Traditions of the Tinguian: a Study in Philippine Folk-Lore

Chapter 13

Chapter 134,305 wordsPublic domain

Not long after they were young men. "Mother Alokotán, will you let us go to walk? Do not worry while we are gone, for we will return soon," said the three young men. The old woman said "yes" and they went. They agreed on the place they should go, and Ogogibeng said to them, "We will go where the young girls spin." Kanag and Dumalawi agreed, so they went. Not long after they arrived where the young girls were spinning. "Good evening, girls," they said. "Good evening," they replied. "This is the first time you have been here, rich young men. Why do you come here?" "We came to join you and get acquainted," they said, and they talked. They waited for the girls to go home, but they did not go. Not long after it became morning, and they did not wait any longer for the girls to go home, so they went away. As soon as the three boys went home the young girls went to their homes also. Not long after they arrived where Alokotán was and they ate breakfast. As soon as they finished eating they went to take a walk again. Not long after they arrived in Kaodanan, in the middle of the day. "Good morning, Aunt," they said to Aponigawani. "Good morning, my sons," she replied. "What do you come here for, boys?" "What do you come here for, you say, Aunt; we come to take a walk, for we are anxious to see you," they said. "That is good. Where did you come from?" said Aponigawani. "We came from Nagbotobotán where our mother Alokotán lives." Not long after Aponigawani went to cook for them to eat. As soon as she cooked she fed them. So they ate. Not long after they finished eating and they talked. After that it became night. When they had finished eating in the night they said, "We are going back home, Aunt, but first we are going to the place where those young girls spin." "No, I will not let you go back to Nagbotobotán now, for it is dark. If you are going to the place where the girls are spinning it is all right, but if you are going home I will not let you go down from the house, for I fear you will be lost." So the three young boys said to her, "If you will not let us go back home tonight we will go tomorrow, but we will go where the young girls spin." So Aponigawani and Aponibalagen let them go to where the girls were spinning.

Not long after they arrived at the place where the young girls were and they said, "Good evening, young girls." "Good evening," answered the girls who were spinning. "Why do you come here, rich young men?" "'Why do you come here,' you say, we come to see you spin and to talk with you." Not long after they talked together, and the young men did not wait until the girls went home, for it became morning, so they went back home. As soon as they went away, the young girls went home. When the boys reached the house of Aponigawani and Aponibalagen they told them they were going home to Nagbotobotán. Aponigawani and Aponibalagen did not want to let them go until they had eaten breakfast. The three boys went even though they did not want them to go. As soon as they reached Nagbotobotán the old woman Alokotán asked them where they had been, and she was very angry with them. "Do not be angry with us, mother, for we want to take a walk; we were not lost." "Where did you go, then?" "We went to Kaodanan to see the pretty girls who never go out doors, but we did not find any. We found some young girls spinning at night, but they were not as pretty as we wished, and we talked with them until morning, for we wanted to see where they lived, but we could not wait for them to go back home."

Not long after the old woman Alokotán went to cook. As soon as she finished cooking they ate. Not long after they finished eating and they agreed to go at once to Kadalayapan. The old woman Alokotán would not let them go, so when they finished eating at night they went to Kadalayapan without her consent. As soon as they arrived at the place where the young girls were spinning they said, "Good evening, young girls." "Good evening," the girls answered. "How are you? What do you want here?" "'What do you want here,' you say, and we came to watch you spin and we want to talk with you." So they talked until morning, but the young boys could not wait until the girls went to their homes.

