Chapter 23 of 28 · 3972 words · ~20 min read

Part 23

In the first times men went to the mountains to hunt deer and hogs. One man kept his dog in the open land outside of the forest, to wait for the game. While he waited there with his dog, the big bird Banog came to take him away; and it flew with him over the mountains near to Licuan. [358] The bird took him to her nest in the tree. There were two young birds in the nest. When the bird laid him in the nest he was on a branch of the tree. Three young pigs were in the nest. The bird went away to get animals. After it went away, the man cut the meat in small pieces for the young birds, and the man ate also because the tree was big and he could not go away. The bird brought deer and pigs all the time, and the man always cut the meat in small pieces. After a while the two young birds could fly near to the nest. When they were standing outside of the nest he held on to their wings and the birds flew down under the tree. Then the man took his bolo and cut off their heads and took them to his town and made _layog_ [359] for the heads. After the man's _layog_, he wanted to go to _alzados_ [360] town to fight them. He had been near to the _alzados_ town about one month.

While he was away, his wife died. He came back to the town and in the way he met his wife (her spirit) with a cow and two pigs. The man asked his wife where she was going. She said to him, "I am not a person any more, I am dead." Her husband wanted to touch her hand and his wife gave only her shortest finger. Her husband said, "Wait a while for me, I will go with you." His wife said, "If you go to our house, take the white chicken and you will see the footmarks of the cow and pigs." He followed the footmarks, and while he was walking he saw his wife washing in the river, under the tree. She said, "You come and I go with you to own town (i.e., spirit town), and I will put you in the rice bin, because the people in the town will want to eat you in the nighttime; but if they come in the nighttime, you must take some of the feathers of the chicken and throw at them, and I will bring you something to eat."

They went to the spirit town, and she put him in the rice bin, and gave him something to eat. In the evening, the spirits came to eat the man. The man took some of the feathers and threw at them. The spirits were afraid of the feathers. They did this every night, and his wife brought him something to eat every day. The spirits said to the man's wife, "We smell Ipogau." [361] His wife said, "No Ipogau in here." In about two weeks the feathers were nearly gone. Then his wife told him, "It is better for you to go home, because there are no more feathers. I will give you some rice for you to eat in the way. I will show you the road." The man agreed, and they went in the way. She showed him the road. While the man was walking in the way he saw his town and he asked for his wife. They said his wife was dead and they had buried her under his house; then he made _layog_ for his wife.

The father of Siagon [362] was head man of Patok. He walked one night on the road which goes to Domayko. In the road he saw a big man whom he thought was Padawil. Then he smelt a bad odor and knew it was a _ladag_ [363] He struck it with his whip and it said, "Hah." It was night and he ran very fast to the council house, and on the way he threw away his clothes. When they came to the place where the spirit had stood, they found a deep hole there like a carabao wallow.

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Dalioya died; they put her in the ground under the house. After a while Baluga's rice was ripe and was ready to cut. Baluga went to cut it. He went home before dark from his field. Dalioya came out from the ground. She went to cut the rice for him. The next morning he went to cut the rice again. He saw the rice had been cut, but he did not know who cut it. He went home again before dark and went to cut the rice again the next morning. He saw again the rice cut by Dalioya, but he did not yet know who cut it. He said to himself, "I must wait for the person who comes to cut my rice." After dark his wife came, and Baluga lay down very still; when Dalioya walked near him, he waked up and caught her. Dalioya said, "Let me go." Baluga said, "No, I will not let you go." She said, "If you come with me to get my life, I will be very glad." "Yes," said he. Then they went down in the ground where is the spirit's home. When they got there the spirits were sleeping. Dalioya said, "Take that green bamboo cup, because they put my life in it." Baluga took it and they went up on the ground. One spirit waked up and said, "There are Baluga and his wife walking in our vine way." All the spirits ran to catch them. When the spirits were going up in the vine, Baluga cut the vine with his bolo. The spirits fell down. Baluga and his wife went home. As soon as they reached their home, they made a party. There were many people there on that big day. They were drinking _basi_, eating rice and meat, and singing and dancing because they were having a good time. That party lasted two days. After that the people went home. Baluga and Dalioya went to cut their rice.

