Complete Text of Lam-ang (an Iloko epic) - Page 2 of 16

Meanwhile Namongan lay
About to give birth
Nobody within call
To help her deliver
Neither old Marcos, the driver
Nor Alisot nor Pas-ho the rich
Were able to succeed.
Then they thought
Of the old bent woman
She whose fingers were strong.

When she succeeded in helping
The woman Namongan
The boy was born
And the baby then started to talk:
Ay mother Namongan
When you have me baptized
Please name me Lam-ang
And have as my godfather the old Gibuan.

And when he was baptized
The unfortunate child then asked
His mother Namongan
Whether he had a father:
Mother, please I must ask
Whether I have or not a father
Whether I am or not a bastard
Whether my birth is honorable.

Namongan thus replied:
Ay my son Lam-ang,
About your father
You were still in my womb
When he went away.
That was when he left
He went to the forest
To the Igorot country
Of the tattoed Igorots.

Lam-ang then said:
Ay mother Namongan,
Please let your son go
For I must look for father
To whom I am so beholden.
And Namongan then replied:
Ay my son, my brave Lam-ang,
Please don't go
Your feet are still tender
Your hands still like folded leaves
You are scarcely
Nine months old.

Yet brave Lam-ang
Insisted on going.
He went to the forest
To the Igorot country
He went searching
For his father beholden.
He pocketed a stone of sagang
Also that of tangraban
A stone too of lawlawigan
And a stone of musang. ^[11]

He went through thick foliage
Also through bamboo clumps
He went through with such speed
Because of the centipede stone.
When he reached
The steep bank of the river
He saw at once
The biggest tree.
Here usually camped
The tattoed Igorots
Here then he would lie in wait
For the man he would fight.

His eyes wandered
And at once set on
A three-cornered root
He could use to cook.
At once he washed
And then he poured
Into his pot-for-one
His magic pot ^[12] that can feed
Whoever is on the road.
When the meal was over
Said the man Lam-ang:
Let the food be digested
Since it is heaven sent.