep into the forest to hide, thinking that they could find refuge there and forever be out of harm’s way. But, the myth says, the king ordered an unrelenting search and destroy mission until Sampa and Guita. The soldiers left no stone unturned and vowed to fulfill their mission by any means.
The soldiers finally found Sampa and Guita in their forest hideaway and killed them right there and then. They buried the lovers on the spot where they were killed. The king was notified. But instead of triumph, he felt deep remorse and repented of his wickedness, though too late. The myth adds that the king wished that Sampa and Guita would live again so he could ask their forgiveness and give his approval to their love affair.
The myth says that after several days, the king, terribly disheartened by the death of the couple, went to the tomb of the lovers in the forest. He was surprised to see a healthy shrub with white flowers that emitted a strong and unique fragrance. He felt relieved seeing and smelling the flowers, taking them to be Sampa and Guita being given life again, and the powerful fragrance as the sign of the couple’s pardon for his grave mistake. Since then the king called the flower Sampaguita.
True love is said to be strong and eternal, not even the grave can stop it. Not even a furious king and his kingdom, this myth shows readers
