Humadapnon was the chieftain of Sulod. His domain was at the headwaters of the Panay River.
In a dream, Humadapnon was visited by his spirit friends, Taghoy and Duwindi. They walked through a grassy path, through the jungle, and deep, deep into the green. In the ruins of a forested open air catherdal, his spirit guides told him that in a village in the west-central coast of Panay lived a beautiful goddess named Nagmalingtong Yawa. This is the same goddess from earlier in our tale, the widow of the late lord Saragnayon.
When Humadapnon awoke from this dream, he embarked on his adventure. He rode on his golden boat, and while the skies were clear, and his crew’s spirits were high, a strong wind brought them into an unmoving, red sea. The red was much like blood, and it took months to cross the unmoving deep. Just as they were able to make some movement, the boat was again blown by a strong wind into a channel near the mouth of a river called Saruma. At first the waters seemed calm and serene, but in a matter of seconds, the two land masses to his left and right came crashing towards each other. Humadapnon and his men found a cliff with a seaside cave and hid in there for the first crash. They sat in wait, observing the chaotic crashing to see if there was a rhyme or reason, to make sense of the intervals. It seemed like they had a minute between each crash. Humadapnon’s men were afraid to continue, but Humadapnon believed his spirit guides would keep him safe. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath in, feeling the energy of the waters around him. He directed his crew to each crack and each cave that would provide shelter as they went down the dangerous river.
They hit clear water soon, and they sailed on, and on. They encountered an enchanted island called Tarangban. This was an island inhabited by beautiful women. Humadapnon noticed a beautiful human named Ginmayunan upon the shore, and as any man who’s been at sea with a bunch of other dudes too long, he set sail towards Ginmayunan. Ginmayunan welcomed them, and the men paid the women a visit in their caves. Unsurprisingly, Humadapnon was bewitched and imprisoned for seven years. I wonder if these magical women also practiced death by snuu-snuu if these men went out of line. (Yes, that is a Futurama reference)
Humadapnon was freed from his lady captives by Nagmalitung Yawa. See, at first Nagmalitung Yawa was like nope when she saw his predicament, but Taghoy and the Duwindi were like you better come, or we’ll block and ghost you spiritually. And Nagmalitung Yawa was in a low place, considering her previous husband, who she really loved, was beaten to death by humans. But Humadapnon’s two guides coerced her and she went because she didn’t want to be ghosted by these guides for whatever reason.
Nagmalitong Yawa disguised herself as a man and assumed the name of Buyung Sunmasakay. Ginmayunan welcomed her to the island like the others, and Sunmasakay agreed to follow her. Ginmayunan thought Sunmasakay was so handsome, so she took him quickly to the cave. The women in the cave tried to cast their spells upon Sunmasakay, who was immune to their surprise. To them, Sunmasakay was truly a beautiful god. Sunmasakay demanded they release Humadapnon and the women obliged.
After liberating Humadapnon from the cave, Sunmasakay performed a ritual which removed their charms they casted on Humadapnon. He rose from his binds in his prison, and went to clean his disheveled self. He cleaned his teeth with a vegetable husk, and was careful to clean behind his ears. Beneath his long dark hair, Nagmalitong Yawa saw the handsome face of Humadapnon. She fell in love with him, and just as they were to board his golden boat, a shimmer of light danced across Sunmasakay’s body. His square chin turned pointed, and his bald head grew a full head of hair, and before them all, she became her true form. Nagmalitong Yawa was so beautiful that Humadapnon fell in love instantly. He asked her for her hand in marriage.
