Myths, Legends and folktales of Northern
Mindanao
Human
beings have been telling stories since they first learned to speak. And even
before we could speak, we managed to tell stories by drawing and painting
pictures on the walls of the caves we lived in.
What we call legends are generally stories, which have an actual historical event or person as their starting point. Myths are sometimes based on legends but are altered in a way that makes them useful to teach people how to behave or to give an explanation of the world around.
Folktales may also have started their life by being based on an event, but they are changed almost every time they are told and, as time passed the story loses its connection to reality and the message or moral of the story becomes much more important.
Myths:
How the Angels Built Lake Lanao
Long ago there was no lake in Lanao. On the place where it
is now situated, there flourished a mighty sultanate called Mantapoli.
During the reign of Sultan Abdara Radawi, the greater grandfather of Radia
Indarapatra (mythological hero of the Lanao Muslims), this realm expanded by
military conquests and by dynastic marriages so that in time its fame spread
far and wide.
The population of Mantapoli was numerous and fast
increasing. At that time the world was divided into two regions: Sebangan (East) and Sedpan (West). The mighty
sultanate of Mantapoli belonged to Sebangan. Because this sultanate
rapidly increased in power and population as well, the equilibrium between
Sebangan and Sedpan was broken.
This dis-equilibrium soon came to the attention of Archangel
Diabarail (Gabriel to the Christians). Like a flash of sunlight,
Diabarail flew to the Eighth heaven and told Allah, "My Lord, why have you
permitted the unbalance of the earth? Because of the power of Mantapoli,
Sebangan is now larger than Sedpan."
"Why, Diabarail," replied the Sohara (Voice of Allah),
"what is wrong with that?"
"My Lord, Mantapoli has a vast population countless as the
particles of dust. If we will allow this sultanate to remain in Sebangan,
I fear that the world would turn upside down, since Sebangan is heavier than
Sedpan."
"Your words show great wisdom, Diabarail," commented
the Sohara.
"What must we do, my Lord, to avert the impending
catastrophe?"
To this query, the Sohara replied, "Go right away to the
Seven-Regions-Beneath-the-Earth and to the Seven-Regions-in-the-Sky and gather
all the angels. I will cause a barahana (solar eclipse) and in the darkness
let the angels remove Mantapoli and transfer it to the center of the
earth."
Upon receiving the mandate of Allah, Archangel Diabarail,
traveling faster than lightning, rallied the millions of angels from the
Seven-Regions-Beneath-the-Earth and the Seven-Regions-in-the-Sky. With
this formidable army, he presented himself to Allah, saying, "My Lord, we
are ready to obey Your command."
The Sohara spoke, "Go to Sebangan, and lift the land of
Mantapoli."
Diabarail, leading his army of angels, flew to the east.
In the twinkle of an eye, the sun vanished and a terrible darkness as black as
the blackest velvet shrouded the universe. The angels sped faster than
arrows. They swooped on Mantapoli, lifting it with great care and carried
it (including its people, houses, crops and animals) through the air as if it
were a carpet. They brought it down at the center of the earth, in accordance
with the command of Allah. The very spot vacated by the sultanate of
Mantapoli became a huge basin of deep, blue water-the present Lanao Lake.
The waters coming from the deep bowels of the earth rose higher
and higher. Archangel Diabarail, seeing the rising tides immediately
returned to the Eighth Heaven and reported to Allah, "My Lord, the earth
is now balanced. But the place where we removed Mantapoli is becoming an
ocean. The waters are rising fast, and unless an outlet for them can be
found, I fear that they might inundate Sebangan and drown all Your
people."
In response, the Sohara said, "You are right,
Diabarail. Go out, then, and summon the Four Winds of the World: Angin
Taupan, Angin Besar, Angin Darat, and Angin Sarsar. Tell them to blow and
make an outlet for the overflowing waters."
Obeying the Master's command, the faithful messenger summoned
the Four Winds. "By the Will of Allah," he told them,
"blow your best, and make an outlet for the rising waters of the new
lake."
The four winds of the world blew, and a turbulence swept the
whole eastern half of the earth. The surging waters rolled swiftly
towards the shores of Tilok Bay to the southeastern direction. But the
towering ranges impeded their onrush. The Four Winds blew, hurling the
waves against the rocky slopes but in vain; no outlet could be cut through the
mountain barrier.
Changing direction, this time eastward, the Four Winds blew
harder driving the raging waters towards the shores of Sugud Bay (situated east
of Dansalan, now Marawi City). Once again, the attempt to create an
outlet failed because the bay was too far from the sea.
