epics

Biag ni Lam-ang (Summary)

BIAG NI LAM-ANG (Life of Lam-ang) is pre-Hispanic epic poem of the Ilocano people of the Philippines.  The story was handed down orally for generations before it was written down around 1640 assumedly by a blind Ilokano bard named Pedro Bucaneg.

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

Oban's Myths & Legends

Why the Flounder is flat
By Josh - Aged 11
Matamata - New Zealand

Long, long ago at the bottom of the ocean floor lived a fish called Bruce.

He was a flounder.

He was endowed with grace, flexibility and size superior to most sea creatures. His boasting and bragging caused them to be jealous.

Even Tangaroa, god of the sea, was red with anger due to the nasty behaviour of the unpleasant flounder. He decided to punish Bruce - he was going to make him flat, weak, and small.

Tangaroa ordered his sea knights to bring Bruce to him.

The knights searched high and low. A snapper told them he knew where Bruce was. “In the coral reefs is where Bruce stays.”

While the sea knights were searching in the coral reefs, they heard a “CLOMP!” with an “OUCH!!” after it.

It was one of the sea knights. He’d been caught in a rusty bear trap. Then suddenly a huge figure appeared.

It was Bruce. “Why have you trespassed my property? Bruce said angrily.

“We come here by the name of Tangaroa, to capture you for the sake of the villagers”, said one of the knights. “That is not possible. I am invincible. I am the best, and I am the one who will be the one, the only one to replace Tangaroa’s royalty when he suffers”, said Bruce.

One of the knights tried to spear Bruce with a sedative spear but Bruce snapped it in half. While one of the knights was distracting him another grabbed their own sedative spear and stabbed the muscley fish. Bruce fell on his face and snoozed to sleep. “Yahoo!!” yelled the knights, rejoicing.

The knights towed Bruce to Tangaroa’s throne. “Well done knights”, Tangaroa said. “Gather all the villagers in my chamber to see Bruce suffer the consequences.”

The knights started telling the good news to the villagers. The villagers were very excited then and hurried to the chamber. Tangaroa spoke to Bruce. “You have been naughty. These villagers will look down on you like you looked down on them! Be ready to face my wrath!”

A blue beam appeared on the tip of Tangaroa’s trident.

From then, as now, flounders were flat, weak and small.

The End

The Lion and the Mouse
Aesop fable retold by Oban

A Lion was sleeping peacefully when he was woken by something running up and down his back and over his face.

Pretending to be still asleep, the Lion slowly opened one eye and saw that it was a little mouse.

With lightening speed the Lion reached out and caught the little mouse in one of his large paws. He dangled it by its tail and roared, “I’m the King of Beasts! You’ll pay with your life for showing me such disrespect.”

The Lion held the little mouse over his huge open jaws and prepared to swallow it.

“Please, please don’t eat me, Mr King of Beasts, Sir,” squeaked the mouse. “If you forgive me this time and let me go I’ll never, never forget it.”

“I may be able to do you a good turn in the future to repay your kindness,” it squeaked.

“You, do me a favour!” roared the Lion with laughter. “That is the funniest thing I’ve ever heard.”

Still laughing, the Lion put the mouse down on the ground and said; “You’ve made me laugh so much I can’t eat you now. Go on, off you go before I change my mind.”

The little mouse scurried away as fast as its little legs could go.

Not long after this the Lion was caught in a trap by some hunters. They tied him to a tree with rope while they went to get their wagon.

The little mouse was nearby and came when he heard the mighty Lion’s roar for help.

The mouse gnawed the rope with his sharp teeth and set the Lion free.

“I know you didn’t believe me, but I told you I could help you one day,” squeaked the little mouse. “Even a little mouse like me can help some one as big and strong as you.”

“Thank you my little friend. I won’t forget that lesson,” said the Lion as he ran away before the hunters returned.

The End

What is the moral of this story?

Little friends may prove to be great friends.
Good things come in small packages.
No act of kindness, no matter how small, is ever wasted.

Oban's Myths & Legends

How the Chicken got his wings
By Kaytlynne and Gwen - Age 10
Battle Creek
Michigan U.S.A

Like all birds chicken had little skinny legs, a beak, and feathers. But chicken was missing one vital thing...Wings!

One day chicken got a letter saying: ‘All birds are cordially invited to attend a feast for birds in the hollow tree - eight pm Saturday.’

