epics

BUOD (SUMMARY) OF BIAG NI LAM-ANG

Don Juan and his wife Namongan lived in Nalbuan, now part of La Union in the northern part of the Philippines. They had a son named Lam-ang. Before Lam-ang was born, Don Juan went to the mountains in order to punish a group of their Igorot enemies. While he was away, his son Lam-ang was born. It took four people to help Namongan give birth. As soon as the baby boy popped out, he spoke and asked that he be given the name Lam-ang. He also chose his godparents and asked where his father was.


After nine months of waiting for his father to return, Lam-ang decided he would go look for him.  Namongan thought  Lam-ang was up to the challenge but she was sad to let him go. During his exhausting journey, he decided to rest for awhile. He fell asleep and had a dream about his father's head being stuck on a pole by the Igorot. Lam-ang was furious when he learned what had happened to his father. He rushed to their village and killed them all, except for one whom he let go so that he could tell other people about Lam-ang's greatness. 

Upon returning to Nalbuan in triumph, he was bathed by women in the Amburayan river. All the fish died because of the dirt and odor from Lam-ang's body.

There was a young woman named Ines Kannoyan whom Lam-ang wanted to woo.  She lived in Calanutian and he brought along his white rooster and gray dog to visit her. On the way, Lam-ang met his enemy Sumarang, another suitor of Ines whom he fought and readily defeated.


Lam-ang found the house of Ines surrounded by  many suitors all of whom were trying to catch her attention.  He had his rooster crow, which caused a nearby house to fall.  This made Ines look out. He had his dog bark and in an instant the fallen house rose up again. The girl's parents witnessed this and called for him. The rooster expressed the love of Lam-ang. The parents agreed to a marriage with their daughter  if Lam-ang would give them a dowry valued at double their wealth. Lam-ang had no problem fulfilling this condition and he and Ines  were married.

It was a tradition to have a newly married man swim in the river for the rarang fish. Unfortunately, Lam-ang dove straight into the mouth of the water monster Berkakan. Ines had Marcos get his bones, which she covered with a piece of  cloth. His rooster crowed and his dog barked and slowly the bones started to move.  Back alive, Lam-ang and his wife lived happily ever after with his white rooster and gray dog.

FolK song dandansoy

Dandansoy, bayaan ta icao
Pauli aco sa Payao
Ugaling con icao hidlauon
Ang Payaw imo lang lantauon.

Dandansoy, con imo apason
Bisan tubig di magbalon
Ugaling con icao uhauon
Sa dalan magbobonbobon.

  Convento, diin ang cura?
Municipio, diin justicia?
Yari si dansoy maqueja.
Maqueja sa paghigugma

Ang panyo mo cag panyo co
Dala diri cay tambijon co
Ugaling con magcasilo
Bana ta icao,asawa mo aco.

How the Elephant got his trunk by Harry - aged 8 St. Ives England

Once upon a time, there was a sad elephant. He was dirty and stinky, because he could not reach to wash his back. All the other animals didn’t play with him because he was smelly.
Elephant sat under a tree, where nobody could see him. He started to cry. His head was hanging down, crying big tears. He sat and cried for days. One day, when his tears had dried up, he went to itch his head and he felt a bump on his back. Then he noticed his nose had stretched because it had got wet with all the crying and it was now a long trunk which had hit him on his back.
He went to the river and got his trunk, put it in the water and sucked the water up. Then he sprayed his back with water.
All the other animals came over to him and said “you are so clean and smell so lovely. Do you want to play with us?”
The elephant was so happy and said “yes.”

the end