*Note this story is in Tagalog – Marinduqe

Kinausap na naman ako ng anino ko.

Ito ‘yung oras na nagahanda ako ng tanghalian. Nagahanda ako ng chop suey at ang sabi baya sa akin ay akuhain ko daw ‘yung kutsilyo at asaksakin ko daw ang waitress na makuha ng kasunod na order. Bumulong ang anino ng masasamang bagay tungkol sa kanya, kung paanong kung anu-ano ang inasabi n’yan kapag nakatalikod ako; kung paanong naga-un ‘yang ako ay puhang kaya ako’y iniwanan ng katipan ko; naga-un pa ‘yang walang mai-ibig sa kagaya kong puhang.

Sabi ko sa boss ko ay may sakit ako ngay-on kaya pauwiin na laang n’ya ako. Ang byahe ko pabalik sa inatirhan ko ay parang impyerno sa hirap. Nagkamali ako na pumwesto doon sa may bintana at ‘yung mga tao ay nakatunganga nang isang oras. Nakatingin sila lagpas sa akin, ako naman ay nakayuko laang. Ayoko baya nang ako ay apagpapansinin ng mga tao.

Napuno na ako, nag-impake ako at bumili ng tiket papuntang Iloilo. Isang oras lang ang byahe ng eroplano at sumakay ako sa unang bus pauwi sa amin. Sabi ko sa sarili ko na “puhang na ata ako sa ginawa kong ito, inasubukan kong labanan ang halimaw sa pamamagitan ng isa pang halimaw” pero ‘yang bahaging ‘yan ay napatahimik agad.

Nagsalita na naman ang anino.

Ang sabi sa akin ay madali laang manding pumunta sa drayber at pwersahing banggain ng bus ang isa pang nadaang sasakyan, o ‘di kaya ay ibangga ito sa isang gusali na malapit. ‘Yung mga bulong ay nalakas nang nalakas pero pinupwersa ko silang umalis. Nakakatakot na baya. At dapat naman akong matakot talaga.

Gabi na nang makarating ako sa bayan namin. Malapit nang maghating-gabi pero hindi na dapat ako magsayang ng oras. Tumakbo ako sa parang. Alam kong andu’n pa rin s’ya kagaya nu’ng gabing pinatay n’ya ang kapatid kong babae. Ang sabi sa akin ng kapatid ko ay tumakbo na ako pero ayaw ko siyang iwanan, akala ko ay matutulungan ko s’ya. Lagi kong maaalaala ang sigaw n’ya nu’ung kagatin ng halimaw ang anino ng aking kapatid.

‘Yung mga bulong sa tainga ko ay naging sigaw na. Galit na baya ang anino at hindi na ako makapaghintay. Kinuha ko ang flashlight sa bag ko at pinailaw sa harap ko. Matapos ang ilang minuto ay naamoy ko na ito. Ang amoy ng nasusunog na laman at sunog na balat. Ang amoy na magliligtas sa akin.

Ang sigbin ay mabangis. Ipinakita n’ya ang kanyang mga ngipin at tumakbo palagpas sa akin at matapos ang ilang segundo ay naramdaman ko ang tunay na kapayapaan. Nangyari na, sa wakas ay malaya na ako.

Matapos ang ilang minuto ay naramdaman kong may mali baya. Nu’ng napagtanto ko ang nangyari ay naghabol ako ng hininga.

Mali ang aninong kinagat n’ya.

=———————=

English Version

My shadow spoke to me again.

This time it was during lunch. I was preparing the chop suey and it told me to take the knife and stab the waitress who was going to pick up the next order. It whispered terrible things about her, how she talked behind my back; how she told people I was insane and that’s why my boyfriend left me; how no one would ever love a freak like me.

I told my boss that I was feeling sick today and he let me go home. The commute back to the apartment was hell. I made the mistake of standing by the window and people stared for an hour. They looked right across me and I just kept my head down. I didn’t want the attention.

Enough is enough, I packed my bags and booked a flight back to Iloilo.  The flight only lasted an hour and I took the first bus back home. A big part of me thinks I’m crazy for doing this, trying to fight back a monster with another one, but that part is quickly silenced.

The shadow spoke again.

It told me how easy it would be to go up to the driver and force the bus to hit a passing car, or better yet a building. The whispers were getting stronger but I force them away. It’s getting scared. It should be.

I reach the town late. It’s close to midnight, but I can’t waste any more time. I run towards the field. I know it will be there, just like it was when it killed my sister. She told me to run, but I didn’t want to leave her, I thought I could help her. I’ll always remember her scream when it bit her shadow.

The whispers in my ears turn into shouts. The shadow’s angry and I can’t wait. I take the flashlight from my bag and set it in front of me. A few minutes later I smell it. The smell of rotting flesh and burnt skin. The smell of my salvation.