For the third time, the Four Winds changed direction and blew
their hardest. The waves, plunging with ferocity, rolled towards
Marawi. Day and night, the Winds blew as the waters lashed against the
shoreline of Marawi. This time the attempt succeeded. An outlet now
called Agus River was made, and through the outlet, that water of Lake Lanao
poured out to the sea, thereby saving Sebangan from a deluge.
It came to past that there was a high cliff at the outlet, and
over the cliff the waters cascaded in majestic volume. Thus, arose the
beautiful falls which, aeons later, was named Maria Cristina, after a famous
queen of Spain.
Eclipses
Up in the sky lives a huge lion named Arimaonga. This
animal sometimes gets playful, and it swallows the moon, thus producing an
eclipse of the moon. Arimaonga is forced by the people to disgorge the
moon by the noise they make during an eclipse of the moon, so people beat gongs
and pluck their fingernails.The eclipse of the sun happens when one of the wheels of the chariot which carries it gets destroyed, thus forcing it to deviate from its regular path.
Legends:
The Legend of Tinago Falls
Legend has it that there once lived
an influential and powerful Sultan Agok and his wife. They were appointed by
their people as their king and queen. But they became too proud of themselves
and became selfish rulers of their kingdom. When the sultan's wife was
pregnant, an enchantress, disguised as a beggar, begged for their help but
instead they exiled and rejected her. Because of this, the enchantress cursed
the couple that the child will become ugly but they did not take it seriously
and permanently banished the enchantress.
The child did become ugly. The couple
was sad and disappointed, expecting the baby to be as lovely as her mother.
They hid the child in a cave to avoid embarrassment and named the baby Tin-ag,
which means "hidden face". They visited and took care of the baby in
the cave.
When the child grew up, she came out
of the cave and became amazed at what she saw. The enchantress, who cursed her
parents, saw her and made an offer to transform her into something of great
beauty and splendor. She accepted the offer and became the Tinago Falls.
Tinago Falls is located in a deep
ravine in Barangay Ditucalan, Iligan City. The falls plunges 240 feet (73 m)
high from a cliff.
The Flood Story
A long time ago there was
a very big crab which crawled into the sea. And when he went in he crowded the
water out so that it ran all over the earth and covered all the land.
Now about one moon before this happened, a wise man had told the
people that they must build a large raft. They did as he commanded and cut many
large trees, until they had enough to make three layers. These they bound
tightly together, and when it was done they fastened the raft with a long
rattan cord to a big pole in the earth.
Soon after this the floods came. White water poured out of the
hills, and the sea rose and covered even the highest mountains. The people and
animals on the raft were safe, but all the others drowned.
When the waters went down and the raft was again on the ground,
it was near their old home, for the rattan cord had held.
But these were the only people left on the whole earth.
Folktale:
The "giant fish" tale
of Cagayan de Oro
If you’re a native Cagayanon, you have probably heard
of the “giant fish” tale along the Cagayan de Oro River. Some say it’s just a
myth, a legend, a tale from the old age carried over the years. Based on the
story, the giant fish even ate a priest from nearby St. Augustine Church.
If we follow the legend, only few locals know of an
old tablet carved from stone depicting that “incident involving the priest and
the giant fish”. Many years before, this tablet was located somewhere on the
southwest concrete fence of what is now St. Joseph’s Garden of St. Augustine
Church. Interestingly, this tablet (shown above) was transferred right at the
back of the Archbishop’s Palace, away from the public view. A closer view of
the tablet shown below clearly shows a hapless priest being caught by a giant
fish….The tablet is believed to be very old.
But if you’re not into myths and legends, the tablet would be
that of Jonah who was swallowed by a whale as written in the Bible.
Still, this giant carp could be very
much bigger in the older days which can easily gobble up anything the size of a
man. Now, this giant fish is often depicted in the floats during the
annual fiesta.
HOW CHILDREN BECAME
MONKEYS
One day a mother took her two children with her when she went to
color cloth. Not far from her home was a mud hole where
the carabao liked to wallow, and to this hole she carried her cloth, some dye
pots, and two shell spoons.After she had put the cloth into the mud to let it take up the dark color, she built a fire and put over it a pot containing water and the leaves used for dyeing. Then she sat down to wait for the water to boil, while the children played near by.
By and by when she went to stir the leaves with a shell spoon, some of the water splashed up and burned her hand, so that she jumped and cried out. This amused the children and their laughter changed them into monkeys, and the spoons became their tails.
The nails of the monkeys are still black, because while they were children they had helped their mother dye the cloth.
