III The Syncretic Myth

1. Four Samples

All the collected versions of the Talanganay myth are syncretisms of what is here assumed to have been the original Talanganay myth and one or more other myths that have independent existence in neighboring areas. In these syncretic myths, the roles of the main figures are either ascribed to Talanganay or shared with him. It was a certain Bidolong, the most influential leader in Buaya, who died a few years before my arrival in 1964, who thought he did a good thing by introducing syncretism.

Four representative complete texts of the myth, by four different narrators, are now presented. For the sake of economy, the Kalinga text of only the first of these versions is given, with its hesitations and repetitions, together with an almost literal translation. In the three other texts, those Kalinga terms that seem more relevant are given in parentheses. The first version is by an old man, and the other three by old women. It will be noted that the latter’s versions are more fluent. The first version also suffers from the old man’s use (and occasional misuse) of Ilocano words, the lingua franca of Northern Luzon.

I. Bayudang (male):

Sadadi maong-ag un dinatngak ut tu’d Buntuk, si Panabang, si Aggalaw, sadit Dawagan, sadit Gasagas. Awad kad si Gasagas, sad nanongngak ut istolya’t mipugun situn batu.

Da Talanganay, kanu e bo mikanun a di kan da Kabunyan, Patubog, adi kad tuwuda. Yo satun Patubog man ayya-ayyaw kanu. Da Talanganay kan Kabunyan, adi kad nam pandayda kanu’t tagu. Ut tuwu kanu tun tagu un pinandayda. Yo adi mabuko di osa a, un adi maikabil angosna. Sadadi duwa, sad biniyagna didan. O, pinan-asawana kanu didan. O, ummadudan. Ummaduda kanun. Yo adik tigammu’d ngadangadandan. Yo dida’d inunggaw sidin batun a, ta ummadudan. Ot sadatun ganakdan, taya ummadudan, adikad dida’d ummadu’t tun balyu’n satun. Ta bokon un insagida’n ummadu-adu dadin, ta awe-awe-awen un timpu yan din. Un bo ngangay a nasuwitda nin sidin taya.

Tukawonda kanu kad di ay-ayamon; gasumbi di tukawonda, padong, uwimong, kuwitong; tukawonda’t din gubu’n diin batu. Ut sadadi maong-agon, aduda kanu’n i mambuyan ut di. Ot binaaganda kanu din butik didin batun ut kapon situ’d bobooyon. Sat ugawandan di man-istolyan.

Sadin bitu-u un nedi’t din sobanna, ma-id tagammu’n dadi mamaong-ag pay ta, ut di, sadi bitu-u’n awad sidi sobanna man? Ma-id tagammun’n dadi mamaonga-ag pay ta, bo adita tigammu nu sadadi man-atingig ut di koonda’n dida’d nangwa’t din. Dada-an payyan a. Ilan dadi papannakom pay di kugit didit a, un sad sobanna.

Ot sadi istolyan ut din ta inunggawda kanun ud tagu’t tun, ut di’d Sipaton un amman nu labi, ida kanu mantokaw si agu’t mambayuda ut din bagong didin batu. Agin-wakasan kanu kadon, nu manlaplapu’n mabilag lagudon, ida isubli di agu, ngem magid ilan dadi tagu’t bagidan. Ta sai agu lawan un mampakiwong a ida sublin, sad dongngondan.

Osa’n labi kanun, ta kankanayun kanu’n umoy dadi I mandongo sidadi aygayamdan, un mangoy kanu dadi mamaonggagon a, ot kankanayun kanu un umoyda, un i umatindal ut di koonda, ut di kakigad di magaygayam a ya, ida mkibagbagagan a ammin.

Si Talanganay, adikad piyagona kanu un pasig a piyesa tun pita, un magid datun bantabantay. Yo gaputa si Patubog, “Ay, naligat a ta mangkakainga tun sinayug un tagu ta ummadudan. Mankankankanayunda’n mangkabkabil kad, naligat. Napiya nu mansossodak si butod, ta adida mangkakanayun un mampapatoy” kagana kanun, ot nangabak a lawa. Mangwa kanu kad manon, nangipsuk kanu’t guboy sidi danum, “Ta dayam nu umuwi’d matoy, nu awad matoy sidatun sinayugku,” kagana kanu, yo adi’n Patubog kogon. Inipsukna kanu di paidan a manangtom a matoy din tagu a ta “Magid ugawanta’t tun lubung nu adita matoy,” kagana kanu. Unot mangogasta’n matoyon a ut din.

Ot osa kanu payyan sai adi na-angosan a tagu, adikad pinambain Talanganay un iyug kanu tun. Satun taklaytaklayna unas; ot satun iki, adikad baat kanu, “tadayam a lawa un mantuwadan datun sinayugon ot imulada,” ka-ana kanun. Sad nakwa-an dadiyoy a mimuwan. Adi bali din pagoy ta awad naapuwana manon, un sabai di.

Osa’n labi kanu, adu’n tagu’n ummoy kanu’t din un i nikibuya, yo awad kanu kad ne osa un mataptapang un naligwat sinet Magsiyakan. Dummomang sinet. Atingigona kanu pay a di ko-on dadi inunggaw ut ne batu un kuwitong, uwimong, pedong, gasumbi. Yo kakkatna kanu’n: “Mangiduyawkayu mampay si uki’t bagik,” ka-ana kanu a ut di. “Ay, nu nappogandakamin, bo maponkamin a,” ka-an kanun dine osa’n summimbang. Ut gumminga kanu man ne osan: “Sadi, pasinsiya-onmin lawan di inugudnu’n ‘uki,’ yo adikayu lawa i mangaip ut tun batug di booymi, ta tangaonyu kad dane paiyong, adikad naligat, nadadag.” Yo i kanu udot mangaip di nangugud si uki, pinan-aswodna kanu dadi tuwu’n paiyong si sangina’n: “ay, sadiyoyon. Maponkami lawan, ta nadadag tun ko-oko-onyu, ta adikayu’n amod pumati. Adidakami nin piya-on,” ka-anda kanun. Adikad ma-iddan a un di inunggaw sidin. To-an nu sin din naponanda’t din? Si Kabunyan di nangusog si tapak a nangusa-u.

