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Pinya legend
Tagalog tellers explain why the pineapple has so many "eyes". The common story is about a girl named Pina who could not find things in the house. Her mother wished she had many eyes. After Pina died, a fruit with many eyes grew from her grave.
Folklore is retold; versions differ.
Sources: Wikipedia: Pineapple (CC BY-SA 4.0) · Wikidata (CC0)
The story
The pineapple is called pinya in Tagalog. In the common tale, a girl named Pina is always unable to find things in the house. Her mother wishes that she had many eyes. After Pina dies, a new fruit grows from her grave, covered with many "eyes". The tale explains the look of the fruit. Details change between tellers, and no citable old written version is known.
The real history of the fruit is better recorded. Wikipedia says the Spanish brought the Red Spanish kind from Latin America. People grew it for the fiber in its leaves from at least the 17th century. The fibers, often mixed with abaca, were woven into thin, lace-like cloth called pina. It was a luxury export, and it was used to make the barong tagalog and the baro't saya. The industry fell apart in World War II and is slowly being revived.
In the 1920s, Dole and Del Monte opened plantations on Mindanao. Dole's was in Cotabato, and Del Monte's was in Bukidnon. The Philippines is today among the top exporters of the fruit.