"The Power of Love" is a legend of the Philippines.

Long ago, Gat Dula was prince of a small kingdom in one of the northernmost islands of the Philippines. The young man was often bored, and also curious, and so would travel from island to island, and village to village, to study the customs.

One day, while visiting Laguna province and wandering in the marketplace near what is now Mount Makiling, he passed a beautiful woman with hair as dark as ink and skin that seemed to shimmer.

The young man bowed, as a sign of respect. The woman also bowed her head, suddenly overcome with shyness.

Still, the man noticed her beautiful smile, and after that moment, he could not stop thinking of her.

So the next week the man returned to the same market, and searched for the beauty who had captured his heart.

He asked the vendors if they knew a young woman with black hair flowing to her waist. They shook their heads and looked away, for they knew he must be describing the lovely Maria Makiling, but they could not say where to find her.

Maria Makiling was no ordinary woman. She was not a mortal at all; she was a diwata, a fairy, the daughter of two powerful gods. Her mother was Dayang Makiling, her father Gat Panahon. In those days the gods sometimes visited Earth disguised as mortals. They conversed with ordinary men and women, and people could go directly to the gods to talk of their troubles and plead for help.

But if the gods were not around, the people understood that they were not to bother them. The young man would be better off, they thought, to forget Maria Makiling.

Besides, many women vied for his attentions. He was a handsome young man of noble bearing and birth, and those who came to know him discovered that he also was gentle and kind. Women smiled at him and flirted with him and hoped he might fall in love with them, but they were too late. The young man had already fallen in love.

Week after week he returned to the market to search for the beauty. At long last, one January day, he saw her again as she strolled through the market.

His heart nearly burst with joy. This time he spoke to her. "I wish to introduce myself," he said. "I am Gat Dula, and I have looked for you for months. I would like to get to know you."

The two talked as they strolled in the market. They shared stories of their lives, and as the months passed, their romance blossomed. They vowed to love each other forever.

Alas, when Maria's parents heard of the young man, they called their daughter to see them. Her father was furious. "This love cannot be," he told his daughter. "He may be of royal birth, but he is mortal, and you are a daughter of gods. The gods were never meant to join the world of mortals. You may not love this man."

Maria looked at her father and said, "I will always love him."

So Gat Panahon decided his daughter would no longer be permitted to visit Earth. He and Maria's mother took away their daughter's power of enchantment; no longer would she be able to disguise herself as a mortal woman.

The next day, when Maria did not meet him at the market, Gat Dula felt as if his heart had been crushed. He returned the next day, and the next. He knew he would never stop searching for her.

Time passed and Gat Dula was very lonely. Often when he fell asleep, he dreamed of Maria Makiling, and would awake thinking she was there beside him. "A dream," he would say, and then he would smile because he knew this was how he and his beloved would meet, in his dreams.

Kingdoms often fought each other over territory. Gat Dula became a mighty warrior, and though he fought battle after battle, he never was wounded. This, he understood, was Maria looking after him — and when his fellow fighters asked how he remained unhurt, he answered, "My love is the armor against my enemies' swords."

Gat Dula conquered many armies, but Maria could not cure the wound in his heart. And as time passed, he wanted nothing but sleep, for there he could visit his beloved. When he was still a young man, he grew weaker and weaker and finally died of a broken heart.

Maria begged her parents for one favor in her beloved's honor, and it was that she might guard his soul. They agreed. And so it is that ever since, Mount Makiling rises majestically over the countryside. And if you look closely, you'll see the profile of the maiden who is guardian of her lover's soul, the fairy who watches over the lonely and protects those who travel in the mountains.