Ot sadi u-uma’n dadi maong-ag kanu’t tu, siwakonda kanu un isa-ad sidi su-un, nu datngona di sonad kustun: un sad pakwada. Ut adu’n pagoy kanu a. Ut sadadi maong-ag kanu, dinatngana’n kanu’n dadit Gasagas di a-assuganda un bokon a dadakku kanu, ta pasig a banan-og. Ot di na-iddan, bo dummadakun taya bo inyamamogdan a; patog-amanda didan ut din. Siya diyoy ud nakwa-anan. Ot awd kad si Kabunyan, nangusog kanu un napon. Ko-an nu sin din naponan Patubog.

Awad kanu kad di kingwa’n Talanganay manon, nanusu-ut si batu. Bo adita tigammu diyoy nu sadatun batu’t tu diyoy un sinusu-utna. Ut adikad nginadanna kanu ut Adan a. Man-oyan di sinayug kanu un umoy sidin langit yo gaputa intagadda kanu tun Ginipa-an, unggawda kanu’t din ngatungatun, adi kanu payyan nitupok sidin langit di a, yo kakkatna’n nankuwis kanu’t di man-isdung. Di, nan-ugwiddan man on. Impakit kanun Patubog: “Bokobokon. Manga-am si umoy si langit si tagu? Innona nu awad mangayug si langit, ut makapiya’t di, adi pay ma-id unggaw situn pita?” Ka-an kanu’n Patubog. Ot impakidna, ot sad nawalawala-an ditun batu’n dadakku’t tun. To-an din Patubog sidi un kama’t dumistulbu ut din lintog da Taanganay kan Kabunyan un napiya.

On a later occasion, Bayudang told this paragraph as follows:

Impunda kanu tun baba-i, un Ginipa-an kanu tun baba-i. Man-inabatda kanu kad, un mangkokwa’t din adanon, nangkuwis kanu’t din man-isdung ot sadi kingwana kanun, nan-ugwidda’l lawan. Yo nallaus kad tun Pattubogon, impakidnan. “Ma-id na-ilak si nangayug si langit.”

Somsomkok kad siin sadin, ut tun udum a balyu ma-id ilam si dadakku’t batu’n pada’n datu’n netu’t tu. Ot sain batu’t di, bo apay din sin nangaanda’t din ngadanda’t di nu adi sad kustiguna payyan. Pupulayuk kad di. (Sadin book payyan). Y o bo payam din book taya, ta sad book da Talanganay kaganda’t din osa. Ot Booyda din osa. Yo sadin, datun bunigan ya tiniwag, asung, adikad igad, gayyunan, piya-aw pasigay tu; adikad awad sadag Dongngayan ut net domang. (edi man payyan nginadanda’t ammaggayudan un awad alas di bu-u’t din lap-atna.) Satun buntuk, ambag, pagtuwawan din osa. Ta nangadangadan tun batu’t tu. (Innom man didin annayugan a ka-anda. Adi pay sasayyugan da Talanganay si tagu’n matoy dit?) Sadin dalenat sidin kapon domang, un kawadan didin a-aid man. (Un nu awad nin matoyon, sayugondan?) Bokon a sayogonda din matoy.

Translation:

The ancestors whom I have encountered here in Buntuk are Panabang, Aggalaw, the late Dawagan and the late Gasagas. But it was from Gasagas that I heard the story about this stone.

Talanganay, it is said this is hearsay [i.e., not witnessed by the speaker], of course together with Kabunyan and Patubog they were three, but Patubog was roaming around, they say. [The expression ‘they say’ translates the often used modal particle kanu, indicating that the statement is hearsay. It will henceforth be omitted in the translation. Interruptions are also put in brackets.] Talanganay and Kabunyan made people. They made three people, but one of them could not be finished; his/her breath could not be put. The other two, those were the ones whom he [Talanganay] brought to life. Uh, he made them marry. Uh, they increased in number. They increased in number, but I do not know the names of all these; but they were the ones who stayed in the stone, for they had increased in number. And their offspring, for they had increased in number, they were the ones who multiplied in this village. For they did not become very many from the beginning, because that was a very long time ago. For truly, they [the gods] must have stayed there for a long time.

When they played music and sang they sang the epic songs and played the [long] paldong flute, [short] ullimong flute and the bamboo harp; they played them inside the stone. Many of the ancestors went there to attend, and they made a scaffold along the flank of the stone here on the side of the village. They stayed there relating stories.

With regard to the stone structure below the entrance, the ancestors had no knowledge of how it got there. For example, that stone structure at its [the house’s] entrance. The ancestors did not know, and we do not know, if those who went there to listen to what they were doing were the ones who made that. It has been there from time immemorial. The ancestors also saw the grooves on it [on one of the form flanks of the stone], and that was the entrance.

Returning now to the story for there were people staying here; there in Sipat they [the gods] went in the evening to borrow pestles to pound [their rice] with under the house shed of the stone. At dawn, when it began to clear downstream [in the east], they went to return the pestles; but no one ever saw them bodily, for all they could hear was the clanging of the pestles which they went to return.

One evening for the ancestors went constantly to hear their playing; the ancestors went, and went repeatedly to go and attend what they were doing: all that was being played and sung; they also went to converse with them.