The sigbin is vicious. It bares its teeth and rushes past me and for a second I know true peace. It’s happened, I am finally free.

A moment later I feel something wrong. The sudden realization leaves me gasping for air.

It bit the wrong shadow.

=————————–=

*The version of Tagalog spoken in Marinduque, known as the Marinduque Tagalog, has been described as “the root from which modern national forms of speech have sprung,” where remnants of archaic Tagalog could be found, spoken in a lilting manner by its inhabitants.

Written by Karl Gaverza

Translation by Hazel Rodelas
Copyright © Karl Gaverza

Translation Copyright © Hazel Rodelas

Inspired by the Sigbin entry in Creatures of Philippine Lower Mythology. Ramos. 1971., Myth Museum. Medina. 2015. and 101 Kagila-gilalas na Nilalang. Samar. 2015

Sigbin Illustration and Watercolor by Nightmaresyrup
Tumblr: http://nightmaresyrup.tumblr.com/

*Note this story is in Tagalog-Marinduque

Kuminang ang dagat na para bagang mga dinurog na diyamante, nasisinagan ito ng mga liwanag ng bituin.

Ngayong gab-i, gaya ng iba pang mga gab-i, ito na ang ritwal niya. Dis-oras na ng gab-i, ito ay oras nang ipagtutulog na, kung kailang ang mga tao ay nananag-inip na at ito din naman ang oras na siya ay naga-isip-isip.

Akaunti na ang natitira sa kanyang inatirhan. Nagakwento noon ang nanay niya tungkol sa mga taong nagala-gala sa isla pero makamatagal nang panahon ‘yun. Tumingin naman siya sa dagat ay napakaraming turista na pumar-on para lumayo sandali sa magulong buhay sa siyudad. Dati ang lugar na ito ay paraiso para sa mga nakatira doon pero ngay-on ay para na lamang itong baong walang laman. Inubos na ng napakaraming tao na napunta at naalis din pagkatapos.

Napaiyak siya nang kaunti at naramdaman niya ang makamatinding kalungkutan. “Ay bakit nagkaganire na? Ito na baga ang kapalaran naring mga kababayan ko? Ay parang naligaw na, palaboy-laboy na laang para mahanap kung saan baga dapat ang apar-unan”.

Pumikit siya at bumuntong-hininga. Humiga siya sa buhanginan at pinabyaang maglakbay ang kanyang diwa hanggang mapuno na siya ng kadiliman.

Nagising na siya, nakapagpahinga at handa na pero para bayang may mali.

Ang mga bituin ay hindi na nasasalamin nung dagat, hindi na din niya maramdaman ang sinag ng buwan.

Sa loob-loob niya, alam na niya ang nangyayari.

Madaling araw na, kapag ganito ay mapar-on na sa bukid ang mga kapitbahay niya at magahanap-buhay na, pero naalala niyang matagal na ngani palang hindi ganito ang nangyayari. Makamatagal na ngani palang nawala ang ganitong pamumuhay.

Bumalik na siya sa tirahan at pamilya niya habang nangangapa sa dilim. Hindi naman siya naga-alaala, ganito naman na talaga maski noon pa.

Nagdilim ang kanyang paningin hanggang sa wala na siyang maaninaw.

Hanggang sa ang tabing dagat ay tinambakan na ng mga semento at konkreto.

Hanggang ang mga gubat ay nilunod na ng mga minahan.

Hanggang ang pamilya niya ay wala nang agapilian kundi mamalimos.

Alam niyang kailangan niyang sumigaw, para makalaban ulit ang araw at makaalis sa abang kalagayan. Nananalaytay ito sa kanyang dugo, sa dugo ng kanyang mga kababayan.

Ngunit mas nanaig ang katahimikan.

“Pabayai nang kunin at kainin ng sawa ‘yang araw”. Napaluhod siya at napaluha sa gitna ng kadiliman.

====-=———————-=

English Version

The sea glistened like a field of crushed diamonds, reflecting the soft light of the stars.

Tonight, as in all nights, was her ritual. It was late, the time when dreams fluttered in the minds of others, and it was this time that she could collect her thoughts.

There was little left for her in what should have been her home. Her mother had told her stories of when her people would move as nomads all over the island, but those times were long past. She looked at the beach, now filled with tourists escaping the drudgery of city life. This place was once a paradise for her people to live, now it was a hollow shell of its former self, chipped away at the ends by the consumption of man.

A soft tear made its way down her cheek, and her sorrow reaches its peak. How did it come to this, was this really the destiny of her people? Forever lost, forever wandering for their place in the world?

She closes her eyes and breathes in the night air. She lays her head on the soft sand, letting the thoughts fly through her mind until darkness fills her.

She awakens, rested and ready, yet something is not right.

