Labaw Donggon

(a Visayan epic)

Bilingual (Tagalog-English) version

Si Labaw Donggon ay anak ni Anggoy Alunsina at Buyung Paubari.  Siya ay napakakisig na lalaki na umibig kay Abyang Ginbitinan.  Binigyan niya ng maraming regalo ang ina ni Abyang Ginbitinan na si Anggoy Matang-ayon upang pumayag lamang na makasal ang dalawa.  Inimbita niya ang buong bayan sa kanilang kasal.  At hindi nagtagal ay umibig siyang muli sa isang magandang babae na nagngangalang Anggoy Doronoon.  Niligawan niya ito at hindi nagtagal ay nagpakasal.

At muli ay umibig si Labaw sa isa pang babae na nagngangalang Nagmalitong Yawa Sinagmaling Diwata.  Ngunit ang babae ay nakasal na kay Buyung Saragnayan na katulad niya na may kapangyarihan din.

Patayin mo muna ako bago mo makuha ang aking asawa, sabi ni Buyung Saragnayan sa kanya.

Handa akong kalabanin ka, sagot ni Labaw kay Saragnayan.

Naglaban sila ng maraming taon gamit ang kanilang mga kapangyarihan ngunit hindi mapatay ni Labaw si Saragnayan.  Mas malakas ang kapangyarihan ni Saragnayan kaysa kay Labaw.

Natalo si Labaw at siya ay itinali at ikinulong sa kulungan ng baboy ni Saragnayan.  Samantala ang kanyang mga asawa na si Abyang Ginbitinan at Anggoy Doronoon ay nanganak sa kanilang panganay.  Tinawag ni Abyang ang kanyang anak na Asu Mangga at si Anggoy Doronoon na Buyung Baranugun.  Gustong makita si Labaw ng kaniyang dalawang anak at nagpasya na hanapin siya.

Labaw Dongon was the son of Anggoy Alunsina and Buyung Paubari.  He was a very handsome young man who fell in love with Abyang Ginbitinan.  He showered Anggoy Matang-ayon, the mother of Abyang Ginbitinan with precious gifts so she would let him marry Abyang.  They invited the whole town to their wedding.  Not long after that, Labaw fell in love again with another beautiful woman named Anggoy Doronoon.  He courted her and soon they were married.

Then again, Labaw fell in love for the third time with another woman named Nagmalitong Yawa Sinagmaling Diwata.  But the woman was married to Buyung Saragnayan, who, like him, had a magical power.

Kill me first before you can have my wife, Buyung Saragnayan told him.

I'm ready to fight you, Labaw answered Saragnayan.

They fought each other for years using their strange magical powers but Labaw could not kill Saragnayan.  It seemed that Saragnayan's power was stronger than Labaw's.

Labaw was overpowered and he was tied and detained at the pigpen of Saragnayan.  Meanwhile, his wives, Abyang Ginbitinan and Anggoy Doronoon gave birth to their first borns.  Abyang named her son Asu Mangga and Anggoy Doronoon called her son Buyung Baranugun.  These two sons of Labaw wanted to see him and they decided to find him.

Learn this Filipino word:

babae