Tale 1 is cautionary for dynasties as well as power-hungry barangay chiefs or homeowner association presidents.
TALE 1: Tomarind and the Wicked Datu.
Before the Spanish occupation there were in the Philippines many petty kingdoms headed by native princes known as datus. Luzon, the scene of countless ravages and hard fighting of warlike tribes, was the home of Datu Nebucheba. His kingdom–at first only a few square miles–was greatly extended by the labor of his young brave warrior, Tomarind. Tomarind had a very beautiful wife, with whom Datu Nebucheba fell in love but the ruler kept his vile desire secret in his heart for many years. Many times, he thought of getting rid of his warrior Tomarind, and thus getting possession of his beautiful wife.
One day, Tomarind was sent on a dangerous errand. He was ordered to get an enchanted marble ball from one of the caves in a certain mountain. Two monsters of terrible aspect, whose joy was the burning of villages, and whose delight was the killing of human beings, guarded the entrance of that cave. Many person had entered the door of that death-chamber, but nobody had come from it alive. Suspicious of the coming danger, Tomarind did not go directly to the cave. He sought the famous witch of Tipuca, and told her about his situation. Immediately, the witch performed a sort of diabolical ceremony, gave Tomarind a magic cane, and sent him away. When he reached the cave, those that guarded the cave received Tomarind very kindly, and they delivered the enchanted marble ball to him.
“Tomorrow,” Nebucheba said to himself, “the wife of Tomarind will be mine.” Alas for him! Very early the next morning Tomarind presented the marble ball to Datu Nebucheba. “How quickly he executed my orders!” exclaimed Nebucheba. “What shall I do to destroy this brave man? The next time he will not escape the danger. I will ask him to take a letter to my parents, who are living underground, in the realm of the spirits,” he said to himself.
The datu caused a well to be dug, and big stones to be piled near its mouth. When everything was ready, he summoned the brave warrior. He gave him the letter, and told him to start the next morning. Tomarind went again to the witch of Tipuca. “This is a very great task,” said the witch; “but never mind! You will get even with Datu Nebucheba.”
That night the witch, with the help of unseen spirits, made a subterranean passage connecting the bottom of the datu’s well with that of Tomarind’s. “Nebucheba,” the witch said to Tomarind, “will ask you to go down into his well and as soon as you are at the bottom, he will order that the pile of stones be thrown on you. Lose no time, but go into the subterranean passage that I have prepared for you.” When morning came, Tomarind went to execute the orders of the datu.
Now, Nebucheba firmly believed that Tomarind was dead. There was great rejoicing in the datu’s house. In the evening, while the revelry was going on, Tomarind appeared with the pretended answer from Nebucheba’s parents. The letter read, “We wish you to come and see us here. We have a very beautiful girl for you.” Nebucheba was greatly surprised. He made up his mind to go down into the well the next day. He gathered all his subjects together, and told them, “I am going to see my parents. If the place there is better than the place here, I shall not come back. Tomarind will be my successor.”
In the morning Nebucheba’s subjects took him to the well and lowered him slowly into it.
When he reached the bottom, Tomarind threw big stones down on him, and Nebucheba was crushed to death. The people never saw him again. Tomarind became datu, and he ruled his subjects with justice and equity for many years. [Filipino Popular Tales. Collected and Edited with Comparative Notes by Dean S. Fansler, Ph. D. NY: American Folk-Lore Society, 1921]
Tale 2 from “Labor Evangelica de la Compañia de Jesus, en los Islas Filipinas” by Francisco Colin is this snapshot of “Native Races And Their Customs” particularly the shaman in action “healing” a villager.
“The sick person was taken to the new lodging. Then preparing the intended sacrifice–a slave (which was their custom at times), a turtle, a large shellfish, or a hog–without an altar or anything resembling one, they placed it near the sick person, who was stretched out on the floor of the house on a palm mat (which they use as a mattress). They also set many small tables there, laden with various viands. The catalona stepped out, and, dancing to the sound of gongs, wounded the animal, and anointed with the blood the sick person, as well as some of the bystanders. The animal was then drawn slightly to one side and skinned and cleaned. After that it was taken back to its first location, and the catalona there before them all, spoke some words between her teeth while she opened it, and took out and examined the entrails, in the manner of the ancient soothsayers. Besides that, the devil became incarnate in her, or the catalona feigned to be him by grimaces, and shaking of the feet and hands, and foaming at the mouth, acting as if out of her senses. After she had returned to her senses, she prophesied to the sick person what would happen to him.
If the prophecy was one of life, the people ate and drank, chanted the histories of the ancestors of the sick person and of the anito to which the sacrifice was being made, and danced until they fell through sheer exhaustion. If the prophecy was one of death, the prophetess bolstered up her bad news with praises of the sick person, for whose virtues and prowess she said the anitos had chosen him to become one of them… She added other flatteries and lies, with which she made the poor sick person swallow his death; and obliged his relatives and friends to treat him from that time as an anito, and make feasts to him… Each person who attended the sacrifice was obliged to offer something–gold, cotton, birds, or other things–according to his capacity and wish. The offering was given to the priest or priestess who had performed the sacrifice. Consequently, the latter were generally quite rich and well dressed, and had plenty of ornaments made of various kinds of jewels…
After their duty was once performed no further attention was paid to them, unless they united with their office nobility or power.”
Tale 1 is cautionary for dynasties as well as power-hungry barangay chiefs or homeowner association presidents. Tale 2 is a far cry from modernized imaginings (Trese, https://www.netflix.com/ph/title/81012541 or Mga Kwentong Epik: Maria Makiling, https://www.netflix.com/ph/title/81629688]. Such fodder for Filipinos gearing up for “Undas” and Halloween.
