A sourced illustration has not yet been added. This gap is included in the coverage record.

Overview

Sayen is the handsome son of an old forest-dwelling Alan whose fingers point backward. He keeps his bride away from his mother’s home. Discovering that he married Laey, the servant of Danepan, he sabotages a bridge and drowns Laey and their child. He then attacks Danepan’s town, but at her intervention stops and revives the people he has killed by spitting chewed betel-nut on them. These violent acts are part of the tale’s characterization, not conduct endorsed by this account.

He later saves Magosang from the human-shaped Komow by ambushing it while it questions the hunters. Kaboniyan tests him with enormous thrown weapons; Sayen catches them, and neither can defeat the other in close combat. The two then travel together attacking other towns.

Sayen evades capture by becoming a fish in a river or a chicken beneath a house. His enemies finally observe the chicken disguise, set a fish trap near the coop, catch him and kill him. Cole’s note regards his story as comparatively recent within the Tinguian material, without supplying a verifiable date for the hero’s life.

Shape-changing son of an Alan who becomes fish or chickenSpecific community attribution
01

Origins & earliest records

Tinguian storytelling, Philippines; particular collected witness

02

Records & interpretation

Complete relevant story, collection preface, regional introduction and attached notes directly read.

Selected bibliography

Documented works and useful reading. This is not a list of every appearance.

  1. 01

    Philippine Folk Tales

    Mabel Cook Cole, compiler and annotator · 1916

    Tinguian; The Story of Sayen, pp.60–64, notes69–74

Family & connections

A source-supported family tree or inspiration record has not yet been compiled for this profile. Related reading below indicates a connection in subject matter, not a proven lineage or creative influence.

Primary records and illustrations

Direct primary record

Mabel Cook Cole, Philippine Folk Tales (Chicago: A. C. McClurg, 1916)

Tinguian section. The Story of Sayen, pp.60–64, notes69–74

Full story, relevant regional introduction and preface read; attached notes checked. Collection mediates oral accounts and earlier print sources without a named individual narrator here. No scientific taxonomy inferred.

Inspect the digitized plate · Source collection manifest

References

Sources supporting this profile. Linked pages have their own scope and editorial standards.

  1. Historical collected narrative and editorial notesCole, Philippine Folk Tales (1916), The Story of Sayen, pp.60–64, notes69–74Research access: 2026-10-05

Image credits

A sourced illustration has not yet been added. This gap is included in the coverage record.

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