Ayo was still searching for the pigs who had become boys. She heard somebody say that three young boys were talking with the girls last night and they said to her that they were pretty young boys. Ayo said, "Those were my sons. I think they have become men." So she went around the town looking for them. Not long after she met them and she saw that they were no longer little pigs. "Where did you come from, my dear sons?" "We came from Nagbotobotán, Aunt," they answered. "Do not call me aunt, call me mother," said Apon=lbolinayen. The young boys would not call her mother. So Aponibolinayen pressed her breasts and the milk from her breasts went into Kanag's mouth, and when she pressed again the milk went into the mouth of Dumalawi, and when she pressed her breasts the third time the milk went to the mouth of Ogogibeng. So Aponibolinayen was sure that they were her sons. The little boys asked her why it was that the milk from her breasts went into their mouths. "I pressed my breasts to make sure that you are my sons. I am surprised that you have become men, for you were little pigs. That is why you must call me mother, not aunt. For a long time I have searched for you, and when I heard that you were talking with the young girls last night, I came to look for you." So the boys believed that she was their mother. "Why did we grow up in Nagbotobotán with our mother Alokotán, if you are truly our mother?" "I think she found you and took you away, for she is a good woman. She thought you were lost and took you to Nagbotobotán." So Aponibolinayen took them home.

As soon as they arrived home Aponibolinayen said to Aponitolau, "Here are our sons whom I found. They said that they came from Nagbotobotán and that Alokotán was their mother. I told them that I was their mother, but they did not believe me." "I do not believe that they are our sons, for our children were three little pigs." "I also had doubts when I met them, but I pressed my breasts and the milk went to their mouths, so I am sure that they are our sons." Aponitolau was glad that they were men, for he did not want them when they were pigs.

Not long after Aponitolau said to Aponibolinayen, "We are going to make _balaua_, so that we can invite all our relations in the other towns, especially Alokotán." Aponibolinayen used magic, so that when she put a grain of rice in each of twelve big jars they were filled. [246] Not long after Aponitolau commanded his spirit helpers to go and get betel-nuts, to send to the relatives who lived in other places, to invite them. As soon as one of the betel-nuts arrived in Nagbotobotán it said, "Good afternoon, old woman Alokotán. I cannot stay long. Aponibolinayen and Aponitolau sent me to invite you to attend their _Sayang_". "I cannot go, for I am searching for my three sons." "If you do not come I will grow on your knee." "You go first and I will follow, but I cannot stay there long." Not long after all the people from the other towns arrived and they danced until the old woman Alokotán arrived. The three young boys went to hide when Alokotán arrived. Not long after when the _batana_ was nearly finished, "I cannot wait until your _balaua_ is finished, for I am searching for my three boys." "Do not go home yet, for we will see if they will come here to see the young girls. Perhaps they are near here," said Aponitolau. Not long after the three boys appeared to her and Alokotán was glad to see them. "Where have you been, my sons?" "We came to this town and we intended to go back to Nagbotobotán, but our mother Aponibolinayen saw us and she detained us, for she was sure that we are her sons. She pressed her breasts and the milk came into our mouths." The old woman Alokotán was surprised and she went to Aponibolinayen and Aponitolau and talked with them. "Are you sure those boys are your sons? They are my sons. They grew up with me." "Yes, we are sure that they are my sons, for the milk from my breasts went to their mouths. I am surprised that they have become men, for they were three pigs. I searched for them a long time. That is why I was surprised when I saw them, so I pressed my breasts." "Why were you searching for them? Did someone else hang them in the tree?" said Alokotán. Aponibolinayen was surprised and she asked Aponitolau if he saw someone hang the little pigs in the tree while she was washing her hair. Aponitolau laughed, "I did not see anyone get them." One of the women had seen Aponitolau hang them in the tree and she told Alokotán that Aponitolau had hung them up. Alokotán hated Aponitolau and she asked why he had hung them in the tree. "I went to hang them up for I was ashamed, because they were not men but pigs." "That is why you hung them up. You have power. If you did not want them to be pigs you could change them to men. If I had not found them, perhaps they would have died." Not long after the _balaua_ was finished, and the people went home, and the old woman Alokotán went home after the others. She gave all her things to the three boys. This is all.

(Told by Angtan of Langangilang).