The _alan_ [365] once found the afterbirth outside the town and made it a real baby whose name was Sayen.

Sayen lived in Benben. He was very brave and often went to fight without companions.

He wanted to marry Danipán who lives in Kadalayapan, but she did not wish. She hid; so Sayen married her servant, thinking she was Danipán. The name of the servant was Laey. Sayen took her home. They had one baby. One day Sayen was making a plow under the house. Laey was in the house with her baby. She was singing in the house to her baby. "Sayen thinks I am Danipán, but I am Laey, Laey no aglage-le-gey-ley." Sayen heard the song and said to himself that his wife was not Danipán. He went up into the house and said, "Take off your upper arm beads, and in the morning you will go to the fields with your baby, because I will go there to plow." She said, "Yes." In the morning he went there. He went to cut down the bamboo bridge. At noon his wife carried food to him. She took her baby with her. When she reached the bamboo bridge it fell with her and they fell into the water. Sayen went back to his house. When he got there, he took his headaxe, spear, and shield, and he went to Kadalayapan. When he got there, he began to kill the people of the town. When he had killed many people the _lakay_ [366] called Danipán, "Come out, Sayen is killing many people of the town, because you did something bad to him." She came out to Sayen and said to him, "Do not kill all the people, leave some of them so I can go to borrow fire from them." Sayen answered her, "Take the betel-nut in my bag and cut it in two pieces for me to eat, for I am very tired." She took the betel-nut from his bag and cut it in two pieces, and Sayen chewed the betel-nut. Sayen spat on some of the dead people and made them alive again and he married Danipán and took her to Benben.

When the people in Magisang [367] went to hunt deer and when they went to divide it, the _komau_, a big spirit who looks like a man, and who kills people, [368] went to them to ask them, "How many did you catch?" If they had caught two they told him "Two," and the _komau_ said, "I caught two also." When they went to their town, there were two dead people there in their town. Anytime they went to hunt the _komau_ asked them how many they had caught, and when they said how many, the _komau_ always said he had that many, and when they reached the town that many were dead. The _komau_ did that often and many people were dead. The people in Magisang heard that Sayen was a very brave man and they went to him to tell him about the _komau_. Sayen said to them, "I come, but I must hide by the trees. When the _komau_ comes and asks you how many deer you have caught he will ask you where I am. You will say to him that you do not know where I am, because you did not hear of me yet. I am sure the _komau_ will ask you where I am, because he will smell me." The people said, "Yes." They went to hunt. When they reached the forest, they caught two deer and they went to the place where they singed and divided those deer which they had caught. While they were sitting there, the _komau_ came to them and said, "How many have you?" They answered, "Two." The _komau_ said, "I have two also. Sayen is here." The people said, "We do not know about Sayen, where he is." Then Sayen came out and killed the _komau_.