It was Talanganay’s desire that the entire earth be flat, without all these mountains. But Patubog said: “Ah, that is difficult, because these creatures [litt., watered] that is, the people will constantly feud, for they have become many already. If they will be endlessly striking each other, that will be tough. It is better to have mountains as barriers, so that they will not be killing each other all the time.” And he won [the argument].

What he [Talanganay] did again, he tossed a gourd into the river: “So that the dead will return [to life], if those whom I created should die,” he said. But Patubog did not agree. He threw a whetstone into the water so that the people will sink down as they die, because “we will have no place to stay in this world if we do not die,” he said. [The “we” translates the pronoun ta, literally referring to the speaker and a single addressee, but also used as a polite form to mean the addressee alone. The narrator, while quoting Patubog’s words to Talanganay, has his audience in mind in this and the next sentence.] And, indeed, since that time we proceed [away from earthly life] as we die.

One more thing [forgotten earlier in the narration] that person who was without breath, Talanganay made the head turn into a coconut, the arms into sugar canes, and the legs into banana plants, “so that the creatures may have something to plant,” he said. This is how the plants came into existence. Never mind the rice, for it has an origin of its own which is different.

One evening, there were many people who had come to attend, but there was one rascal who was from Magsiyakan there. He crossed the river over there. He listened to what those staying in the stone were doing: the bamboo harp, the short flute, the long flute, and the epic songs. But he blurted out: “Please, hand me a vagina as my share [of the fun],” he just said. “Oh, if you are already tired of us, we will go then,” said one in reply. But another one also talked: “Listen, we will be forbearing about what you said about the vagina, but do not go and fish underwater in front of the house, because if you put those palilong fish in your mouths, that will be hard; it will be bad.” But the one who had mentioned the vagina went to fish underwater just the same, and stuffed as many as three palilong fish in his mouth. “Oh, there you have it! We are leaving, for you have evil habits; for you do not heed us at all. Perhaps you do not like us,” they said. They were no more there, those who stayed there. I do not know where they went from there. It was Kabunyan who floated downstream on a tapak bowl.

With regard to the gardens of the ancestors here, they threw a siwak [a reed with trimmed leaves] from the upper end of the garden; and where it came down that was the lower edge, and it was large enough. That had been their instruction. And there was plenty of rice. And the elders the late Gasagas had known the time when their cooking pots were not large, for they were all very small. After they had gone, they [the gardens] really became larger, because they [the gods] had made a wish. They taught them a lesson there. Yes, that’s how it was done, and Kabunyan, he rode on a raft. I do not know where Patubog went.

There is something else that Talanganay also did. He stacked up a pile of stones. We really do not know where all those stones came from which he stacked one upon the other. And he called it a ladder. It was to be a passage for the creatures on their way up to heaven.

But, since they took this Ginipa-an along, when they were already very high they had not yet reached heaven she suddenly shrieked when she looked down. Thereupon they decided to return. Patubog kicked it [the ladder]: “This is totally wrong! How could anyone think of [litt., from where do you get] people going to the sky? Suppose someone travels to the sky and likes it there; will there be anybody still remaining on the earth?” said Patubog, and he kicked it. And that is why there are these huge boulders here, scattered around. I do not understand Patubog there. It is as if he was upsetting the order of Talanganay and Kabunyan which was good.

[Second version of the foregoing paragraph:]

They brought this woman with them; the woman’s name was Ginipa-an. When they were half-finished with the construction of the ladder, she shrieked when she looked down. And what he [Talanganay] did, they simply returned. And when Patubog passed by, he kicked it: “I have never seen anyone traveling to heaven.”

When I think about it, in the other villages you cannot see as many huge boulders as there are here. And the stones themselves, where indeed did they get their names if not as its [the event’s] witnesses? Take the frying pan. Yes, the pig also, for they say of that one that it was the pig of Talanganay and his household. And the other one was their house. And again, the bunigan and the cleft, the mortar and also the coconut grater, the orange, the piya-aw, and the pasigay here. There is also the chair of Donglayan on the other side [of the river]. [“There is also the one which they call the ammaggayudan, which has the imprint of bamboo on its top.”] The buntuk here, and the echo. Another one is the pagtuwawan, for all the stones here have a name. [“What about the annayugan (place of watering) as they say? Did Talanganay and the others not water the people who died (back to life)?”] Also the ledge on the other side of the river, which even has footprints on it. [“And if someone died, did they water them?”] They did not water the dead!

II. Sinanaw (female):

In Magsiyakan there is a stone on the river bank on which Talanganay and Patubog made people (sinayug). It is said that a man and a woman were our beginning, the first people.

The first man and woman married and lived together. After a few years they had children. Patubog and Talanganay killed the first child and planted the head, which when it grew became a coconut. They also planted the legs, and they became banana plants. In the same manner, the arms became sugar cane. These plants grew and the first people planted them, and so their plants multiplied.

Talanganay said: “I will throw this gourd into the water, and I wish that this is what people will do when they die, that they will rise (umunga).” Patubog, who opposed Talanganay’s will, said: “No, this is the way. I will throw this whetstone into the water. When it sinks down, it does not float again. It is my wish that when people die they will never rise again, because if they rise again the world will be full and where will the rest live?”

Talanganay said again: “I will spread out this mat so that the earth will be level like the mat.” But when Patubog arrived, he said: “You are wrong! Where will the people hide when there is killing? There must be mountains.” So he moved his shoulders up and down and the mountains were there.

There was nothing [i.e., nothing valuable] for the people to eat at that time. So Talanganay and Kiltupan decided to go above and take rice there. But when they were above, the people there refused to give them any. So Kiltupan stole one grain and hid it in his penis; and they went back. When Kiltupan arrived at his house he planted the grain of rice below the water jars. When the grain of rice grew, it increased to more than four stems. Kiltupan harvested the rice, and planted and harvested it for some years until there was plenty. He then distributed it to his neighbors so they could also plant it in their gardens.