17

Aponibolinayen and Aponitolau had a son and they called him Kanag Kabagbagowan, who was Dumalawi every afternoon. Soon he became a young man and he went to make love to Aponitolau's concubines. When Aponitolau went where his concubines were he said, "Open the door." The women did not open the door, but answered, "We do not want to open the door unless you are Dumalawi." "Please open the door," said Ligi [247] to them. The women did not open the door, so he went back home and he was very angry. In the second night Aponitolau went again. "Good evening, women," he said. "Good evening," said the women, and Aponitolau asked them to open the door. "You put your hands into the door and let us see if the marks on the wrist are the marks on Kanag Kabagbagowan." Aponitolau showed them his hands and they said, "You are not Kanag, but you are Ligi, and we do not wish you." Ligi was very angry and he went back home.

Five days later he said, "Sharpen your knife, Kanag, and we will go to cut bamboo." So Kanag sharpened his knife. Not long after they went where many bamboo grew. As soon as they reached the place Ligi said, "You go up and cut the bamboo and sharpen the ends." Ligi cut the bamboo below him. As soon as Ligi had cut many bamboo he asked Kanag if he had cut many, and Kanag said, "Yes." "Did you sharpen the ends? If you pointed them, put them in one place." Kanag soon put them in one place. After that Aponitolau said to him, "Ala, my son, throw them at me so that we can see which is the braver of us." "Ala, you are the first if you want to kill me," Not long after Aponitolau threw all the bamboo at Kanag, but did not hit him. "Ala, you are the next, my son," said Aponitolau. Kanag said, "No, I do not want to throw any at you, for you are my father and I am ashamed." Aponitolau said, "If you do not wish to throw at me we will go back home." As soon as they arrived in Kadalayapan Kanag laid down in their _balaua_. When they called him at meal time he did not wish to go.

When Aponitolau and Apo=nibolinayen finished eating they said, "If you do not wish to eat we will go to see our little house in the fields." "We will go and fix it so we will have some protection during the rainy season," said Aponitolau. So they went truly. As soon as they arrived at the little house in their farm, "Dig up the jar of _basi_ [248] which I buried when I was a boy." So Kanag dug up the _basi_ which Aponitolau had made when he was a little boy. As soon as he had dug it up they drank it, and they put the _basi_ in a big coconut shell. Aponitolau made his son drink a shell full of _basi_, so Kanag truly drank all of it. "Ala, dip again and I will drink next," said Ligi to him, and Ligi drank a shell cup of _basi_. "Ala, dip again, we will drink three shell cups of this _basi_," said Ligi. When Kanag had drunk the three shells of wine he was drunk and he slept. As soon as he was asleep, "What shall I do now," said Ligi to himself. "The best thing for me to do is to send him away with the storm." So he used his magical power and soon the big storm came and took Kanag to Kalaskigan while he was sleeping.

Not long after Aponitolau went back home to Kadalayapan. Aponibolinayen asked him where Kanag was. "I thought he came ahead of me," Ligi said. "I think you have killed him," said Aponibolinayen, "for you think he loves your concubines." Aponitolau went to lie down in their _balaua_ and Aponibolinayen laid down in the house and their hair grew long along the floor, they laid so long.

Not long after Kanag awoke and he saw that he was in the middle of a field so wide that he could not see the edges of it. "How bad my father is to me, for he sent me here," he said. "The best thing for me to do is to create people so that I will have neighbors. I will use magic so that many betel-nut trees will grow in the middle of the field." Not long after the betel-nut trees bore fruit which was covered with gold. He took the betel-nuts and cut them in many pieces. In the middle of the night he used his power and he said, "I will use magic and when I scatter all the betel-nuts which I have cut, they will become women and men, who will be my neighbors tomorrow."

Not long after it became morning and he saw that he had many neighbors and he heard many people talking near to his house and many roosters crowing. So Kanag was glad, for he had many companions. He went down the ladder, and he went where the people were burning fires in the yards of their houses, and he went to see all of them. While he was visiting them he saw Dapilísan in the yard of her house and Kanag said to Bangan and Dalonágan, "My Aunt Bangan and my Uncle Dalonágan, do not be surprised, for I want to marry your daughter Dapilísan." "If you marry our daughter, your father and mother will be greatly ashamed," said Dalonágan. Kanag said to them, "My father and mother did not want me and they will not interfere." So they were married.

