The

             
 

Tale    
 
 

of    
 
 
 
 

Lam-­‐  
 
 

Ang  
 
 
   
 
 
 

and  the    
 

Fire  Giant  
Copyright 2015

Share Alike, others can distribute this

work only under a license identical to
the one we have chosen for this work.
World Public Library  

The story was excerpted from Lane Wilcken’s Forgotten

Children of Maui: Filipino Myths, Tattoos, and Rituals of
a Demigod and adapted by Dr. Ellen-Rae Cachola.
The illustrations were created by students of Kalihi Uka
Elementary School’s Reading and Art Clubs.

This project was coordinated by Grace Caligtan, Parent

Community Network Coordinator and Early Literacy
teacher at Kalihi Uka Elementary School; Eric Keli’i
Beyer, Art Instructor of Honolulu Museum of Art; & Dr.
Ellen-Rae Cachola of Read it LOUD! Foundation. Editing
Consultation was provided by Malia Derden, Pacific
Tongues Poet.
 
 
 

  2  
 Introduction

Lam-Ang and the Fire Giant is the tale of a mythical hero

who worked together with animals to secure fire for his
village. Once popular among earlier generations, this
story makes a come-back in the form of modern re-telling
for young audiences who are now living in the digital age.
This work is an act of remembering and re-calling for
those younger generations who may not be familiar with
Filipino legends.

Biag ni Lam-Ang (English: “The Life of Lam-Ang”) is an

epic poem of the Ilokano people from the Ilocos region of
the Philippines. Recited and written in its original Iloko,
the poem is believed to be the work of many poets who
passed it on through the generations. It was first
transcribed around 1640 by a blind Ilokano bard named
Pedro Bucaneg. For our classroom purposes, this
retelling was re-framed to help students connect with the
indigenous value of cooperative effort.

Completed through panagtitinolong (Ilocano for collective

heroism, or bayanihan in Tagalog), this eBook was co-
created by students who learned and discussed the ways
in which any large task can be completed with the unity
of many. Everyone has something to contribute, no
matter how large or small. The reader takes a journey
with Lam-Ang to learn, honor and work with everyone’s
unique gifts to achieve a common goal.

  3  
Mr. Eric’s Art Club read the story and worked on
interpretive drawings of this tale. Miss Grace’s reading
club read the folk tale together and also developed their
own illustrations. Kalihi Uka’s Early Literacy class also
learned the story through making puppets with parents
and performing the story during circle time.

Illustrations from the Art class and Reading club have

been incorporated into this eBook made available
through Project Gutenberg. Thank you to Zander, Ma
Khasandra Cabuyao, Nainoa Thompson, Tanner
Lastimosa and Manoah Zulueta for their artwork.

We hope you enjoy the first edition of our book and share
it with many.
 
 

  4  
 The Tale of
Lam-Ang and the
Fire Giant
 

 
 
 
 
 
 

  5  
Long ago there was no fire on earth. It was cold;
the people needed fire to keep them warm. But
the only fire on earth was guarded by an ugly and
selfish giant who lived in a cave. The people were
so afraid of him.  
 

A young man named Lam-Ang saw how the

people in his village suffered from the cold.

  6  
Lam-Ang, disheartened when the villagers were
too afraid to help, sat on a rock wondering what
to do.
But then, a bullfrog came by and said, “Lam-Ang,
I heard you needed help. But I have a heavy tail
that makes me slow. Do you still want me to
help?”
“Yes! Of course, your help is welcome!” said Lam-
Ang. Together with the bullfrog, Lam-Ang walked
down the road.
Then, a horse came by and said, “Lam-Ang, I
heard that you needed help. But I only have one
eye and can’t see very far. Do you still want me to
help?”
“Yes! Of course, your help is welcome!” said Lam-
Ang. Together with the bullfrog and horse, Lam-
Ang walked down the road.
A cat and dog came by and said, “Lam-Ang, we
heard that you needed help.” “But I only have
one right ear,” said the dog. “And I only have one
left ear,” said the cat. “Do you still want us to
help?”