When the people above looked down, they saw the rice and said that it would be useless to still be selfish. “They have stolen our rice. Now it does not matter anymore if we drop any kind of rice we have,” they said.

[Further downstream, Kusup (‘prepuce’) or Kiltupan (‘to tuck in a fold’) is the sole hero of this story of the rice that was stolen in heaven. There, too, the story is told as an independent myth, and the hero enters heaven by passing where earth and sky meet. The narrators who had this episode in their Talanganay myth, on the other hand, either said that they did not know where the hero passed, or that he passed the “ladder.” This seems to be further evidence of recent borrowing. This insert, which the narrators do not commonly borrow, will not be considered in the analysis. It is however a widespread motif throughout the Cordillera. Among the Ibaloi at the southern end of the Cordillera the high God Kabunyan also steals rice from heaven for the people on earth by hiding it in his prepuce.]

Talanganay thought of making a stone structure which the people could pass if they wanted to make a trip above. The stone structure was finished and it reached above. He installed springs at every resting place. When the stone structure was finished, Talanganay said: “I will first try to bring Ginipa-an above for a trip.” He tied a bark cloth before her eyes and advised her not to lift it. When they were halfway up the ladder, the wind blew hard and lifted the cloth from her eyes. When she looked down, she got frightened and she shrieked. Talanganay returned back with Ginipa-an, and when they were at the foot of the ladder Patubog arrived, laughing. “That was an impossible thing to do,” he said and kicked the ladder; and it collapsed.

Dongngayan and Talanganay were sitting on a stone, talking about Patubog who always opposed Talanganay’s will. The kadduwas cricket was churring very loudly and disturbing their conversation. So Dongngayan rose up and speared the place where the cricket was churring. The spear struck a stone, and the stone was cracked. [Dongngayan is the father of the main hero in the Kalinga epic songs. In other versions, it is Talanganay who spears the cricket.]

One day Talanganay said to the people: “When you make your gardens, first throw a siwak to measure the width of the garden.” The people tried it, and they harvested plenty even though their gardens were small. Talanganay said again: “When you cook, you should use small pots.” The people tried it, and when the rice was cooked, they ate little and there was plenty left over.

At the time of underwater fishing [during the brief dry season], Talanganay told the people not to hold the fish by their heads behind their teeth. But there was a rascal who did not heed his advice. When they were fishing he held two or three fish in his mouth and shouted, facing the house of Talanganay.

Every evening, the neighbors could hear sweet music inside the stone. Many people gathered around the stone in the moonlight to enjoy the music. The people asked them to borrow their instruments, so that they could practice them. During the night, the people in the stone went out to borrow the pestles of their neighbors in Buntuk, Sipat and Magsiyakan. The people heard their voices when they asked permission to borrow the pestles, and when they returned them.

As the people were again enjoying the music inside the stone, there was again a rascal who thought of something very shameful. He asked for a vagina. Ever since then, they could no more hear the sweet music. It was believed that the family had left the place because of the meanness of the people. From then on there were great changes.

III. Bagoyan (female):

Talanganay and Patubog lived long ago in the stone in Buntuk, now called the granary of Talanganay. They decided to make humans [sinayug] like their image [un pada’n di mugingna] [apparently a biblical influence]. It was on that stone called annayugan in Magsiyakan that they made a man and a woman. This man and woman had no children, for they did not know how to marry [mangasawa] [i.e., they were ignorant about copulation].

When Talanganay observed for a long time that the woman did not bear a child, he secretly told her to eat a certain fruit. The woman became pregnant. As the years went by, they had two sons and one daughter. When their children reached the age of marriage, one man did not have a wife. Whenever the other man left his wife at home, the man who did not have a wife committed adultery. This sin, committed by the other man, was inherited by their offspring.

Talanganay made a wish: “When people die, it should be like the gourd, which when it is thrown into the water first sinks but then floats.” He expressed this wish as he threw a gourd into the river near the stone called the pig. Patubog countered: “This is how people should die, like a stone. When we throw it into the water, it does not surface anymore.” He said this while doing the action [of throwing a stone into the river]. “The world will be full of people if the dead return to life,” he said.

Talanganay made another wish: “When women give birth, it should be as easy as the wild banana. When we cut it, it [the core] easily protrudes.” He said this while cutting a wild banana plant. Patubog disagreed and said: “Women should give birth with as much difficulty as when we put a stone into our anus.” He said this while pressing with difficulty a stone into his anus.

The world was flat and the river was straight before. Patubog observed that when people kill each other, there will be no place to hide. So he moved his shoulders up and down and the plain land became mountainous [in imitation of the movements of his shoulders]. The river was also straight before and Patubog wished that it be curved. So he pulled out a rattan vine and wiggled it, and the river became curved.

Talanganay and Patubog wanted to build a ladder which the people would pass in going above to take rice, for the people had nothing [worth much] to eat. They constructed the ladder and made resting places with caves in which the people could rest when they were tired, and springs so that they could drink when thirsty.

One by one, the people went above to steal rice there, but no one succeeded. [The narrators of this and the previous version are more successful mediums who get invited to perform outside their region of residence. They most probably learned this story on their travels and added it to their version of the Talanganay myth.] Talanganay pitied the people, so he went above himself. He stole one grain and wrapped it in the prepuce of his penis [kiniltupana ut dit kusup di utinna]. When he returned, the people above questioned him if he had stolen anything. But Talanganay said no.

Talanganay came down and planted the grain in his hearth and took good care of it. When the people planted the rice in their gardens, it multiplied. When the people above saw that there was plenty of rice below, they became so angry and frustrated that they let all kinds of rice fall down. They also dropped down all kinds of animals that are harmful to rice, like rats and wild pigs. Later on, they pitied the people and also dropped animals that are helpful, such as cats and dogs [to eat the rats and hunt the wild pigs].

