Biag ni Lam-ang
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The Biag ni Lam-ang or Life of Lam-ang (complete Iloko title: Historia a Pacasaritaan ti Panagbiag ni Lam-ang iti Ili a Nalbuan nga Asaoa ni D.a Ines Cannoyan iti Ili a Calanutian) is a pre-Hispanic epic of the Ilokano people from the Ilocos region of the Philippines. Recited and originally written in Iloko language, it is believed to be the work of many poets from various generations. At around 1640, a blind Ilokano bard named Pedro Bucaneg put the epic poem into a written language.
[edit] Synopsis
The hero, Lam-ang, could talk immediately after birth. He selected his own name, chose his own sponsor, and asked for his father’s presence. Barely nine months old, Lam-ang fought against the headhunters who killed his father. He was also eaten by a sea monster, but was reborn from his retrieved bones. Accompanied by his pets, a rooster and a dog, he journeyed to get the beautiful Ines Kannoyan. [The story is a reminder of an old Japanese tale Momotaro, the Peach Boy.] Ines Kannoyan’s place was filled with suitors; Lam-ang’s rooster flapped its wings, and the long house toppled. This amazed everybody, especially Ines. Then, Lam-ang’s dog barked and the long house rose to its former site. Lam-ang gave Ines two golden ships filled with treasures, and then he married her.
Nine months before Lam-ang was born to a noble family, his father left for the mountains to defeat an evil tribe of Igorots. Unfortunately, he was beheaded, and his head was displayed at the center of the village as a prize. When Lam-ang's mother gave birth, she was surprised when the baby grew up instantly. Lam-ang, as he was named, promised to find out what happened to his father by going up the mountains himself. There, helped by a good tribe of Igorots, he encountered the evil tribe and killed every one of them as vengeance, just by using a single spear.
When he returned home, he was so tired that he wanted to bathe. He dipped into the Amburayan River, which was instantly drenched in mud and blood. So filthy was the flow that the animals in the river crawled out and died on its shores.
The following day, he told his mother that he wanted to marry. Using his supernatural abilities, he predicted he would wed a woman named Ines, who lived north in a small town named Kandon. On the way, he encountered a stone giant Golem who was burning the rice and tobacco plants. Using a silver shield he inherited, he beheaded the giant and burned the body.
Ines had a multitude of suitors, and they crowded her house in Kandon. So many were they that Lam-ang had to step on their heads and walk through a window just to enter the house. Ines was so immediately stricken by his strength that she agreed to marry him. Nevertheless, her parents were still skeptical: they needed a dowry from his parents in return for Ines’ hand. Lam-ang agreed to return in a week to bring his mother as well as wealth and goods. Back in his town, Lam-ang prepared a house gilded with gold, filled with fruit, jewels, statues, and other amenities. When he sailed back to Kandon, Ines’ family was stunned. The wedding was done on the spot.
Three years later, Lam-ang and Ines finally settled and gained a son. One day, Lam-ang was stricken by a terrible nightmare: for the sake of his son, and the ancestors before him, he had to pass through an ancient ritual in which he had to fish deep into the depths of the ocean for a golden shell. He would die for sure, but he prayed to the gods, and they gave him a sign of hope. He told Ines his predicament, as well as the omens of his death and the rituals of his resurrection.
The dreaded day finally came, and people gathered from all over to witness Lam-ang dive for the golden shell. As soon as he dived, however, the Berkakan, the gargantuan dragon shark, emerged from the waters and gruesomely ate Lam-ang. Back home, Ines witnessed the clay stove collapse, the ladder dance, and their baby convulse; Lam-ang was dead. Ines wept for three days before she had the courage to gather Lam-ang’s bones, which were by then scattered along the shore. As per the rituals given to her by Lam-ang before his death, she was to wrap them in red silk while she recited a few incantations. Returning home, she ripped off a red silk curtain and wrapped the bones in them. Turning her back and whispering the incantations, she could hear the bones reforming into a new body. In a few moments, Lam-ang returned from the land of the dead. He, Ines, and his baby were granted immortality, spending eternal bliss in the rice fields of [Elysium].
