*Note this story is in Ilocano
WAAAAH! WAAAAAAH!
“Agtalna ka ubing a bassit, irikep mo dagita matam, Haan ka madandannagan ta haan ta maananno”
Nairut nga Inigganan ti babai ti tian na, maisigurado laeng a natalged ti anak na.
“Pangaasim haan mo tultulladen ti Ama’m, haan mo tultulladen ti madi nga aramid na, masapul a sirigem ti mesmessa laeng ngem masapul nga adaywam nu naala dan. “Ti lalaki ket lalakin to latta” isut pagsasao da, ngem haan da maamiris nga ti babbai ket kanayun nga isuda ti maibati”
WHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!
“Ammuk nga kaslang maudin,rimwar ni Nana ta mapan na kan ubraen ti kaykayyat na. Baybayaan na dagitay agkakadakes nga lallaki nga agibatbatti kadagiti babbai.
“Uray kasanot ulpit ti lubong, nangisaganaak iti naisangsangayan a kita ti kinaranggas kadakuada”
WAAAAH! WAAAAAAAH!
“ Gapu ta maiparbeng kadakuada. Dagiti rugit da nga simrek kanyak. Maysaak a nadalus a babai, ti kabibiag na nga nangat-ngato ngem siyak, kitaen nak itan. Addaak ditoyen. Maitanem tanto a dua agingga a mapugsat ti anges ta, ngem nu mapasamak man ita, saanak nga agsagaba a mesmessa. Ubraek a panunuten dagiti banag a nasken kadakuada. Dagiti kinabaknang ti ‘kinalalaki’ ket naragsakakto nga mangbuybuyya ti panagdardarra da.
WAAAAH! WAAAAAAA!
“Shhh, shhh. Haan ko nga gandat nga butngen ka. Adda ditoy ti Ina’m. Maipasigurado a natalged ti anak na kadagiti agkakadakes a lallaki. Inno ti mabalin tayo nga pagnaedan? Nu saan nga isuda. Agkukuyug tayo ngarud, siyak, ken sika, mangpaksiyat ti lubong nga nangpabalin kadatayo.
WAAAAH! WAAAAAH!
“Agtalna ka! Adda makitkittak a mesa a lalaki. Haan ka madandannagan ta apagkanito lang detoy. Kalpasan na, mabalin kayton nga agayayam ken Imam’ wen? Haan nga makadanag ta innak mangkablaaw”
=————————————————-=
English Version
WAAAAH! WAAAAAAH!
“Hush little child, close your eyes, don’t worry we will be alright.” The woman holds her belly tight, making sure that her child is safe.
“Please don’t be like your father, don’t be like any of those hideous men, always looking for one thing then leaving when they get it. ‘Boys will be boys’ they always say, but they never realize that girls are always going to be the ones left behind.”
WAAAAH! WAAAAAAH!
“I know it may seem late, but mommy’s going out to do what she has to do. She has to let all those evil men know that you can’t just leave women behind. It’s a cruel world out there and I reserve a special kind of cruelty for them.”
WAAAAH! WAAAAAAH!
“Because they deserve it. It was their filth that entered me. I was just an innocent young woman, with her whole life ahead of her, and now here I am. Here we are. We were buried together and we will be together until the end of time, but if I have to be this way, then I will not suffer alone.
I will take what they think is the most important thing that they have. Their precious ‘manhood’ and I will enjoy watching them bleed out.”
WAAAAH! WAAAAAAH!
“Shhh, shhh. I didn’t mean to scare you. But it’s okay, mama’s here. She’ll make sure the world is safe from those cruel men. We could have lived you know? If not for them. We could have been together just you and me, against the world that made us what we are.”
WAAAAH! WAAAAAAH!
“Now hush! I see a man on his way. Now don’t worry this won’t take long. And afterwards you can play with mama alright? Now stay quiet while I go say hello.”
=————————————————-=
*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
Ilocano translation by JC Flores
Copyright © Karl Gaverza
Translation Copyright © JC Flores
Inspired by the Mantiyanak legends from Mindanao
Mantiyanak illustration by Julia Kristen Delos Santos
FB: JKTD