The rice had no husk before; consequently, the people could easily steal and eat it. Similarly, the sugar cane was all juice inside, so that the people just cut it and drank the contents. Patubog did not like this. So he put a husk around the rice, “so that the lazy will not have an advantage,” and stuffed the sugar cane with rags.

All the tools used by man, such as the axes and hoes, worked all by themselves in the gardens. Patubog said: “You hoes, the lazy will take advantage,” and the tools stopped working.

Ginipa-an thought of going above; she was very curious to see everything above. Talanganay advised her not to go. Because if she would go up the ladder and become afraid and shout, the ladder might collapse. But Ginipa-an proceeded on her journey. When she was at the second resting place, she shrieked and the ladder collapsed. Talanganay kicked it once more. It is said that the collapsed stone ladder is the origin of the big boulders near Buntuk.

One day Talanganay went hunting. While he was listening for the barking of his dogs, a kadduwas cricket was churring loudly. He was upset by the disturbance, stood on the stone called the addadog [the action of taking a firm position before throwing a spear] and speared the cricket. His spear struck a stone [on which the cricket was sitting] and the stone was split. That stone is called the tinuwag [‘cleft’ from tuwag,’gap’].

The people living near Talanganay’s house, like those in Magsiyakan, Bobok and Sipat, could hear sweet music inside the stone. They heard the sentimental and tuneful music of the paldong, ullimong, kullitong and other musical instruments. They built long balconies around the middle of the stone, so that they could enjoy the music from there. The people went by groups to learn and to practice the musical instruments. They asked them to borrow their instruments. Every night, during moonlit nights, they took turns going there. But one scoundrel from Magsiyakan asked for an undamaged [i.e., young] vagina.

The people of Magsiyakan often went to fish underwater in the river and held the fish by their heads behind their teeth. Talanganay abhorred their behavior very much and said: “If they eat live fish, there is no reason why they should not eat us too.” Being much displeased with their bad disposition, Talanganay and his household left their home and magically changed their properties into stones. They rode on a tapak [a large wide open Chinese porcelain bowl] down to Cagayan. In Calbayan [on the Kalinga-Cagayan boundary] they were overtaken by the night and slept in a cave there [less than a meter square and deep] in the cliff along the river. They proceeded the next day and landed in Dalimuno [a place in Piat, Cagayan].

IV. Gawwa (female):

Talanganay and Kabunyan lived long ago in that stone in Buntuk, now called the granary of Kabunyan.

At that time, the people in Buntuk could hear sweet music playing inside the stone. At night especially on moonlit nights the people went there to enjoy the romantic and tuneful music of the paldong, kullitong, ullimong and other musical instruments. The people also heard them relating stories, such as the epics. Eager to learn and practice, the people sometimes asked them to lend them their instruments. But some rascal asked them for an undamaged [i.e., young] vagina. The family in the stone was disgusted with the joke.

It is said that all the musical instruments and all the folktales were learned from Talanganay and Kabunyan and the family, and handed down to the present generation.

At that time also, a certain man who was faithful was curious to take a look inside the stone and begged the family to let him enter. They refused to let him in, but let him peep inside from the entrance. To his great amazement, he saw four rows of precious jars, two rows on each side of the house, and also four rows of porcelain bowls.

They advised that person to tell his neighbors that when they go and fish underwater in the river, they should not hold the fish [i.e., their heads] in their mouths. But the next day they saw that the people had not heeded their advice. They said: “There is no reason why they should not eat us too and the flesh of the humans [kataguwan, ‘real people’].”

Being very much disappointed and disgusted with the misconduct and bad disposition of the people, Talanganay, Kabunyan and the household decided to leave their house and properties. They locked the house and magically changed their pigs, frying pan and the rest into the stones that can now be seen in Buntuk. They left their home, riding on a tapak bowl downriver to Cagayan. It is said that they were overtaken by the dark in Calbayan, and slept there in a cave. They then proceeded and landed in Purakpurak in Pampanga. [Pampanga is a Central Luzon province. Recently, a new Christian sect found membership in a Kal-uwan region. The sect is based on divine revelations said to have been received in Purakpurak. It is believed by the sect members that Talanganay emerged there again.]

The ladder to heaven was almost finished by Talanganay and Kabunyan. This man Kiltupan went to heaven and saw that there was plenty of rice. He stole two grains and hid them in his penis. When Kiltupan was about to return, he was questioned by the people above if he stole anything, and he said no. When he arrived at his house below, he planted the two grains of rice in his hearth and tended it very well. The rice increased and all the people planted it in their gardens.

When the people above observed that there was plenty of rice below which was stolen by Kiltupan they dropped down all the kinds of rice they had above. They also dropped all the harmful animals, like rats, wild pigs and monkeys. After some years they noticed that the people below could not control the harmful animals from damaging their rice crops. They pitied them and also dropped the animals that kill the harmful animals, such as cats, dogs and others. They also dropped all kinds of crops from above for the supply of the people below.

The rice before had no husk, and the sugar cane had no fiber inside. There were also [the magical activities of] the hoes and the axes. But Patubog changed them all to what they are now.

After Kiltupan had gone above, this curious Ginipa-an wanted to go also and see everything above. She pleaded with Talanganay to let her go, but he answered: “Do not go, because you will have fear of heights.” She proceeded anyway, but when she was almost above she looked down and shrieked in panic. As a result, the ladder collapsed. These are the big stones scattered in Buntuk.

