*Note this story is in Hiligaynon
Ek-Ek-Ek
Kinulbaan ang mal-am sang makabati kang huni halin sang iya kwarto. Hutik na, “ Dios ko, indi daad tana.” Nagsinggit siya kag nagapangamuyo nga kahadlukan kang sapat ang iya tingug. Pay nakabalo siya nga indi makaabot ang iya tingug sa kwarto sang iya bata nga nagakaturog.
Ek-Ek-Ek
Uyon niya magdara sang kutsilyo pay waay dun tana ka oras nga mag-adto sang kusina. Nagapangita siya ka puwede madara gikan sa iya kuwarto. Nakit-an na ang pares kang gunting. “Sakto na diya.” Waay dun sang oras nga mag-isip, karun pa nga na sa pigado dun sanda nga sitwasyon. Nagdalagan tana paguwa sa iya nga kwarto nga may kaput nga gunting, nagapangamuyo nga sakto dun ang iyang ginakaptan.
Ek-Ek-Ek
Sang paparapit dun, nagsinggit duman tana kang tama ka kakusog. Nagahandum siya nga mapukaw ang tanan nga imaw sa balay. Man-an niya nga isa lang ang iya bata sa kwarto. Ginbuksan niya ang puwertahan samtang may kaput niya mangid ang gunting.
Ek-Ek-Ek
Nakit-an niya ang sapat. Malabog, adto ang pula nga dila sang busong sang iya bata. Nadumduman na ang indi malimtam nga gab-I sang mabatian niya ang huni. Ang gab-I kun diin nadura ang iya una nga bata. Nangako tana nga indi dun matabo sa kung sin-o man sa iya nga pamilya ang natabo sa iya.
Ek-Ek-Ek
Kaput sang mal-am ang gunting kag gin atubang ang iya nga daman.
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English Version
Ek-Ek-Ek
The old woman hears the sound from her bedroom and her heart drops. “Please God not her.”, she whispers. She screams, and silently hopes that this can be enough to scare the creature away but she knows that her voice isn’t strong enough to reach her daughter’s bedroom.
Ek-Ek-EK
There’s not enough time to go to the kitchen to get a knife, it might be too late. She looks around her room and sees a pair of scissors. “Good enough.” she thinks. But there’s no time to think, not when this much is at stake. She runs out of her room with the scissors in her hand, praying that it may be enough.
Ek-EK-EK
She is close enough now. She screams again, louder than before, louder than anything she has ever screamed. It may be enough to wake up the others in the house, but she knows her daughter is alone in the room. She opens the door with the scissors in her hand.
EK-EK-EK
She stares down the beast. She sees its long, red tongue attached to her daughter’s womb and she remembers that dark stormy night when she first heard the sounds. When she lost her first baby. She vows that it will never hurt her family ever again.
EK-EK-EK
The old woman grasps the scissors in her hand and charges at her nightmare.
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*The Hiligaynon language, also colloquially referred often by most of its speakers simply as Ilonggo, is an Austronesian regional language spoken in the Philippines by about 9.1 million people, mainly in Western Visayas and SOCCSKSARGEN, most of whom belong to the Visayan ethnic group, mainly the Hiligaynons. It is the second-most widely spoken language and a member of the so-named Visayan language family and is more distantly related to other Philippine languages.
Written by Karl Gaverza
Hiligaynon translation by Zyryl Leal Abuyen
Copyright © Karl Gaverza
Translation Copyright © Zyryl Leal Abuyen
Story inspired by the Ekek legends
Ekek Illustration by Leandro Geniston from Aklat ng mga Anito
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Watercolor by Catherine Chiu
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