*Note this story is in Kinaray-a
Paagto sa sirum sa Sitio kang Iculengan, ana guinlantaw ang anang bata, guinhinganran kay Yadan, nga nagahampang sa urihi nga sirak kang adlaw. Tama ka aram kag guapo pareho sa anang Tatay. Si Guimbangun nagpanghayhay. Sangka tuig ron ang nagligad halin kang si Lumalindaw nagpanaw para makigbatu sa mga taga Nabbobawan. Ana nahangpan kun andut kinahanglan na pasugtan pero ang indi na maintindihan kun andut nga tama guid kasakit.
Si Yadan kag iba nga bata nagasipal kang lipak sa dalum kang kahoy rapit sa andang balay. Kutob sa anang ikasarang, siguraduhon guid ni Guimbangun nga magbahul si Yadan nga aram kag mayad, pero idolo na guid ang anang tatay, kag ang panaghoy natupa lang sa bungol nga dulunggan.
Ana guinapanumdum kun ano ang guina-obra kadya ni Lumalindaw, basi nagahanda sa ana dasun nga gyera isip na. Tana nag ngirit. Kasadyahan kun ana madumduman kun paano sanda una nagkilalahay, sangka matahum nga baye nga nagaparigos sa suba kag tana, sangka patay.
Wara ti bagay nga indi makid-an kang anang gahum, syempre.
Ang mga bata nasubrahan run guid sa paghampang, kag si Guimbangun kun daad mapatunga ugaring kay ang sangka migu ni Yadan nagsaka sa kahoy kag nahulog. Dayun nagtiripon ang mga bata sa palibot kang tiskug dun nga lawas kang nahulog kag ang iba nag-umpisa run kahiribi.
Si Yadan, indi kahulat, nagparapit sa nahulog nga bata kag naghambal ng magbangun run. Ang patay nga lawas gulpi nagbangun, nabugtawan kag si Yadan naghambal nga maliwat ang hampang sa puno.
Ang bata raku ti naangkun halin sa tatay na, pero tana bata man ni nanay na.
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English Version
Sunset fell on the village of Iculengan, and she watched her child, Yadan, play through the last light of the day. He was so bright and handsome, just like his father. Guimbangun sighed. It had been a year since Lumalindaw went to fight the enemies of Nabbobawan. She understood why she had to let him go, but she could never understand why it had to hurt so much.
Yadan and the other children were playing with sticks by the trees near their houses. Guimbangun tried as hard as she could to make sure Yadan would grow up to be a kind and gentle soul, but the boy idolized his father, and her pleas fell on deaf ears.
She wondered what Lumalindaw was doing now, probably preparing for his next battle, she supposed. She smiled. It always made her happy to remember how they had first met, her a woman bathing in the river and him, a corpse.
Nothing her magic couldn’t fix, of course.
The children were playing rough, and Guimbangun was about to step in when one of Yadan’s playmates climbed the tree and fell. The children gathered around their unmoving playmate and some of them started to cry.
Yadan, as impatient as ever, went beside the fallen child and told him to get up. The lifeless body of the boy suddenly sprang up, wide awake and Yadan told him to start their game over.
The boy may have a lot of his father in him, but he was also his mother’s son.
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*The Karay-a language, or Kinaray-a is an Austronesian regional language spoken by the Karay-a people, mainly in Antique in the Philippines, Iloilo and other provinces on the island of Panay, as well as portions of the SOCCSKSARGEN region in Mindanao. It is one of the Visayan languages, mainly along with Aklanon/Malaynon, Capiznon and Hiligaynon. As of 2015, there is an estimated 1,200,000 speakers of Kinaray-a with almost half of them are from Antique and Iloilo provinces.
Written by Karl Gaverza
Translation by Lillie Geocadin Mosquera
Copyright © Karl Gaverza
Translation Copyright © Lillie Geocadin Mosquera
Inspired by the Gaddang Epic “Lumalindaw” in Philippine Folk Literature:The Epics. Eugenio. 2001.
Guimbangun Illustration by Yanna Gemora
FB: Yannami