Chicken couldn't wait. He had never been invited to a feast before. As Saturday neared he couldn't even sleep, he was too exited. When Saturday night came chicken got to the party at eight o’clock on the dot.

Chicken looked into the hollow tree and his mouth dropped open as he saw all the beautiful decorations and delicious looking foods. Chicken handed the invitation to the guard at the door. The guard motioned for chicken to come in.

Only as soon as chicken walked in, blue bird stepped in front of him and angrily said "You shouldn't be here. You are clearly not a bird for you have no wings. The letter must have been delivered to you by mistake. Now leave before I have the guard escort you."

So without a grudge or a fight chicken left the party and went home feeling very bad, and he cried himself to sleep that night.

The next morning was cold and snow started to fall from the sky. All the other animals were scurrying around, trying to find enough food before the first frost.

Chicken walked outside his house. "Oh no, it’s snowing " he said.

Chicken was worried. He had never lived through a winter before.

He tried to look for seed on the ground but the earth floor seemed bare and seedless.

Oban's Myths & Legends

How the Sky came to be
By Laura Beeston age 11
Grade 6 Grosvenor School
Winnipeg, Manitoba
Canada

Before the stars, when the earth was long and flat, and the moon was cold and plain, there lived a spirit named Obweji.

Obweji was very powerful because he was the Spirit of the Sky. He owned the universe and the great flat earth. He had many servants on earth, they were all afraid of him and did his bidding.

They were all happy when Obweji lifted and went up to his big dark sky again.

On earth there was a beautiful maiden named Pateka. Her hair was the colour of a ravens wing and her eyes sparkled like the fire. She was kind and respectful to her people and she loved the sun.

One day Obweji came down to Pateka's village to choose a bride.

All the people were obligated to give forth their daughters and the families who didn't were killed.

When Obweji saw Pateka he chose her right away because of her great beauty. When Pateka was given to him she cried and cried but went with him for the sake of her people.

She cried many nights after and the only thing that pleased her was staring into the sun for many hours. Obweji was sorry but very mad at Pateka for being disrespectful to him.

One night Pateka told Obweji, " I am leaving you because you are cruel to my people!!"

The words shocked Obweji and he became furious at her. He grabbed her stone necklace from her neck. But Pateka was too quick and darted away from him. He held the broken necklace as she ran away never to be seen again.

Obweji was so overcome by anger that he threw all the beads in the sky, and there they stopped and shone like diamonds in day and night.

Obweji was ashamed and scared to face his people, he felt weak and thought about his lost love all the time. A few days later Obweji started to cry.

He picked up his earth and rolled it very slowly in his big hands then he turned faster and faster until his palms hurt and his head ached. He was so sad that he went to the moon and slept for 4 days.

Then he died of a broken heart.

The servants were overjoyed because they didn't have to work for him anymore. But they would be reminded of him when they looked at his image on the moon.

And Pateka? She ran to the spirit of the sun and married him. They were very happy and had many children.

They named them, Venus, Mercury , Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus ,Pluto and Neptune. They lived happily ever after.

And that is how the sky came to be.

MYTHS

Oban's Myths & Legends

The Red Dragon
retold by Agor

A long long time ago most of the animals on earth looked very different from how they look now.

Some were thinner, some were taller and some had more legs than they have today.

The Rhinoceros and the Hippopotamus were very vain and always boring the other animals, asking them to admire their good looks.

"Haven't I got the most handsome face you've ever seen?" the Rhinoceros would ask, as he turned his head from side to side. "Don't you think my left side is as handsome as my right?".

"Look at my slim body" the Hippopotamus would answer. "Isn't this the most beautiful body you've ever seen?"

"Huuh!" the Elephant would trumpet. "Look at my beautiful ivory teeth. They're the most perfect teeth in the world". And he would smile, showing two rows of gleaming ivory teeth.

Every thing was peaceful and boring until one day a red dragon flew down from the sky shouting "The world is going to end! The world is going to end!"

"We've heard that one before" said the lion, with a bored sigh. "The chicken said the sky was falling, but nothing happened".

"It's for real this time. The world is coming to an end!" yelled the red dragon.

"How do you know" the others asked.

"A wizard told me" he replied.

"Then it must be true" they all said. "What shall we do?"  continue