"The best way for us to do, Dapilísan, is for us to make _Sayang_" said Kanag. So Dapilísan commanded someone to go and get the betel-nut fruit which was covered with gold. Not long after, "Ala, you betel-nuts which are covered with gold come here and oil yourselves, and go and invite all the people to come and attend our _Sayang_." So the betel-nuts oiled themselves and they went to invite the people in the different towns. Not long after they went. One of the betel-nuts went to Kadalayapan, and one went where Kanag's sweetheart lived. Some of them went to Pindayan and Donglayan, which is the home of Iwaginan and Gimbangonan.

Not long after Aponibolinayen was anxious to chew betel-nut. "I am going to chew. What ails me, for I am so anxious to chew? I had not intended to eat anything while Kanag is away." She looked up at her basket, and she saw that an oiled betel-nut, which was covered with gold, was in it. She picked it up and tried to cut it. "Do not cut me, for I came to invite you, for Kanag and his wife Dapilísan sent me to summon you to their _Sayang_ in Kalaskigan," said the betel-nut. Aponibolinayen was glad when she heard that Kanag was alive. So she got up and told all the people of Kadalayapan to wash their hair so that they might attend the _Sayang_ in Kalaskigan. The people asked who was making _Sayang_ in Kalaskigan, and she replied that it was Kanag and his wife Dapilísan. Not long after they washed their clothes and hair, and took a bath. When it became afternoon they went and Aponitolau followed them, and he looked as if he was crazy. As soon as they arrived at the river near the town of Kalaskigan, Kanag saw them and there were many of them by the river. He sent crocodiles and they went to take the people across the river. Aponitolau was the first who rode on one of the crocodiles and the crocodile dived, so Aponitolau went back again to the bank of the river. Not long after Aponitolau's companions were all on the other side of the river, and he was alone, for the crocodiles would not carry him across. He shouted as if crazy, and Kanag sent one of the crocodiles to get him. Not long after one crocodile went where Aponitolau was, and he stood on its back and it took him to the other side of the river.

When they all sat down beside the river, Dalonágan said, "What shall we use for the _alawig_, [249] for your father and mother?" "The singed pig, for it is the custom of the people in Kadalayapan," said Kanag to his mother-in-law. "Go and get some of the pigs and singe them," said Dalonágan to him. Not long after he singed the pigs and he carried them to the people, and his wife Dapilísan carried one little jar which looked like a fist, filled with _basi_. As soon as the woman who was making _Sayang_ had finished the _diam_ [250] near by the well, Dapilísan made the people drink the _basi_ which she carried. Each person drank from a golden cup filled with _basi_ from out of the little jar which looked like a fist, and one third of the _basi_ in the jar was still left. [251] As soon as the people drank they took them up to the town.

When they arrived in the town Aponibolinayen was anxious for them to chew betel-nut. So she gave some to Kanag and his wife Dapilísan and to some others. So they chewed and Kanag said to them, "You are first to tell your names." "My name is Aponitolau of Kadalayapan," said the man who looked like he was crazy. "My name is Aponibolinayen." As soon as they had told their names Kanag was the next and he said, "My name is Kanag Kabagbagowan who was carried by the big storm." "My name is Dapilísan, who is the daughter of Bangan and Dalonágan, who is the wife of your son Kanag, for whom you did not make _pakálon_. It is bad if you do not like the marriage." "Our daughter, Dapilísan, we like you, for Kanag wanted to marry you," said Aponibolinayen. Not long after the _balaua_ was nearly finished, but the people were still dancing. "Now my _abalayan_ [252] Dalonágan, we are going to pay the marriage price according to the custom," said Aponibolinayen. "Our custom is to fill the _balaua_ nine times with the different kind of jars." So Aponibolinayen said, "Ala, you _alan_ [253] who live in the different springs and _bananáyo_ of Kaodanan and you _liblibayan_, go and get the jars, _malayo_ and _tadogan, sumadag_ and _ginlasan_ and _addeban_ and _gumtan_, which Kanag must pay as the marriage price for Dapilísan." As soon as she had commanded they went, and they filled the _balaua_ nine times, and Aponibolinayen said to Dalonágan, "I think now that we have paid the marriage price," and Dolonágan said, "No, there is more still to pay." "All right, if we still owe, tell us and we will pay." So Dalonágan called her big pet spider and said, "You, my pet spider, go around the town of Kalaskigan and spin a thread as you go, on which Aponibolinayen must string golden beads."

