Monday, August 23, 2010

Philippine Literature: Tales of Laughter

Pilandok and the Sumusong-sa-Alongan ( Maranao )

Pilandok was a prankster. He belonged to a poor family. One morning he left his parents to look for food. He walked and walked until he became tired. He lay down beneath a tree on which hung a huge beehive, closed one eye, and rested.

Soon a prince called Sumusong-sa-Alongan came by, riding on a horse. On his saddle hung many bags of gold and other beautiful things that he had won on his conquests. He asked Pilandok what he was doing under the tree. Without opening his eye, Pilandok answered that he was he servant of a powerful sultan and that he was guarding a royal gong whom no ordinary man may beat. And then he pointed up at where the beehive hung.

"Let me beat the gong, Pilandok," Sumusong-sa-Alongan said.

"No, the sultan will be angry with me if I let just any man beat the royal gong," Pilandok said firmly.

"I am not an ordinary man. I am the son of a sultan myself. Here – I will give you a whole bag of gold if you will only let me beat the gong."

Pilandok pretended to think. And after a while, he said "I’ll take that bag. But please, beat the gong only when I am far away, for the sultan might come at the sound of it and chop off my head."

Pilandok swept up the bag of gold and ran away as fast as he could. When Sumusong-sa-Alongan could no longer see him, the prince took a big stick from the ground and beat the beehive. Hundreds of angry bees were upon him in an instant, and if a troop of soldiers had not come his way and helped him, he would have died.

Pilandok lived happily with his bag of gold.

By Jayson with No comments

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