BAYBAYAN: PHILIPPINE EPIC MYTH PART SEVEN

Balladeer’s Blog continues its examination of this epic myth of the Bukidnon people of the Philippines.

PART SEVEN

With the menace of the giants and the dragons now behind them, Baybayan and his hundreds of surviving followers continued their journey toward Skyland, the home of the gods. The ship transporting them was the Salimbal, the divine craft sent down by the supreme deity Magbabaya.

The demigod Baybayan was looking back at the faraway Earth by way of his godly senses. He noticed the granary that his industrious disciples had filled with rice and did not want the precious food to go to waste.

Selecting a pair of the saliyao bells that lined the Salimbal, Baybayan threw them back to the Earth, transforming them into the very first male and female Maya bird. These birds and their young would feed on the rice in the granary. Since that day Maya birds have fed on rice from Philippine rice fields. (Until 1995 Maya birds were even the National Bird of the Philippines.) Suddenly danger reared its head.  

A trio of the man-eating giants who had attacked the Salimbal tried to intercept the Maya birds before they could reach the Earth below. The hands that had been cut off in their battle with the divine ship had grown back, as the limbs of giants do in Philippine myths.

The giants’ efforts to grab the speedy Maya birds caused them to lose their balance and fall to the world below. The demigod Baybayan noted with alarm that the three giants began seizing any human beings within reach and devouring them. 

Alisngaran, the favorite disciple of Baybayan, who had stayed behind on Earth with his beloved fiancee, sprang to humanity’s defense and began attacking the giants. His betrothed stood bravely beside him, encouraging him as he battled the three-eyed giants with his weapon – the world’s heaviest kampilan sword, which he alone was strong enough to wield.

Baybayan made a mental image of himself appear to Alisngaran begging him to take his woman and flee. Alisngaran refused, saying he would rather die fighting beside his beloved ( I will point out again that many female names are missing from Philippine myths because their “holy men” considered those names too sacred to be shared with outsiders). 

Whenever the wild-eyed Alisngaran would succeed in slicing off an arm or head of one of the giants the other two put him on the defensive until the limbs or head of their comrade could grow back. The situation soon seemed hopeless for Baybayan’s favorite follower and his intended. And when they fell all the Bukidnon people would become victims of the giants next.

Up next: The final chapter of the Baybayan Epic.

FOR ANOTHER EPIC MYTH CLICK HERE: https://glitternight.com/2013/03/17/iroquois-epic-myth-hodadeion/

FOR SIMILAR ARTICLES AND MORE OF THE TOP LISTS FROM  BALLADEER’S BLOG CLICK HERE: https://glitternight.com/top-lists/

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