  7  
“Yes! Of course, your help is welcome!” said Lam-
Ang. Together with the bullfrog, horse, dog and
cat, Lam-Ang walked down the road.
A lion came by and said, “Lam-Ang, I heard you
needed help. But my roar is only half as loud as it
used to be. Do you still want me to help?”
“Yes! Of course, your help is welcome!” Said
Lam-Ang. Together with the bullfrog, horse, dog,
cat and lion, Lam-Ang walked down the road.
Lam-Ang thanked his animal friends and told
them of his plan.

  8  
He asked the bullfrog to wait by a pond outside
the village. Farther away from the bullfrog, he
asked the horse to wait by the sampaloc tree.
Farther away from the horse, he asked the cat to
wait on the top of a big rock. Farther away from
the cat, he asked the dog to wait near the end of
the rocky hills. And still, farther away from the
dog, he asked the lion to wait near the entrance of
the giant’s cave. Finally, he told everybody to
wait quietly for his signal.

  9  
So, they waited and waited and waited.

  10  
Lam-Ang, being very brave, went into the fire
giant’s cave. The giant guarded his fire so no one
could steal it while he was asleep. Lam-Ang went
near the sleepy giant.
“The people in the village are suffering from
the cold. You must share some of your fire,
oh fire giant,”
Lam-Ang bravely told him.

  11  
 “Foolish young man, can’t you see that I’m
the guardian of this fire? Nobody can get
even just a little spark! It’s mine, all mine!”
The fire giant roared angrily at Lam-Ang.
Unshaken, Lam-Ang replied,
“You cannot scare us anymore, selfish fire
giant! You have been selfish long enough.”
Lam-Ang shouted.

  12  
Then he sent to the window and gave the signal to
the lion that was nearest to the giant’s
house. Upon hearing the signal, the lion roared
his loudest roar. When the others heard this, the
dog barked his loudest bark, the cat meowed her
loudest meow, the horse neighed his loudest
neigh, and the bullfrog croaked his loudest
croak. They made such a loud and strange noise
that it frightened the selfish giant. Lam-Ang’s plan
worked!

  13  
When the giant rushed out of his house, Lam-Ang
took a burning stick, and ran out. The giant
chased after him.

Lam-Ang, ran as fast as he could, but the giant

had much bigger steps. So he gathered all of his
strength and ran till his legs almost gave up.

  14  
 “I can’t give up now; I must pass this
burning stick to my friends as we had
planned. I must keep running!”
He told himself. And he ran on with all his might.

With the fire giant just behind him, Lam-Ang

gave the burning stick to the lion. The lion leaped
his biggest leap and gave the burning stick to the
dog. The dog ran his fastest run and gave the
burning stick to the cat. The cat flashed away like
lightning and gave the burning stick to the horse.

  15  
The horse galloped his largest gallop and finally
gave the burning stick to the bullfrog.
This made the giant very, very angry. He roared
and beat his chest and made the biggest steps he
could and caught the bullfrog by its tail. (The
bullfrog had a tail in those days.) The bullfrog was
so frightened, but he knew that he must bring the
burning stick to the people.

“Whatever happens, I must pass this stick to

the people as we had planned,” said the
bullfrog.
So he stretched his body until his eyes bulged
out. He made the biggest leap he could and
landed where the people were waiting. The
bullfrog was very happy, but lost his tail. He left it
in the fire giant’s hand. That is why, today, the
bullfrog does not have a heavy tail.

  16  
When the people saw the fire giant coming they
picked up whatever stones and sticks they could
see. They shouted their loudest shouts and chased
him towards the mountain cliff. The selfish giant
had nowhere to go! The people kept chasing until
he fell off the mountain cliff, and the giant was
gone forever.
The people danced and rejoiced!
“The giant is dead! The giant is dead! We
have fire! We have fire!”

  17  
They carried Lam-Ang and his animal friends on
their shoulders and paraded them around the
village. For the first time, they went out of their
huts without shivering in the cold night. Now,
they have fire to keep them warm. They thanked
Lam-Ang and his animal friends and praised them
for working together to bring fire into their
village.

Greed melted away that day, as each made a vow

to always share.

  18