*Note this story in in Ilocano
Apagsipnget idi sadjay away iti Iculengan, ket buybuyaen na iti anak na, Yadan iti nagan iti anak na, nga madama id inga agay-ayam iti maudi nga lawag iti aldaw.
Nataer ken nalaeng isuna nga ubing, kaing-ingas na iti ama na. Nauneg iti sinna-ay nga inparwar ni Guimbangun. Makatawen metten daydi pannakiranget ni Lumalindaw kadagiti cabusor ni Nabbobawan. Dakkel met iti pannakaawat no Guimbangun maipapan iti rason nga rumbeng laing nga palubusan n ani Lumalindaw, ngem iti haan na nga maawatan kit nu apay nga napnuan-sakit iti pannalubos na.
Ni Yadan ken dadduma pay nga ubbeng kit madama iti panag-ay-ayam da sadjay ayan iti sirok ti kaykayu nga asideg iti balbalay. Inkarigatan launay ni Guimbangun iti kasta ket dumakkel nga natalged, nasingpet, ken naannayad nga naiparswa ni Yadan—ngem dayjay lang ta rukrukbaben unay ni Yadan iti Ama na, nga amin iti karkararag ni Guimbangun kit kasla haan nga impangag ken pulos pay nga mang-ngegan.
Napnuan siddaaw ni Guimbangun maipanggep iti gasat ni Lumalindaw, anya ngatan iti ubra na ita? Napanunot na garud, madama siguron nga agsagsagana para iti sumaruno nga pannakiranget da. Ummisem isuna, malagip na pay daydi immune nga panag-am-ammu da kinni Lumalindaw, kanayun nga makapasalibukag-rikna idin isu kit agdigdigus idjay karayan, kit ni Lumalindaw nga minatay.
Awan iti di nan ga maurnos iti Salamanca na, kasjay.
Agay-ayam da dagiti ubbeng, kit ni Guimbangun ummasidig kuman kanyada idin tay maysa nga ka-ay-ayam ni Yadan kit immuli sadjay kayu kit natnag. Naurnong dagiti dadduma nga ubbeng iti lawlaw iti kadwa da nga awan iti byag nan, kit kasjay, nagrugi dan nga nagrungaab.
Ni Yadan, gapu ta awan anus nan nga buybuyaen ida ket immasideg idjay natnag nga ubeng. Tay awan byag nan kin natay nga ubeng ket apagcanito nga timmakder, simumulagat ket binallaagan ni Yadan nga rugyan da manen iti agay-ayamen.
Nalabit nga kaing-ingas kin katigtignay ni Yadan iti Ama na nga ni Lumalindaw, ngem isu kit anak latta ni Guimbangun.
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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.
=———————–=
*Ilocano is the third most-spoken local language of the Philippines.An Austronesian language, it is related to such languages as Malay (Indonesian and Malaysian), Tetum, Chamorro, Fijian, Maori, Hawaiian, Samoan, Tahitian, Paiwan and Malagasy. It is closely related to some of the other Austronesian languages of Northern Luzon, and has slight mutual intelligibility with the Balangao language and the eastern dialects of the Bontoc language.
Written by Karl Gaverza
Translation by Stephanie Garces
Copyright © Karl Gaverza
Translation Copyright © Stephanie Garces
Inspired by the Gaddang Epic “Lumalindaw” in Philippine Folk Literature:The Epics. Eugenio. 2001.
Guimbangun Illustration by Yanna Gemora
FB: Yannami