Kaboniyan [369] went to Sayen in Benben and said, "Are you a brave man, Sayen? You are brave, because you killed the _komau_." Sayen said, "Yes, I am a brave man." Kaboniyan said, "If you are a brave man, I will meet you in that place at a distance." Sayen said, "Yes." Kaboniyan told him the day when he would meet him, and Sayen was to stay in the lower place and Kaboniyan in the higher place. Sayen went there on that day. When he reached there and was waiting he heard a sound like a storm and said to himself, "Here is Kaboniyan." Kaboniyan called to him, "Are you there, Sayen?" "I am here," said Sayen. "Are you a brave man?" said Kaboniyan to Sayen. Sayen said, "Yes." Kaboniyan said to him, "Catch this," and he threw his spear. Sayen caught the spear. It was as big as a large tree. Kaboniyan asked, "Did you catch it?" "Yes," said Sayen. "Here is again," said Kaboniyan, and threw his headaxe. Sayen caught it. "Did you catch it, Sayen?" said Kaboniyan. Sayen said, "Yes." The axe was as large as the end roof of a house. Kaboniyan said, "Here is again," and threw his shield. Sayen caught it again. "Did you catch it, Sayen?" Sayen said, "Yes." Kaboniyan said, "Here is again," and threw a very big stone. Sayen caught it. "Did you catch it, Sayen?" said Kaboniyan. Sayen said, "Yes," and Kaboniyan said to him, "Wait for me, I come down to you." When Kaboniyan got there, he and Sayen fought face to face and they got tired, because Kaboniyan could not beat Sayen, and Sayen could not beat Kaboniyan. Sayen said, "I take my headaxe, because I am very tired." Kaboniyan said, "Do not take your headaxe; you are a brave man; I will be your friend and we will go to fight anywhere." Sayen said, "Yes." Then they were friends and went to fight in many towns. If the people in the town caught them in the way when they went home from fighting, or when they were in the river, Sayen could be a fish and hide. They fought in one town. Sayen became a chicken after fighting. He went under the house where the chickens roost. He did that many times and the people in the town noticed that Sayen could be a chicken or a fish. When he came with Kaboniyan to the town to fight the people, he went under the house to the chickens' place. The people said to themselves, "We will put a fish trap there, because Sayen after fighting goes in the chicken coop." They put a trap under the house by the coop. Sayen came in the town again to fight. After fighting he went under the house and he went into the trap, and the people caught and killed him.

This all happened not very long ago.

In the old times Malilipeng was walking along the trail in the woods when he heard the _alan_ [370] in the trees. He laid down on his face as if dead and the _alan_ who saw him began to wail, for they thought he was dead. When they brought gold and beads to place on him, he sprang up and drove them away. "Give us the one bead which is _nagaba_, or we will burn your house," said the _alan_. The man refused. When he reached home his house was burned, but he still had the bead.

Two men went to hunt wild pig. They killed one, but had no fire to singe it, so one man climbed a tree to see if he could see where was a fire. He saw a little fire at a distance and went to get it. When he got where the fire was, he saw it was in the house of an _alan_. He was very much afraid, but he went up and saw the _alan_, who had a baby, was asleep. He walked very quietly, but the _alan_ woke up and said, "What do you want?" "I want fire, for we have killed a little wild pig." "Do not say little pig, but larger," said the _alan_. "Larger," said the man, for he was afraid. "Do not say larger, but big," said _alan._ "Big." "Do not say big, but very big," said the _alan_. "Very big," said the man. Then the _alan_ gave him the fire, and she took her big basket and went with him to where the pig was. They singed the pig, and the _alan_ cut it up with her nails. Then she gave the liver to the man, and told him to take it to her house and feed the baby. The man went, but on the way he ate the liver. When he got to the house, he saw a big caldron with hot water on the fire. He took the _alan's_ baby and put it in the hot water and then went back. "Did the baby eat well?" asked the _alan_. "Very well," he answered. Then the _alan_ put most of the meat in her basket and started home. The man told his companion what he had done and they were both very much afraid; so they ran to hide.

When the _alan_ got home, she saw the baby dead in the water. Then she went to find the men. They had climbed a high tree which stood near the water, and when the _alan_ looked in the water, she saw them in it. She put her hand in the water and tried to get them, but could not; then she looked up and saw them again. "How did you get up there?" she asked. "We climbed up feet first." Then the _alan_ seized a vine and started up the tree feet first. When she had almost reached them, they cut the vine and the _alan_ fell to the ground and was dead. The men came down from the tree and went to the house of the _alan_. When they got there, they saw three jars: the first was full of dung; the second, of beads; the third, of gold. They took the jars with the beads and gold and went home.

The earth, which is very flat, was made by the great spirit Kadaklan. He also made the sun and moon, which chase each other over and under the earth. Sometimes the moon almost catches the sun, but it always gets tired and gives up before it succeeds. The sun and moon are the lights of Kadaklan and so are the stones which are stars. The dog of Kadaklan is the lightning.

Kaboniyan once sent a flood which covered all the land. There was no place for the fire to go, so it went into the bamboo, the stones, and the iron. Now that is why you can get fire out of the bamboo and stones.

