? Europe
Fragment of a letter in Tagalog signed “Laong Laan”, a Rizal pseudonym – Written in metaphorical language: “It is true that the times are bad, the ground is not fertile, there are many locusts, frequent typhoons, and the wind blows away the seeds; but with devoted care there will always be found there some fish, as D. M. says” – Expresses loss of confidence in the campaign for reforms in Europe – The fight should be in the Philippines.
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Europe, October 1891 (?)
…of the plants that may grow. In case I shall no longer be living when the seed yields its fruit, perhaps those who will inherit it will have it harvested. It is true that times are bad, the land is unfertile, there are many locusts, frequent typhoons, and the wind blows away the seeds, but with devoted care there will be found there some fish, as D. M. says.
You will have hope of the palay that has been wet by the rain, it is good for you to hope, just in case; I, whose eyes have become dim for reading the writings on the sky, am no longer very credulous. My purpose is only to use the rain, the locusts, the typhoon to fertilized the ground; the stones that are scattered are to harden the mire, the heat of the sun is to dry the mud.
If our countrymen are counting on us here in Europe, they are very much mistaken. I do not want to deceive anyone. If there is no money, we cannot do much: we can help them with our life in our country. That general error that we help here in this distant country is very, very wrong. Medicine should be brought near to the patient. If I did not only wish to shorten my parent’s lives, I would not have left the Philippines whatever might happen. Those five months that I spent there were a vivid example, a book very much better that Noli me tangere. The battlefield is the Philippines: There is where we should meet. God will that my parents may not die and you will see me then again in our native land. There we will help one another, there together we will suffer on triumph perhaps.
The majority of our compatriots in Europe are afraid, they flee from the fire, and they are brave only so long as they are far from danger and they are in a peaceful country! The Philippines should not count on them; she should depend on her own strength.
LAONG LAAN
[Jose Rizal]
03-668 [Reformists]