Complete Text of Lam-ang (an Iloko epic) - Page 5 of 16

(English version)

'Tis now nine years
Since we have threshed
Our palay : samosan
Ibuan and langigan
Lumanog and lampadan
Maratectec and macan
Gagaynet and balasang
Also the kimmatuday. [18]

When the threshing was almost done
Said he to those who came:
My young friends thresh well
As it is your own
What you have threshed.

When they had finished threshing
More than one baar [19]
Lam-ang said again:
My young friends,
What you bundle up is yours to carry.
Don't forget too to take
The bamboo dipper [20]
Get also the embers with which to set
The bunch of straw on fire.
My young friends,
Bring the embers back
To add for use
With the iron embers. [21]

And off to Amburayan River
We shall all bathe
For I have heard there lives
The biggest crocodile
For I want to fight
The biggest crocodile.

And they started for
The river Amburayan.
Beside the bank of the river
He let his eyes roam
He saw at once
The bubbles from the crocodile.

And Lam-ang said:
Ay my young friends,
Burn the straw. [22]

And when they couldn't
Lam-ang beckoned
The strongest wind
And flames leaped from the straw
The smoke so thick
It drew cries from people of San Juan
Those of Bacnotan ran
Thinking there was fire.
And when they couldn't put it out
Lam-ang then beckoned
The rain in torrents
From abyssmal clouds
Lightning and thunder in succession
Still it was difficult to put it out.

Then Lam-ang said:
Ay my young friends,
Please take
The coconut dipper
And fetch water
Then wash my hair
In the middle of the river.

And when they had washed the hair
Of the man Lam-ang
Small shrimps died
Lobsters went ashore
Also small crabs
And small fishes floated
Also many eels.

Then the man Lam-ang said:
Ay my young friends,
Please wait not for me
For I will dive but once
To try my strength
With the biggest crocodile.

Lam-ang thus dived
But could not find
The crocodile who went downstream
Lam-ang then went upstream
And the crocodile too,
Lam-ang again went downstream
Then they met
And they began to struggle!

[18] Our palay : samosan
Ibuan and langigan
Lumanog and lampadan
Maratectec and macan
Gagaynet and balasang
Also the kimmatuday = Varieties of rice.

[19] baar = Ten bundles of rice stalks.

[20] bamboo dipper = Half of the coconut shell.

[21] iron embers = Ironing clothes was done with an open round receptacle with the handle, which is heated by putting embers on its hollow back.

[22] Burn the straw = Shampoo was made by burning the rice straw, putting it in a coconut dipper with holes and letting water run through it.

Learn this Filipino word:

kagandahang-loób