A man planted rice in the high land. When it was grown, he saw that something was eating it, though he had a fence around it. One night he went to watch his field. About midnight he heard many wings and saw some big animals with wings alight in his rice. He ran and caught one, and cut off its wings. The animal was pregnant and soon had a young one. Since then there have been horses on the earth, but people have never seen any more fly. You can see the place on the horse's legs where the wings used to be.

A lazy man was planting corn in the high land. He would plant a few seeds and then put his planting stick in the ground and lean back on it. After a while the stick grew there and was a tail, and the man became a monkey. [371]

A very lazy boy got a piece of sugar-cane and went home with it. When he got home, he told his mother to take off the outside of the stalk so he might eat it. His mother was angry to see him so lazy and told him that if he could not take it off himself, to stick it up his anus. He did so and became a monkey.

A very lazy girl would not learn to spin, and always pretended that she did not know how. One day she took the cotton and asked the women what to do with it. "Beat it out," they said. Then she asked, "What shall I do with it then?" "Put it in a betel leaf on a stick and spin it." Again she asked, "How shall I spin it?" "If you do not know how to spin, put the stick up your anus." She did so, and became a monkey. After that there were many monkeys.

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In an early time, the Tinguian were like the _alzado_, [373] and hunted heads. The men from one town started to another on the other side of the Abra river to get heads. While they were on the way, it rained very hard; and when they reached the river, they could not get across, so they prayed to the Spirit that he would give them wings to cross. They at once became birds; but when they reached the other side of the river, they could not resume the forms of men. Some of the men's wives had just died, and they had bark bands on their heads, as is the Tinguian custom. When these became birds, their heads were white; but those of the others were black, and so they are to this day.

A mother had a very lazy boy who could do nothing. One day she went away to get something, and she put a big basket over the boy. When she came home, she took the basket up, but instead of the boy there was a bird which flew away, crying "sigakok, sigakok, sigakok,"--"lazy, lazy, lazy." And so that bird is called _sigakok_.

A long time ago there was a young man who cut all the trees in a little wood. When he had cut up them, he burned them, and he planted rice in the field. In a few days the rice was ready to cut and the young man went to find a girl for him to marry. He found a girl in the other town. He married her and he took her with him to his home. When they got home the man said to his wife, "Let us go to see our rice." They went to see the rice. At midday they went home. The next day the man sent his wife to go to cut the rice. When she got to the rice, she thought to herself that she could not cut it in a month. Said she to herself, "I want to be a bird." She lay down on the floor in a little house that the man had made. She put her hat over her to be her blanket. Then she became a bird which we call _kakok_ now. Her cloth became her feathers. In the morning the man went with some rice for his wife to eat. When he got there, he could not see his wife. He walked and walked, but he did not find her, then he came to the little house. He saw his wife's hat, and he picked it up. The bird flew away, crying "_kakok, kakok_."

In the first time Ganoway was the man who possessed a dog which caught many deer; and Kaboniyan allowed. The dog pursued the deer which went in a cave in the rock. The dog went in also, and Ganoway followed into the hole in the rock. He walked, always following the dog which was barking, and he felt the shrubs which he touched. The shrubs all had fruit which tinkled when he touched them. Then he broke off those branches which tinkled as he touched them, and Kaboniyan allowed. He came to the end of the cave in the rock which was at the river Makatbay, and his dog was there, for he had already caught the deer, which was a buck. It was light in the place where he was, at the river Makatbay, and he looked at the shrub which he had broken off in the dark place in the cave. He saw that the shrub was _denglay_ which bore fruit--the choice agate bead, which is good for the Tinguian dress. He was glad. He cut up the deer into pieces and placed it on a bamboo pole which he carried. He thought always of the beads and wished to return to that shrub which he touched. He returned and searched, but was not able to find it, and because he failed he returned to his home in An-nay. There was not one who did not envy him those beads which he brought home, and they asked him to show them the way to the cave. He showed them the hole in the rock where he and his dog had gone in. They took torches and walked, always walked, but at last they were not able to go further, for the rest of the cave was closed. That place is now called Ganoway, for he was the one who secured the beads which grew in the cave of Kaboniyan, which cave the spirit always keeps clean. [374]