When Talanganay went to hunt, his dogs were barking, but a kadduwas cricket disturbed Talanganay with its loud churring. “Will you please stop,” said Talanganay, “so that I can hear the barking of my dogs?” But the cricket disobeyed and he speared it. His spear struck a stone and it was split. That stone is called the tinuwag [cleft]. It is there near the stone named bunigan.

Some of the episodes of the Buntuk myth as told today are also found as separate myths elsewhere in northern Kalinga and even more distant areas, albeit with other names for the chief characters. I referred to the Kiltupan (or Kusup) myth further downstream from Buaya and Aciga, and whose hero is the High God, Kabunyan, among the Ibaloi in the Southern Cordillera. The episode of the killing of the cricket is also known elsewhere, including Buaya itself, as an independent story with Kabunyan as the hero. The cricket story in the third and fourth versions recorded above simply ascribe to Talanganay what is ascribed to Kabunyan in the same story elsewhere in Kalinga and does not seem to be directly related to the course of events in the myth. In other versions, however, not given in full here, Talanganay spears a cricket before he brings the first people he created to his house. Both stories have the motif of a spearing of a cricket in common, but the cricket is killed in different circumstances. In the independent myth, Kabunyan kills the cricket because its churring prevents him from hearing the barking of his puppies while on a hunt. In the Talanganay myth, the cricket is killed because it apparently gives Talanganay a bad omen as he crosses the river to bring the first people he has created to his house. Some of the narrators, therefore, seem to confuse the hunting story of Kabunyan with the killing of the cricket by Talanganay. All the versions make reference to a cleft stone in the river bank near Talanganay’s residence. Normally, game is not hunted that close to a settlement.

Widespread throughout northern Kalinga and parts of Abra, where the people who speak the same language as the Kalinga and have significant similarities in custom are called Tinguian, is the Kabunyan-Patubog story which contains several or all of the elements incorporated into the syncretized myth.

With the help of the independent existence of some elements or episodes of the syncretic myth both inside and outside Kal-uwan, I have segregated the two more important myths: the Talanganay myth and the Kabunyan-Patubog myth, with their individual variants. The reconstructed texts were presented to many informants, and met with their approval. In the reconstructed texts, I incorporated episodes (and their variants) as collected from all the narrators. The narrators admitted that in their own versions they had omitted, i.e., forgotten to mention, certain episodes and details. I now give, with some preliminary comment and explanation, these two reconstructed texts, to be followed by a comparison between their main features.

2. The Talanganay Myth

Long ago, Talanganay traveled upstream with his household and their implements and animals, and lived in the stone here in Buntuk. In the concavity on the annayugan stone across the river, he fashioned three people and killed one of them. He planted the head and it became the coconut. He also planted the legs, and they became the banana plants. The arms, when planted, became betel palms and sugar cane; and the hands and feet, when planted, turned into sweet potatoes and yams. These plants grew and the first people planted them, and so their plants multiplied.

[Probably under Biblical influence, some people believe that the first people were only two. Some of these narrators then make the God kill one of their three children for the creation of plants. One narrator, whose version was met with almost universal disapproval, said that Talanganay did not succeed in finishing one of the first three people he made, because he could not put a breath into that one, and then dismembered the body to plant the parts as above. Some narrators, again, say that Talanganay killed the first person he made, while others say that it is not known if he killed the first, second or third.

With reference to the creation of plants from a dismembered human body, my attention was called to the three soft spots (eyes) in the shell of a coconut, recalling the nose and eye cavities in a human skull, and to the finger- or toe-like stubs that sweet potatoes and yams often develop.]

After Talanganay was through making the first people, he was about to bring them to his house on the other side of the river when a kadduwas grasshopper churred across the river. Talanganay was dismayed about its sound, because it meant a bad omen for himself and his creatures, the first people, who were about to leave for his residence. He speared the kadduwas from the annayugan stone, standing behind the hollow. The marks of his feet where he stood to spear the kadduwas are imprinted on the stone. The stone on which the kadduwas sat was cracked.

[Some versions say that he had one foot behind the hollow, and the other on the addadog stone in the middle of the river which also has the semblance of a foot mark on it. The annayugan ledge above the river bank was covered by a landslide some 30 years ago, so that neither the presence of two foot prints could be verified nor the size of the concavity measured in which the first people were formed.]

The first man and woman had no children, for they did not know how to come together [copulate]. After Talanganay had observed for a long time that the woman did not bear a child, he secretly told her to eat a certain [unnamed] fruit. She did, and became pregnant. With the years, they had two sons and one daughter. When the children reached the age of marriage, one of them did not have a wife. Whenever the the other man left his wife, he committed adultery with her. That sin, committed with that other man, is now inherited by their descendants.

There is something else that Talanganay also did. He piled boulders one upon the other and called it the ladder (adan). The purpose was so that people could pass it and go to heaven and a life of total bliss. He placed springs at every resting place. When the ladder was finished, it reached the sky. He said: “I will first try to bring up Ginipa-an.” He blindfolded her with a piece of white bark cloth and enjoined her not to remove it. She was carrying her child on her back as she went up. When they were already very high, about halfway, the wind blew so hard that it lifted the cloth from her eyes. As she looked down, she was frightened and she screamed; and the ladder collapsed. These are the big stones scattered here in Buntuk.

[Some versions call the structure a bitu-u (‘elevated stone structure’). Other variants state that Ginipa-an was Talanganay’s wife; that she suggested the trip herself against his advice; or that she removed the blindfold herself. Some narrators added that Ekkon, of whom erotic tales are told elsewhere in the mythology, helped Talanganay in the construction of the ladder.]

The first people stayed in the stone with Talanganay. As they increased in number, their offspring came to live in the neighboring settlements and from there they later spread all over the world.

