Biag ni Lam-ang

A summary of the Ilokano epic "Biag ni Lam-ang" by Pedro Bukaneg, as retold in Kapitbisig.com. For a complete English version of the epic poem, go here. For a Tagalog summary, go to the "Gabay ng Mag-aaral" blog site here.

Image courtesy of the Memoriter blog site. For a blog entry on Iloko literature, visit the blog here.

A couple named Don Juan and Namongan lived in a faraway barrio of Nalbuan. One day, Don Juan left his pregnant wife and went to the mountain to punish a group of Igorots. While he was in the mountain, Namongan gave birth to a baby boy. The baby was different from other babies because upon birth he could already speak. He wanted his name to be Lam-ang. And he was the one who chose his [own] godfather when he was baptized.

“Where is my father?” Lam-ang asked his mother Namongan one day.

“He is in the mountain to settle his feud with a group of Igorots there,” said his mother.

Lam-ang felt sad. He hadn't seen his father since he was born and he was terribly longing to see him.

“Would it be long before he comes back?”

“I don't know,” answered his lonely mother Namongan who was also terribly missing her husband. “I don't even know if he is still alive.”

One day, Lam-ang had an unusual dream. In his dream, he saw how his father was mercilessly killed by a group of Igorots. He was seething with anger when he woke up. He decided to follow his father to the mountain. He was then nine months old, when he reached the Igorot's village, he saw them dancing around the head of his father that was on top of a thin bamboo pole. In his rage, he fought all the Igorots and slew them all, including the leader of the group whom he tortured first before he killed.

On his way home to Nalbuan, he passed by the Amburayan River. There he took a bath with his lady friends scrubbing his body of dirt and blood that eventually killed all the living creatures in the river. 

When he was old enough to marry, he heard of the beautiful Ines Kannoyan and fell in love with her. He went to Ines' place to court her taking with him his white rooster and his favorite dog. When he arrived at her house, he was annoyed to see Ines' many suitors in front of the house.

He asked his rooster to crow and the rooster did. At once, Ines' house crumbled to the ground killing all her suitors. Then he asked his dog to bark and the dog did. The crumbled house stood again at once. Ines and her parents went out of the house to meet him. The white rooster expressed Lam-ang's feelings for Ines Kannoyan.

“My master, Lam-ang, loves you very much and he wants to marry you”, the white rooster said to Ines in the language she clearly understood.

“I'll marry you if your wealth could equal our riches”, answered Ines Kannoyan.

Ines' challenge to him did not dampen Lam-ang's spirit. He went home at once and came back with a big boat full of gold, the value of which surpassed Ines' family's wealth. Then they were married and they lived happily.

Years passed and came Lam-ang's turn to catch a fish known as "rarang". It was an obligation of every married man in the community to catch a "rarang". Lam-ang, however, felt that he would be killed by a "berkahan" (a kind of fish that belonged to the shark family) once he set out to catch a "rarang". But he had to do his duty and one night, he sailed out to the sea. He was killed by a "berkahan" as he had foreseen.

Ines wept in sorrow. Lam-ang's white rooster thought of a way to bring Lam-ang back to life again. Ines Kannoyan paid a deep-sea diver to locate all the bones of Lam-ang under the sea. The diver found all the bones very easily and Ines put them together. Then, together with Lam-ang's white rooster and favorite dog, she held prayer vigils every night, until one day, Lam-ang came back to life. And they lived happily ever after.

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Here is an Ilocano Visayan(!!!)-language [and apparently amateur-made] video on "Biag ni Lam-ang" from YouTube: