Bulanawan and Aguio

Twin brothers Bulanawan and Aguio, separated in infancy by a magical wind, grew into powerful warriors in distant lands. Unknowingly meeting as rivals, they fought fiercely over Bulanawan’s wife, causing the earth to tremble. Their brothers and father failed to stop the chaos, but their grandfather, a wise peacemaker, intervened. Peace was restored as the truth of their brotherhood and shared lineage emerged.

Source
Philippine Folk Tales
compiled and annotated by
Mabel Cook Cole
A.C. McClurg & Co., Chicago, 1916

► Themes of the story

Guardian Figures: The intervention of their grandfather, a wise peacemaker, emphasizes the role of elder family members in guiding and restoring harmony among younger generations.

Hidden or Forbidden Realms: Bulanawan’s abduction by a magical wind to a distant land introduces elements of mysterious and unknown territories, adding depth to the narrative’s mystical aspects.

Echoes of the Past: The revelation of the brothers’ shared lineage and the grandfather’s role in resolving their conflict highlight how ancestral connections and past events influence present circumstances.

► From the same Region or People

Southeast Asia
- Philippines
  - Bukidnon Lore

Learn more about Philippines peoples

Langgona and his wife had twin boys named Bulanawan and Aguio. One day, when they were about two years old, the mother took Bulanawan to the field with her when she went to pick cotton. She spread the fiber she had gathered the day before on the ground to dry near the child, and while she was getting more a great wind suddenly arose which wound the cotton around the baby and carried him away.

Far away to a distant land the wind took Bulanawan, and in that place he grew up. When he was a man, he became a great warrior.

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One day while Bulanawan and his wife were walking along the seashore, they sat down to rest on a large, flat rock, and Bulanawan fell asleep. Now Aguio, the twin brother of Bulanawan, had become a great warrior also, and he went on a journey to this distant land, not knowing that his brother was there. It happened that he was walking along the seashore in his war-dress on this same day, and when he saw the woman sitting on the large, flat rock, he thought her very beautiful, and he determined to steal her.

As he drew near he asked her to give him some of her husband’s betel-nut to chew, and when she refused he went forward to fight her husband, not knowing they were brothers. As soon as his wife awakened him Bulanawan sprang up, seized her, put her in the cuff of his sleeve, and came forth ready to fight. Aguio grew very angry at this, and they fought until their weapons were broken, and the earth trembled.

Now the two brothers of the rivals felt the earth tremble although they were far away, and each feared that his brother was in trouble. One was in the mountains and he started at once for the sea; the other was in a far land, but he set out in a boat for the scene of the trouble.

They arrived at the same time at the place of battle, and they immediately joined in it. Then the trembling of the earth increased so much that Langgona, the father of Aguio and Bulanawan, sought out the spot and tried to make peace. But he only seemed to make matters worse, and they all began fighting him. So great did the disturbance become that the earth was in danger of falling to pieces.

Then it was that the father of Langgona came and settled the trouble, and when all were at peace again they discovered that Aguio and Bulanawan were brothers and the grandsons of the peacemaker.

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How Children Became Monkeys

A mother took her children to dye cloth near a mud hole, where she used leaves and shell spoons in her process. When hot water splashed and burned her hand, her children’s laughter magically transformed them into monkeys, with their tails forming from the spoons. Their nails remain black, a reminder of their role in helping dye the cloth.

Source
Philippine Folk Tales
compiled and annotated by
Mabel Cook Cole
A.C. McClurg & Co., Chicago, 1916

► Themes of the story

Transformation: The children undergo a physical change into monkeys as a consequence of their actions.

Cultural Heroes: The mother serves as a central figure whose experience conveys cultural values and teachings.

Origin of Things: The tale provides an explanation for why monkeys have black nails, linking it to the children’s involvement in dyeing cloth.

► From the same Region or People

Southeast Asia
- Philippines
  - Bukidnon Lore

Learn more about Philippines peoples

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.

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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.

Magbangal

Magbangal, a skilled hunter, prepared to clear land for planting, instructing his wife to stay home. Using his magical powers, his tools worked autonomously, astonishing his curious wife. Her secret observation disrupted his magic, leading him to cut off his own arm. Enraged, Magbangal ascended to the sky, becoming a constellation that signals planting season, while his wife transformed into a fish.

Source
Philippine Folk Tales
compiled and annotated by
Mabel Cook Cole
A.C. McClurg & Co., Chicago, 1916

► Themes of the story

Transformation: Both Magbangal and his wife undergo significant changes: he becomes a constellation, and she transforms into a fish.

Forbidden Knowledge: The wife’s curiosity leads her to secretly observe Magbangal’s magical practices, which he had forbidden, resulting in dire consequences.

Sacred Objects: The autonomous tools (bolos and hatchets) possess magical qualities, performing tasks without human guidance.

► From the same Region or People

Southeast Asia
- Philippines
  - Bukidnon Lore

Learn more about Philippines peoples

Magbangal was a good hunter, and he often went to a certain hill where he killed wild pigs for food. One night as it was nearing the planting season, he sat in his house thinking, and after a long time he called to his wife. She came to him, and he said:

“Tomorrow I shall go to the hill and clear the land for our planting, but I wish you to stay here.”

“Oh, let me go with you,” begged his wife, “for you have no other companion.”

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“No,” said Magbangal, “I wish to go alone, and you must stay at home.”

So finally his wife agreed, and in the morning she arose early to prepare food for him. When the rice was cooked and the fish ready she called him to come and eat, but he said:

“No, I do not want to eat now, but I will return this afternoon and you must have it ready for me.”

Then he gathered up his ten hatchets and bolos, a sharpening stone, and a bamboo tube for water, and started for the hill. Upon reaching his land he cut some small trees to make a bench. When it was finished, he sat down on it and said to the bolos, “You bolos must sharpen yourselves on the stone.” And the bolos went to the stone and were sharpened. Then to the hatchets he said, “You hatchets must be sharpened,” and they also sharpened themselves.

When all were ready, he said: “Now you bolos cut all the small brush under the trees, and you hatchets must cut the large trees.” So the bolos and the hatchets went to work, and from his place on the bench Magbangal could see the land being cleared.

Magbangal’s wife was at work in their house weaving a skirt, but when she heard the trees continually falling she stopped to listen and thought to herself, “My husband must have found many people to help him clear our land. When he left here, he was alone, but surely he cannot cut down the trees so fast. I will see who is helping him.”

She left the house and walked rapidly toward the field, but as she drew nearer she proceeded more slowly, and finally stopped behind a tree. From her hiding-place, she could see her husband asleep on the bench, and she could also see that the bolos and hatchets were cutting the trees with no hands to guide them.

“Oh,” said she, “Magbangal is very powerful. Never before have I seen bolos and hatchets working without hands, and he never told me of his power.”

Suddenly she saw her husband jump up, and, seizing a bolo, he cut off one of his own arms. He awoke and sat up and said:

“Someone must be looking at me, for one of my arms is cut off.”

When he saw his wife he knew that she was the cause of his losing his arm, and as they went home together, he exclaimed:

“Now I am going away. It is better for me to go to the sky where I can give the sign to the people when it is time to plant; and you must go to the water and become a fish.”

Soon after he went to the sky and became the constellation Magbangal; and ever since, when the people see these stars appear in the sky, they know that it is time to plant their rice.

The Flood Story

Long ago, a massive crab displaced the sea, causing a flood that covered all land. Forewarned by a wise man, villagers built a sturdy raft bound with rattan to a pole. When the flood came, only those on the raft survived. After the waters receded, the raft returned near their home, leaving its passengers as the sole survivors on Earth.

Source
Philippine Folk Tales
compiled and annotated by
Mabel Cook Cole
A.C. McClurg & Co., Chicago, 1916

► Themes of the story

Creation: This tale explains a significant event that reshaped the world, akin to creation myths that describe the origins or reformation of the earth.

Loss and Renewal: The flood represents destruction, followed by the renewal of life through the survival of the people on the raft.

Divine Punishment: The catastrophic flood can be interpreted as a form of punishment or a cleansing event, a common motif in various cultural myths.

► From the same Region or People

Southeast Asia
- Philippines
  - Bukidnon Lore

Learn more about Philippines peoples

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.

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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.

How the Moon and the Stars Came to Be

In a time when the sky was near the ground, a spinster hung her beads and comb on the low sky while pounding rice. Striking the sky with her pestle, she caused it to rise higher. The comb transformed into the moon, and the beads became scattered stars, forever adorning the heavens, beyond her reach.

Source
Philippine Folk Tales
compiled and annotated by
Mabel Cook Cole
A.C. McClurg & Co., Chicago, 1916

► Themes of the story

Creation: The story explains the origins of celestial bodies—the moon and stars—detailing how they came into existence.

Transformation: The narrative describes the metamorphosis of everyday objects—a comb and beads—into celestial entities, highlighting themes of change and metamorphosis.

Sacred Objects: The comb and beads, ordinary items, transform into sacred celestial bodies, emphasizing the significance and power attributed to these objects in the narrative.

► From the same Region or People

Southeast Asia
- Philippines
  - Bukidnon Lore

Learn more about Philippines peoples

One day in the times when the sky was close to the ground a spinster went out to pound rice. Before she began her work, she took off the beads from around her neck and the comb from her hair, and hung them on the sky, which at that time looked like coral rock.

Then she began working, and each time that she raised her pestle into the air it struck the sky. For some time she pounded the rice, and then she raised the pestle so high that it struck the sky very hard.

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Immediately the sky began to rise, and it went up so far that she lost her ornaments. Never did they come down, for the comb became the moon and the beads are the stars that are scattered about.