S’iring

Overview

Benedict’s Bagobo collection describes the S’iring as a curly-haired man with long nails who lives in forest trees. It can appear as a parent or friend, concealing its nails behind its back. A faint answer to a traveler’s loud call is identified with the echo: the being wants to lure the caller away. Its danger is especially associated with going alone into the forest. The account joins deceptive familiarity with the sound and terrain of the woods.

One boy encounters what looks and sounds like his father, inviting him to shoot birds with a bow and arrows. He follows into the forest and gradually loses his memory of home. On a mountain, the food offered to him seems to be an enormous millipede or a long worm. He eats little, becomes thin and weak, and flees from people he meets. Later the S’iring scratches him on a riverbank with its nails. Exhausted, the boy falls into a ravine and suffers fatal injuries.

His mother builds a small shrine beneath a tree and offers betel-nuts and leaf in a white bowl while praying for his life. Hearing the prayer, the S’iring returns to the body and spits chewed betel-nut onto the broken bones and head, restoring the boy. It carries him to the shrine, but he remains invisible to his mother. A dream then instructs her to burn a lemon and red peppers there. When she does so, the boy appears and she embraces him. The same account attributes missing possessions to the S’iring and describes smoke from peppers and beeswax as a means of locating them.

How Iro Met the S’iring supplies a second, shorter encounter. Iro follows an apparent friend, Atun, toward tobacco hidden in the woods; the companion disappears. When Iro finally returns home, the actual Atun is waiting there and denies having left. The collection concludes that companionship prevents the S’iring from harming a traveler. These are two distinct narrated experiences within Benedict’s particular collection.

Origins & earliest records

Philippines; Bagobo collected traditions

Records & interpretation

Directly read identified historical collection; narrative and collector classifications distinguished.

Selected bibliography

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

1. 01

   Bagobo Myths

   Laura Watson Benedict · 1913

   Bagobo Myths: The S’iring; How Iro Met the S’iring; Journal of American Folk-Lore26:13–63

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

References

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

1. Historical collection / primary recorded narrativeBagobo Myths — Bagobo Myths: The S’iring; How Iro Met the S’iringResearch access: 2026-10-05

Image credits

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