The people could hear sweet music coming from inside the stone. They built a scaffold beside it, here on the side of the village, so that they might better enjoy the music. They went by groups taking turns every night, especially on moonlit nights, to hear the sweet and melodious music of the [long] paldong flute, the [short] ullimong flute, the bamboo harp (kullitong) and other musical instruments. The people also heard them relating stories, such as the epic songs. They went every night to listen to stories and to tell their own. During the night, the people could also hear them borrow their pestles from underneath their houses and slide them back into place in the morning before daybreak. All the musical instruments and all the folklore were learned from them, and handed down to their descendants. They learned it all from Talanganay and the rest of the household inside the stone.

One night, there was a rascal from Magsiyakan across the river, who was also listening to what those staying inside the stone were doing their playing of the bamboo harp and the paldong and ullimong flutes, and the singing of the epic stories. He said: “For my part, just hand me an undamaged vagina, so that I can enjoy that.”

There was total silence in the stone. After a while, one of them spoke and said: “Well, if you are tired of us already, we will be leaving.” But there was another one who also talked and said: “Look now, we will forgive you for what you said about the vagina, but do not go any more to catch palilong fish in the river right here in front of our house. If you hold those fish in your mouths again, that will be the end.”

[One narrator also added this injunction: “and when you come out of the water, cover yourselves.”]

Another man, who was faithful, was curious to see what was inside the stone. He begged the family to let him enter. They refused to let him in, but they let him peep inside from the entrance. He was surprised to see four rows of heirloom jars, two rows on each side, and also two shelves of porcelain bowls on each side. They advised that man again to make it clear to his neighbors that when they go fishing in the river, they should not hold the fish in their mouths.

But the next day, they observed that the people had disobeyed their orders. That one who had asked for the vagina put as many as three fish in his mouth. “That’s it,” they said. “Now we go, for what you are doing is bad. You do not heed us at all. You probably do not like us.” They further commented among themselves: “Who knows, they might eat us too, and the flesh of the people, since they eat what is uncooked.”

[In another version, the man shouted defiantly in the direction of Talanganay’s house while holding the fish in his mouth.]

Utterly disappointed and disgusted because of the impropriety of the people, Talanganay and the family decided to leave. They locked their house, and changed it and their pig, their frying pan and other instruments into stones. These stones are still there on the river bank.

When the ancestors made their gardens, they measured the width by throwing a siwak down the slope; and where it came down, that was the lower edge of the garden. That size sufficed. That was what Talanganay had told them to do; and they had plenty of rice, even though their gardens were small. Talanganay also told them to use small pots for their cooking. They ate little and had much left over. But their cooking pots became bigger after Talanganay and his household had gone.

They left their house riding on a tapak [a porcelain basin] down to Cagayan Province. When they were at Kalbayan [near the Kalinga-Cagayan boundary] they were overtaken by the dark and stayed overnight in a cave in the cliff along the river. From there they traveled further the next day, in search of a new place to put up residence.

From that time onward, the people no longer heard the sweet music in the stone. And from then on, there were great changes: disease, smaller harvests, and cooking in larger pots.

3. The Kabunyan-Patubog Myth

Kabunyan (who appears sometimes as a handsome male) wished that “when people die it should be like the gourd. When you submerge it in the water, and release it, it surfaces and floats.” He said this while he submerged a gourd in the river. However, Patubog, whose body hairs are iron bristles, disagreed: “This is how people die, like a whetstone [or another heavy stone]. When we throw it into the water, it does not float,” he said and threw one into the river. “The world would be full of people if the dead returned to life again [umungal, which also means to sit up from a supine position or to recover from illness]. Where will the rest live?”

Kabunyan wished again that “When women give birth, it should be as easy as the wild banana. When you cut it, its core easily protrudes.” While saying this, he cut a wild banana. But Patubog demurred and said, “People should give birth in a manner that is as hard as when we insert a stone into our anus,” while he pressed with difficulty a stone inside his anus.

All the tools worked by themselves. All the people had to do was to put them where they intended to make their gardens. The axes and hoes were cleaning eagerly, but the other one argued again: “Hey, if you do that you cannot command anybody, because they will all be rich. It is much better that you use the tools with your own hands, so that whoever is industrious will become prosperous. To whom could you ever give orders if all the people were rich?” So he ordered the tools to stop working. Kabunyan then told the people to use their tools, because their production stopped after the tools had stopped working. [In another version, Patubog said: “Oh, the lazy will have the advantage then. It is better if the people handle their tools themselves, for even if you are lazy you will be forced to work. What is good in everybody sitting around idly and no one doing anything? And what if one snatched the hoe of another? What will do the work then?”]

Kabunyan said again, “I will spread out this mat, so that the earth will be level like the mat.” But when Patubog arrived, he said: “That’s wrong. Where will the people hide when there is killing? There must be mountains.” So he moved his shoulders up and down and the level land [imitating his movements] became mountainous.

The river was also crooked before. Kabunyan took a rattan, straightened it out, and the river became straight. But Patubog wished that it be crooked. He took hold of a rattan vine at its root, pulled it out and wiggled it as it lay extended on the ground, and the river became crooked.

Kabunyan made rice without husk. This made it easy for the people to steal it. Patubog said again: “Those lazy people will simply rip it off while passing by and eat it.” So he changed it and returned its husk.

And the sugar cane, too, when you cut an opening into it, the juice poured out [like water from a bamboo]. Said Patubog: “The lazy will just make a hole in it and drink its water. It would not be bad if the people did some work on it, for even though it will give them some hardship, they will make use of it just the same.” And he stuffed rags into the sugar cane, and its segments were solid.

[The above myth is told only in the Tingguian-Kalinga section of the Central Cordillera of Northern Luzon. It has two antagonists Kabunyan and Patubog. Kabunyan is all-goodness, an idealist. Patubog is not an idealist and less than good, and a pragmatist. The pragmatist prevailed.]