The stars are not reflected on the sea, she cannot feel the warm glow of moonlight.

Instinctively she knows.

It is early, when her people would tend to the fields and go about the means of their survival, but no, she corrects herself, the old ways are gone.

She goes back to her home and her family stumbling through the darkness. It does not bother her, in a way it has followed her all her life.

The darkness fills her vision until nothing is left.

Until the beaches are covered with concrete.

Until the forests are drowned by the mines.

Until her family has to resort to begging.

She knows she has to shout, to make the sun fight back against its victimhood. It is in her blood, the blood of her people.

Yet silence reigns.

“Let the serpent take the sun.” She falls on her knees and her tears fall into the darkness.

=———————–=

*The version of Tagalog spoken in Marinduque, known as the Marinduque Tagalog, has been described as “the root from which modern national forms of speech have sprung,” where remnants of archaic Tagalog could be found, spoken in a lilting manner by its inhabitants.

Written by Karl Gaverza

Translation by Hazel Rodelas
Copyright © Karl Gaverza

Translation Copyright © Hazel Rodelas

Story inspired by the Sawa description in Creatures of Philippine Lower Mythology. Ramos. 1971.

Sawa Illustration by Patricia Zulueta
Instagram: Instagram.com/crimsonart_

*Note this is in Marinduque Tagalog

Isang amakapangkaraniwang araw laang mandin yuon nu’ng nagkasakit si lola at siyang hindi man makapar’on sa kala’an para mamuti. Si ining na amakawalong taong gulang pa, isa sa kabunsuan ay kundi nagpasyang sumama sa kanyang tiyuhin at atihin para gumulapay sa matatarik at padahilig na hayhayin, na kanilang agaputihan.

Maigi bayang malaog si ining, ngani laang at iri’y gawa nang kanyang gampanin. Pay ang kanyang tatayin at kuyahin ay pumanaw na, alam niyang amakaisa na siyang nagaasikaso kay nanay niya. Gayunpaman, hindi man iri naging hadlang sa kanyang pagiging masaliksikin at palalaugin.

Inagaunan siyang “tomboy” ng kanyang mga karatigan. Bukod siyang magi-os sa iba niyang kapwa babae. Habang ang iba’y nanganganlaro ng manika at bahay-bahayan, siya’y kundi nayon sa busay at nagasusugbo, minsa’y nangangalaan mag-isa, at nagahamon pa nganing patagisan ng kakayahan at sayawan sa mga kalalakihan.

Ngay-on, kinailangan niyang magbanat para sa kanyang pamilya. Bumagsak ang malakas na ulan sa sulirap ng kanilang dampa (payag), siya kang iring si ining na kasama ang kanyang atihin at tiyuhin ay kundi kanghihintay nang malaon. Mahapon na nuon nang humulaw ang ulan, didaling nangalakyat muli ang tatlo patagudtud. dangan nang masagintawan pa ang huling liwanag ng salimsim.

Nakayari na sila sa kanilang putihin nang ang buwan ay nagtuig, at ang tatlo ngani’y nagpasyang lumusong sa nagaragasang ilog malapit sa paanan ng bundok nuong gabi ring yuon. Nagpalipas na laang sila ng magdamag sa dampa nang bigla na lang silang napadpad sa malapanaginip na lupain.

Nuon ay hanggang sa may pumukaw kay ining. Bukod na tunog ang kanyang naririnig mula sa labas ng dampa. Akala niya’y ampay panibagong bugsok na naman wari iri ng ulan, ngunit ya’ng hawan naman ng panganurin nang kanya iring maaninaw. Katanto pa niya na ang tunog na kanyang naririnig ay kundi nanggagaling sa laguslos ng mga dahon at sangang nagamula sa kala’an.

“Makawala manding taong naninirahan dini!” nagaon siya sa kanyang sarili. Nanaig ang palaisipan kay ining. Nanaig ang kanyang paghuna at siya niyang sinundan iring himig patungo sa ulungan ng busay ng Lamesa. Nagaon daw na iri nganing busay ay inagaliklikan ng mga bukod na nilalang. Inapakaisip pa ngani ni ining na ang kwentong yuon ay sabi-sabi lamang, ngunit ngayon, siya na’y nabibilingan.

Sa inagaong busay, mayroon daw iring malapad na bato sa libtong, na kung saan dini pala hinalaw ang dangain. Nawala iri at kundi sa inakatayuan ay napaltan iri ng kahawanang may naggagandahang suot ng kalalakihan, kababaihan, kabataan at durong kakakabayo. Gulping samok na awitin ang napalibot sa mga taong nangangangpakinig sa himig niri. Nayon din ang punsyunang makapuno ng pagkain at inumin, siyang nakapabighaning maigi kay ining, sura nang nalimutang siya’y nasa kala’an pa rin.

