The Mount Holly news. [volume] (Mount Holly, Burlington Co., N.J.) 1891-1942, 1901-10-01
The BdnkiVd' S
Vengeance.
A LEGEND OF TAGALS.
By Margharita
Arlina Hamm.

The beautiful bankiva was not always
the deadly bird it is nowadays. Neither
| did it always live in the forest and jungle
and show itself to men for their destruc-
ton.
When the Tagals first came to Luzon,
the bird was kind and friendly. No one
ever hurt it or refused it food. This was
because they were fond of the bird and
also because it was the favorite of the
Lord of the Winds. Old men said that
there was magic spell over the bankiva
and that whoever broke it would bring
misfortune and ruin upon himself, on all
his kindred and on all his people. So
long as the Tagals were poor they re-
membered what the old men said and
obeyed their commands. Out of this ODE
dience came prosperity and power, out
of the power came wealth and pride, and
out of the pride came sorrow and the
vengeance of the bankiva.
1t did not take place suddenly. First,
they begrudged the bankiva food and
called it a lazy and gluttonous bird, yet
none hurt it or laid on it an unkind hand.
Then they drove it away from their
houses and the roofs and said that it rob-
bed the tame fowls of their rice. Some
hurt it with sticks and stones. The
bankiva showed no resentment, but play
ed and sang to the children as before.
A new generation grew up which for
got the sayings of the wise men or re-
membered them as dreams. Another gen.
Grafton came, which forgot the sayings
altogether, and a new sultan ruled over
southern LuZon.
He was warlike and cruel, selfish and
pa bod cold oD1 iowols ctrOn0
Moro armor and Jolo weapons. He had
cooks and many slaves. The food of his
fathers was not good enough for him,
and he had strange dishes prepared in
his palace His people marveled at the
meats which were served There were
devilfshes and sea slugs, sharks tails and
tree cats, young antelopes and timarao
calves.
One day the sultan ordered his servants
to catch all the bankivas, and it was done.
They were still very tame and when the
men approached did not try to escape.
When captured, some were shut up in
the houses, and others were tethered with
cords to trees or posts. They were fed
with rice and water an entire moon, and
then the sultan decreed a catapusan, or
great feast, for three days, in which the
bankivas were to be killed, cooked and
eaten.
The decree was carried far and wide,
and the people came in from the country
to take part in the festival. Hunters
and soldiers brought game Of all sorts
from the forest and wild country; fisher
men brought live fish from the sea, rivers
and lakes, and farmers brought poultry
and cattle from the farms.
On the morning of the first day Of the
feast, when the sultan was looking at the
cooks as they started the great fires, an
old man whom none had ever seen came
before him. saying:
ooh, your highness, have come to beg
mercy for the bankiyas you are about to
STAY for the feast. They are sacred to
the Lord of the Winds, and whose harms
them shall surely suffer-"
The sultan was astonished at the old
mans holiness and called to his soldiers
to seize and behead the stranger. But
when they approached him he faded away
into the air and was gone. A third Of
the bankivas were killed and cooked, and
beautiful, indeed, they were when served
at the feast. But when the people at
tempted to eat them they turned to black
Goals. Those who saw it wondered, and
some remembered that their grandmoth.
ers had told stories long before about the
bankiva. yet they could not remember
what the stories were. But the sultan
was filed with wrath. He swore venge-
ance upon the old man and had several
slaves beaten with bamboos for no reason
whatever.
On the morning Of the second day Of
the feast, as the cooks were replenishing
the fires and the sultan and his wives
and courtiers were looking at the work,
the old man suddenly appeared before
them and again begged mercy for the
bankivas. Some of the people trembled,
because the stranger looked larger than
on the day before and because a terrible
light was in his eyes, but the sultan was
not troubled. The sight of the old man
doubled his wrath, and he again called
his guard to seize and behead the stran-
ger.
They drew their weapons and rushed
upon the old man. This time he did not
fade away, but turned and walked away.
The bolos and creeses struck, but went
through him as if he had been air or wa
ter. Those who threw themselves upon
him fell down as if he had not been
there.
Another third of the bankivas were
killed and cooked, and fine sight they
made when placed before the diners. Yet
when the people attempted to eat them
they turned to gray ashes. Those who
saw it wondered, and one now remember
ed what the grandmothers had said about
the bankiva. He told it to his neighbor
and soon all knew that the bird was
&C RI hn nd Of tho WinHo ond that
sorrow and suffering were bound to fol-
low. None dared to tell the sultan, who
grew more angry every moment. He
swore vengeance on the white haired
wretch and vowed that he would kill ev-
cry bankiva in Luzon. The feast that
night was not joyous. and many people
crept away to their homes in the dark
ness.
On the morning of the third day, as
the cooks were rebuilding the fires and
the sultan was talking to his captains.
The old man appeared again. He was
larger than ever, so large that the stout
est warrior seemed a child beside him.
He did not beg mercy, but demanded it,
speaking in a voice which rolled like
thunder far away. All who heard him
trembled with great fear, all except the
monarch, who drew his bolo and shook
it in the strangers face.
"No, miserable magician" he shouted;
imam of air and noise like foolish wind.
Every bankiva shall die, even though
they turn to Goals and ashes through your
witchcraftw
The old man looked down upon him
and then broke into song which sound
ed like the music the wind makes in the
forest or in the masts in nighttime on the
sea. 1t rose above all other sounds and
brought every one from house and pal
ace. As the people looked and listened
they saw the imprisoned bankivas COM
ing from the places where they had been
shut in and the tethered ones leaving be-
hind them the cords wherewith they had
been bound. They swept toward the old
man, who, still singing, extended his
arms to them. Then the stranger rose
into air, and the birds, opening their
wings, followed him. Over the houses
and fields they flew. filling the earth and
heavens with their voices and at last
were lost to sight in the distant noun
tains. A terror came upon all, even on
the sultan, because they knew that they
had looked upon the Lord of the Winds.
The catapusan was closed, and there
was stiffness over the land, The bankivas
had gone away, and no song birds had
come to take their places. The men and
women noticed it, but said nothing. The
children cried for their lost playmates.
The cruel sultan said nothing, but must
have been moved, because he sent prahu
to the Chinese country to buy singing
birds of every kind. The prahu returned
with thousands of little songsters, some
of which were set free and the rest dis
tributed among the people. They made
much music, and all, from children to old
folks. were delighted. j.