4. The Two Myths Compared

The Talanganay and Kabunyan-Patubog myths are products of the same culture. I identify the Talanganay myth as the “residential” myth, and the Kabunyan-Patubog myth as the “roaming” myth.

In all the Kalinga origin myths outside Buaya that came to my knowledge, the high god in both residential and roaming myths is the same Kabunyan. He is (or has been) the high god in most of the Cordillera (see De Raedt 1964), and also in the Cagayan Valley to the east not to mention other islands in the Philippine archipelago.

On the surface, there are some striking differences between the two myths.

First, although my intention here is not a historical one, and the myths may have and most probably have changed over time in content, the residential myth is apparently older in origin. It only speaks of root crops as the staple (beside bananas, coconuts, sugar cane and betel palms) and does not mention rice, while the roaming myth presupposes the existence of rice.

Kabunyan plays an important role with regard to rice its origin from heaven, and the construction of rice paddies in many parts of Kalinga and the rest of the Cordillera. The introduction of rice most probably came later than the other grains, sorghum and millet, which are still being grown by some in small quantities.

Second, the residential myth speaks of the creation of man and his food from a human body, while in the roaming myth man and his food pre-exist the changes that are wrought.

Third, in the residential myth, the human condition was originally an ideal one, while in the roaming myth the initial condition of man and his world was as it is now.

Fourth, the residential myth speaks of human welfare in general terms (the original state of abundance in food, health and immortality, followed by hunger, disease and death), while the roaming myth deals with more specific human problems: his physical world (land formation, shape of river), his survival (death) and his common hardships (parturition, hard work: pounding rice and pressing sugar cane).

Fifth, in the residential myth changes came through human error, while in the roaming myth they came by divine fiat (though based on considerations about the moral nature of man). In the residential myth, the gods left because of an offense against constraint. The offense, as understood by the gods, is one of unrestrained eating (raw fish) and unrestrained sex (nakedness and desire for a young vagina). The gods feared that “they might eat us too and their fellowmen,” and were horrified by sexual license. The result of this human greed the departure of the gods leads to hunger, illness and death. When the gods leave, their house and the other properties they left behind are changed into stones. They have become mere relics, of no utilitarian value. Their house is henceforth known as their granary. A life of abundance has changed into one of shortage, or at least the threat of it, as the Buaya have experienced it. (Illness and death are semantically related to eating being eaten by the evil spirits, as we shall see.)

Sixth, where in the residential myth we find one god at the beginnings, in the roaming myth we find two.

And, seventh, where the residential myth makes only indirect reference to achievement as central in Buaya culture (through the teaching of the epic songs), the roaming myth emphasizes it: the need for hard work in producing welfare and wealth; there will be no social stratification, which the Buaya have, since all will be rich. Wealth will come easy, and not through achievement which is the basis for leadership in Buaya, as already noted.

The first difference referred to (root crops and other plants with the exclusion of rice, as opposed to focus on rice) has only historical significance. The third, fourth, fifth and sixth differences are more apparent than real when we take a close look at them.

The second difference, the creation of a food from a human body, is important in that it adds a dimension in the residence myth with reference to the Buaya (and Kalinga) idea of sacrifice.

The seventh difference needs some further comment here. The roaming myth is explicit about the Buaya value of achievement, as opposed to ascription. When Patubog changes nature to its previous state, he has three arguments: laziness, violence and greed. The Buaya stock example for greed is stealing. Its variants, e.g., rape (taking a woman’s honor) and killing (taking a life) compose the (few) stipulations in a peace pact agreement. Violence may be subsumed under greed (paurot) insofar as it is a form of stealing or destructiveness. All these notions are related. Laziness is related to the Buaya emphasis on achievement. Achievement leads to wealth, and is the main characteristic of the other two bases for leadership, headhunting and a legal career, as noted earlier. The residential myth, by itself, does not refer to achievement in a direct manner, even though the epic songs, which are said to have been learned from Talanganay and his household, have it as an important theme, as we shall see in the next chapter. Buaya culture stresses achievement over ascription, as a source of social recognition.

The Buaya people do not like what Patubog did. He is seen as a somewhat evil element, contrasting with Kabunyan (and also Talanganay in the residential myth) who is all-good. The Buaya (and other Kalinga) have several other stories about Kabunyan, where all he did was good, e.g., helping out two poor orphans and giving them wealth, while reducing the rich, who had not pitied the orphans, to poverty; or building a stone bridge over a local stream. We may assume, however, that in all their stories, the Buaya are speaking about themselves.

The original condition in the residential myth and the changes in the roaming myth are a state of an easy and serene life, but the adversary, Patubog, in the latter myth, maintains that this is incompatible with human nature and society. There will be no place to hide in case of inter-regional armed conflicts, the lazy will take advantage, there will be no order since all will be wealthy and bosses, and the old must die to make space for the young. The world which the good god wants to create is clearly defined as utopian, a state of kapiya (‘peace and welfare’, from piya, ‘goodness’). The Buaya are not at all convinced by Patubog’s down-to-earth reasons and like people elsewhere still dream of a return of a world without its present limitations.

The residential myth depicts the general state of welfare in the form of abundance in food (small gardens, cooking in small pots) and leisurely life, while the roaming myth refers to freedom from daily hardships (easy parturition, axes and hoes that work by themselves, rice that does not need pounding, and sugar cane that contains pure juice and needs no pressing). Both myths also see man’s moral weakness as the cause of his physical limitations.

The main hero in the residential myth is the shy Talanganay, while the more prominent and effective figure in the roaming myth is the brazen Patubog. He is a projection of man’s negative morale, as the Buaya see it. The residential (Talanganay) myth is a devolving story gradually manifesting man’s moral weakness, to which we must now turn.