Makahindi malilimutan ni ining ang karanasang yuon, pay siya ang kaigihang sagintawin na humambiyad sa kanyang paningin. Ang malulumoy na kutis, katangusang ilong, at malalamlam na mata ang naalimbukad sa kanyang isip bagay kanyang aalalahanin.

Inapangtanghuran niya iri hanggang sa pagkakataong siya ay mabalik na sa kanilang dampa. Pinakalihim niya iri alang-alang sa mga masunod niyang apugan na kanyang aistorya patungkol sa mga engkantong naninirahan sa busay ng Lamesa.

=———————————————————=

English Version

It was a day just like any other when lola got sick and could not go up the mountain to harvest crops. One of the youngest, a girl of eight volunteered to go with her uncle and eldest sister up the steep trek to the slopes where they gathered crops.

The girl had a soul for adventure, but that was tempered by filial duty. Her father and eldest brother had passed on and at that young age she knew that she had to assist her mother. That didn’t stop her curiosity or her love of exploration.

The villagers called her a tomboy. She behaved unlike the other girls her age. While they were preoccupied with dolls and playing “bahay bahayan” the girl would jump headfirst into deep streams, hike the mountains alone and challenge the boys to games of skill and chance.

Today she had to do her duty for her family. The hard rains struck the roof of their payag (nipa hut) and the girl and her older sister and uncle were waiting for hours. It was late in the afternoon when the clouds broke and the three rushed to their plots high up in the mountains, they did not want to let the last lights of the day slip away.

The harvest was finished when the moon was bright in the sky and the three agreed that it would be too dangerous to cross the river at the foot of the mountain at night. They decided to spend the night in the payag and the three drifted into the land of dreams.

That is, until something awoke the little girl. It was a strange sound coming from outside the payag. She thought it might be the rain coming back for another shower, but the night sky was dry. She realized that the sweet sound was music making its way through the leaves and branches of the forest.

“There aren’t any people that live here!” She thought to herself. Curiosity overtook the young girl and she followed the music to the banks of Lamesa falls. There were stories that the falls were the home of enchanted beings. The girl used to think that those stories were just make believe, but now she wasn’t so sure.

In the waterfall there was a flat rock at the bottom from where the falls derived there name. It was gone then and in its place was a dry plaza filled with expensively dressed men, women, children and horses. Music was thick in the air and the people were moving to the sweet sounds. There was a banquet filled with food and the whole scene enthralled the girl so much that she forgot she was in a forest.

The girl would never forget that night, for it was the most beautiful sight that she had ever seen. Their fair skin, aquiline noses and expressive eyes would flash into her mind whenever she thought of beauty.

She watched them until it was time for her to return to the payag and kept their secrets to herself until sometime in the far future when she would tell her own children about the engkanto that lived in the forest along bodies of water.

————————–————————–————————–——–

*The version of Tagalog spoken in Marinduque, known as the Marinduque Tagalog, has been described as “the root from which modern national forms of speech have sprung,” where remnants of archaic Tagalog could be found, spoken in a lilting manner by its inhabitants.

Written by Karl Gaverza

Translation by Kahlil Phillip Murillo
Copyright © Karl Gaverza

Translation Copyright © Kahlil Phillip Murillo

Adapted from a Story told by Grace Collantes

The Engkanto of Lamesa Falls Illustration by Ysa Peñas
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theonechitect/

Vocabularies Used (For Reference)

1. Kala’an (n.) – woods, forest, pusod ng kagubatan, kakahuyan
2. Gulapay (v.) – to trek
3. Dahilig (adj.) – steep
4. Hayhay (n.) – way, path, landas
5. Laog – to go adventure, gumala
6. Pay – because
7. Karatig – neighbor
8. Gi-os – galaw, kilos, movement, liksi
9. Busay – waterfalls, falls
10. Sugbo – to dive
11. Sulirap – nipa leaves
12. Dampa – (payag)
13. Hulaw – tila ng ulan
14. Tagudtud – mountain, mountain range, hill, mountainous area
15. Dangan – to hope
16. Sagintaw – silayan
17. Salimsim – dusk
18. Tuig – supernatural phenomena, full moon phenomena
19. Bukod – different
20. Ampay – like as, as if
21. Bugsok – buhos ng ulan
22. Hawan – spacious
23. Panganurin – clouds
24. Laguslos – chime
25. Huna – hypothesis
26. Ulong – base of waterfalls
27. Liklik – pugad, headquarters
28. Biling – confused
29. Libtong – deep part of any water forms
30. Danga – bansag, nickname
31. Samok – noise
32. Hambiyad – tambad, center of attention
33. Lumoy – smooth
34. Alimbukad – springforth
35. Apugan – grandchildren, next generations