Biag ni Lam-ang

Biag ni Lam-ang (The Life of Lam-ang) is an epic poem of the Ilokano people from the Ilocos region of the Philippines. Recited and written in the original Iloko, the poem is believed to be a composite work of various poets who passed it on through the generations, and was first transcribed around 1640 by a blind Ilokano bard named Pedro Bucaneg. Lam-ang is an extraordinary being, manifesting when he begins to speak in his early years, thus enabling him to choose his own name.His adventures begin when his father, Don Juan, set out for a battle but never returned. At barely nine months, Lam-ang goes to search for Don Juan in the highlands where the latter was said to have gone. Aware that her child was a blessed, exceptional creature, his mother Namongan allows him to go. Lam-ang then goes off in search of his father, leaving his grieving mother behind. When Lam-ang arrives at the place where Don Juan had disappeared, he is enraged to see his father’s severed head atop a bamboo pole; a scene he dreamt beforehand.Lam-ang demands to the local people why that had happened to his father, but does not receive an answer. Instead, the chieftain of the village tells him to leave under pain of suffering the same fate as his father. Lam-ang defies the caveat and bravely fights the chieftain and his tribesmen. The hero emerges victorious from the battle with little effort, avenging his murdered father. Fom this story, we can realize how the love of a son to his father and