Once upon a time, there were two sisters named Tita and Nita. They were very different from each other. Tita was the elder, and she was spoiled. Being the first child, she received many gifts and everything she asked for from her parents. She was vain, proud, selfish and quarrelsome. No one liked Tita in the barrio.
Nita, the younger daughter, was kind, helpful, humble, modest and friendly to everyone. She was kind to both the rich and poor, while her sister Tita wrinkled her nose up at the beggar and told him to get a job.
The two lived in a large farm in the village, and had many mango trees. Tita loved eating the fruit, so that is why her parents planted them. Unfortunately, ill fate struck their family and their parents died. Tita and Nita both grieved their parents, and in turn healed differently from each other. Tita was a realist and wanted to protect her family from harm, so she would never lose her sister. Nita was an optimist and wanted to help others, so in turn, they would receive help. This was important to Nita because she didn’t want her and Tita to suffer. The differences in their personalities and grief journey caused a crack between the two sisters.
One day, an old woman came to visit their farm. Nita answered the door and the old woman asked for food. Nita gave her some mangoes to eat and invited her in for dinner. Upon entering the home, Tita shouted at Nita to get the old beggar out of there because she might steal something.
The old woman turned out to be a deity in disguise. As a reward to Nita, she said that any mango that Nita would touch would be sweet. And any mango that Tita touched would be sour.
Since then, the fruits of all mango trees have had two tastes: some are sweet, some are sour.