When the spider had put a thread around the town Dalonágan said to Aponibolinayen, "Now, you put golden beads on the spider's thread which surrounds the town." Aponibolinayen again commanded the _liblibayan, alan_, and the other spirits to go and get the golden beads. As soon as they secured the beads they put them on the thread which surrounded the town. Not long after they arrived and they strung the beads on the thread. As soon as they finished, Dalonágan hung on the thread to see if it would break. Dapilisan said, "Ala, you thread of the spider be strong and do not break, or I shall be ashamed." Truly, the thread did not break when Dalonágan hung on it. "Ala, my _abalayan_, is there any other debt?" asked Aponibolinayen, and Dalonágan said, "No more." When the _balaua_ was over the people who went to attend the _Sayang_ went home, and Aponibolinayen said to Kanag, "Now, we will take you back to Kadalayapan," and he replied, "No, for I wish to live here." When they could not take him to Kadalayapan, Aponibolinayen said to Aponitolau, "I am going to stay here with him," but Aponitolau would not let her stay, but took her back.

(Told by Angtan of Lagangilang).

18

Aponibolinayen went to the spring. As soon as she arrived there she washed her hair. When she washed her hair she dived into the water, and she did not know that blood from her body was being washed away by the water.

"I am going to the spring," said the _alan_, who was Inil-lagen. As soon as she arrived at the river she took her headaxe and scooped up the blood which was carried by the stream and she went back to Dagápan. As soon as she reached her house she put the blood on a big plate which was inherited through nine generations, and she covered it.

"I am going to the well," said Aponigawani of Natpangan. As soon as she arrived she burned rice straw, which had been inherited nine times, and she put it in the pot with water. After that she took the water from the jar and put it in the coconut shell and she washed her hair. As soon as she washed her hair she dived in the river, and she washed her arm beads which twinkled in the evening, and she did not know that her blood was flowing and was being carried away by the stream.

"I am going to the well," said the _alan_ Apinganan who lived in Bagonan, and she saw the blood of Aponigawani, and she secured it on her headaxe, and she put it inside of her belt. After that she went home. As soon as she arrived in her house she put the blood in the big dish, which had been nine times inherited, and she covered it.

"I am going to uncover my toy," said the _alan_ Inil-lagen. "No do not uncover me, grandmother; I have no clout and belt," said the little boy. So she gave him a clout and belt and after that she uncovered it. "Ala, we will give him the name of Ilwisan of Dagápan," said all the _alan_.

"I am going to uncover my toy," said the _alan_ Apinganan. "No, do not uncover me, because I have no clout and belt," said the little boy. So Apinganan gave him a clout and belt and uncovered him. "Ala, there is no other good name, but Dondonyán of Bagonan.

"I am going to fight," said Dondonyán of Bagonan. He took his headaxe, which was one span long, and he went to get Ilwisan of Dagápan, and so Ilwisan took his headaxe, which was one span long, and they went. As soon as they got out of the town they began to strike their shields with a stick. The sound of the beating was as great as that made by one hundred. As soon as Aponibolinayen heard the noise of the shields she shouted and Danay of Kabisilan shouted also, and those who shouted were the ladies who always staid in the house. [254] When they passed by the spring of Natpangan Aponigawani shouted. When they passed by Pindayán, Gimbagonan shouted and the world trembled while she shouted.