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

Overview

Tikgi birds offer to harvest Ligi’s rice and magically ripen it in five days. Once alone, they command the cutting tools and binding bands to work by themselves. They ask only a head of rice apiece as payment, yet the entire harvest subsequently appears in Ligi’s granary.

Following them from a feast, Ligi sees the birds remove their feathers and become one woman at a bana-asi tree. She says she took the multiple bird forms so he would find her. A betel-chewing recognition identifies her as the missing daughter of Ebang and her husband, whom Kaboniyan had carried to the tree. She marries Ligi after her parents agree. The flock is one transformed character, not a collection of separate bird wives, and no scientific species is assigned to tikgi.

One woman who becomes a flock of magical rice-harvesting birdsSpecific 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 the Tikgi, pp. 56–59; notes65–68

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 the Tikgi, pp. 56–59; notes65–68

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 the Tikgi, pp. 56–59; notes65–68Research 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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