Nagmalitong Yawa answered that she could not do anything until she had the permission of her parents. Humadapnon accompanied her back to Halawod. They encountered Buyung Paglambuhan, lord of the island-fortress in the middle of the sea. Nagmalitong Yawa disguised herself again as a man and sailed into Buyung Paglambuhan’s waters in a small fishing boat. She took some of Humadapnon’s men with her, but hid them in her crates, and wove magic illusions above them making them appear as crabs. Buyung Paglambuhan shot arrows and his men waved their swords in what Nagmalitong Yawa could only interpret as surrender. As they descended upon the small boat, Nagmalitong Yawa drew her sword and fought with the men. Her illusions vanished, and the men hiding in the crates came out to help her fight. She giggled, because she didn’t think you could crab in these parts! Humadapnon joined the battle, swooping in aboard his golden boat, raining arrows upon Buyung Paglambuhan. As his men launched the aerial attack, Humadapnon leapt onto Buyung Paglambuhan’s boat and the men’s swords danced. Humadapnon emerged victorious in the battle, and they were able to sail back home unharassed. They reached Halawod and Humadapnon married Nagmalitong Yawa.
During the wedding feast, Dumalapdap was attracted to Huyung Adlaw, daughter of one of the rulers of the Upperworld. Dumalapdap asked Humadapnon to help him win the girl. Humadapnon refused his brother’s request. But Dumalapdap reminded him that when he was in trouble, he had helped him. After a small squabble, Humadapnon accompanied his brother to win Huyung Adlaw. Their adventure took seven years.
Seven years is a long time, so Matan-ayon gave the hand of Nagmalitong Yawa to Buyung Sumagulung. Conveniently, Humadapnon and Dumalapdap returned just as she was about to be wed. Humadapnon blew his horn to notify Nagmalitong Yawa of his arrival.
Some men met them at the shore and informed the brothers about the wedding. On knowing this, Humadapnon and Dumalapdap killed all the guests present in the house of Labaw Donggon. They also killed Sumagulung.
In his anger, Humadapnon confronted Nagmalitong Yawa about her infidelity. But her words only made him angrier, even if she insisted it was her mother in law’s idea and gave him a logical and thorough explanation. Without saying a word, Humadapnon stabbed his wife with his poisoned knife. Which is not how you solve marital problems man! When he wasn’t an angry jerk, Humadapnon’s conscience bothered him. His spirit guides came to him and it was at this moment, he knew he effed up.
Remorsefully, Humadapnon persuaded his sister, Labing Anyang, to resuscitate the dead Nagmalitung Yawa. When Labing Anyang revived her, Nagmalitong Yawa ran away from Humadapnon. The tale says she could not face him because of her previous mistakes, but I’m also sure it has something to do with being stabbed to death by your husband while you were trying to reason with him. Humadapnon, of course, followed her.
She went down to the underworld, passing through the channel guarded by an eight-headed snake, the region ruled by her uncle, Panlinugun, lord of the earthquake. Humadapnon had to fight this beast, because let’s not make this pursuit for him easy.
From the underworld, Nagmalitong Yawa fled to the upper world, the domain of her grandmother, Laun Sina. Reaching the middle space between the Upper World and Middle World, Nagmalitong Yawa noticed a handsome young man riding on the shoulders of the wind. How he did this, was he had a long cloth above him, attached by thin rope and he bound his body to that rope. The cloth had lines that symbolized grass, the sky, the sun and moon. He looked like he was having a lot of fun. She stared in wonder. He swooped down and let her in on the fun, though she let out a gasp and wanted to be put down immediately, but he didn’t let her go.
Humadapnon challenged this stranger, and they fought for seven years. They were equally matched, kind of like having a 1-1 score on FIFA, and you keep hitting replay because you need to beat this damn kid online. From above, Laun Sina was watching, and eventually, she got bored of watching this. She descended from her ethereal throne and settled the case.
The man was Amarotha, Humadapnon’s brother who died upon birth. Laun Sina explained that she had brought Amarotha with her to the Upperworld, and resuscitated him when he died. She brought him up until he became a full-grown man.
She’s just a stirrer of pots. Laun Sina decreed the body of Nagmalitong Yawa be divided into two so both men could have her, cuz why decide on one and why not both. I have to wonder about the mechanics of this. Is it like twins, or as a goddess, can she be in multiple places, times and spaces at once? And like, was she actually OK with being split into two? She didn’t want to save Humadapnon to begin with. It seems like all these lower and upper gods were messing with Nagmalitong Yawa in this tale.
I mean, the happy ending says that Humadapnon brought his wife to Panay and ruled the island for centuries. Theee end.