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Overview
Balatama carries his father’s arms on a journey to negotiate Bantugan’s marriage. At a fenced human-shaped stone, his attempt to cut the fence brings darkness and falling stones as large as houses. Sheltering behind his father’s shield, he calls upon winds from home, which clear the air. He then kills a speaking serpent that bars the road, throwing its severed parts into sea and mountains.
At the sultan’s court he agrees to extravagant marriage gifts. Insisting on an immediate golden figure, the courtiers disregard his warning; when he removes it from his helmet, earthquake, storm and falling stones follow. The sultan begs him to replace it and accepts it as the sole required gift. The storm ceases when he puts it away. On his return the fenced stone detains him for four months, beyond the expected wedding date; Bantugan later recovers him. The mechanism of detention and the figure’s identity are not explained.
Origins & earliest records
Philippines; Mindanao narrative in Cole’s Moro section
Records & interpretation
Complete The Story of Bantugan, its three notes and the Moro-section introduction directly read.
Selected bibliography
Documented works and useful reading. This is not a list of every appearance.
- 01
Philippine Folk Tales
Moro section, The Story of Bantugan, pp. 163–171 and notes 7–9
Family, evolution & connections
Bantugan’s paternal family — Cole’s Moro tale
Explicit father, son and father’s two siblings in this 1916 collection’s telling.
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- Bantugan’s father and his two stated siblings
- Unnamed father of Bantugan
- Earthquake — father’s brother
- Thunder — father’s brother
Opening parentage and sibling statement, repeated father–son addresses and note 7. The root groups siblings; it is not an invented common parent. Earthquake and thunder receive no additional personal identities. Bantugan’s later wife is not stated to be Balatama’s mother.
Primary records and illustrations
Philippine Folk Tales
Moro section; The Story of Bantugan. Moro section, The Story of Bantugan, pp. 163–171 and notes 7–9
Complete story, notes7–9 and sectional introduction with its note read. Named father-son relation, storm-object and distinct island endings preserved; no extra anatomical or transformation claims. Original paraphrase; no oral teller identified.
References
Sources supporting this profile. Linked pages have their own scope and editorial standards.
- Historical collection / primary recorded narrativeCole, Philippine Folk Tales (1916), Moro section, The Story of Bantugan, pp. 163–171 and notes 7–9Research access: 2026-10-05
Image credits
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