Alim Epic

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Alim - Epic of the Filipino

In the olden days, the people angered the gods and goddesses because of their sins and
continued disobedience to the will of the gods. The gods sent a great flood that submerged the
whole earth and destroyed all the living creatures. There were only two people who survived the
flood. They were a brother and sister, Wigan and Bugan respectively. Whem the water started
to rise which later became the great flood, Wigan climbed the Amuyaw Mountain to save
himself. Likewise, Bugan fled o the Kalawitan Mountain to take refuge.

Bugan stayed at the mountain until the water receeded and the ground had dried up. He came
down the mountain and discovered that he alone survived. Everybody got drowned, even the
animals. Dead bodies were everywhere, stinking. AS he walked around looking for something to
eat, he saw a woman who was waving her hand at him. Then he recognized her. "Bugan!" he
said happily as he opened his arms to embrace her.

"Wigan, my brother," she said choking because of the feeling she could not contain. She let him
embrace her and she leaned her head on her chest.

"Where are the others?" Wigan asked her after the embrace.

"Dead", she answered. "It seems that we are the only ones who survived the flood."
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Alim Epic
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They walked around to see if they could find some more survivors but they did not find any. All
they saw were dead bodies of man, animals, and even plants.

They scouted for place where they could stay. They found a place near the shore where plants
were starting to grow. They built a hut from the woods scattered around. Then they buried the
dead bodies they found near the shore.

"I'm hungry", said Bugan when they were already resting after burying the dead bodies.

"Me too," said Wigan. "Stay here and I'll see if I can catch some fish in the sea."

"Do you think there are fish there?" Bugan asked him.

"The plants are already growing. Perhaps the gods' wrath has been pacified and the fishes have
come back to the sea."

There were fishes in the sea all right. That night, they ate a sumptuous supper of broiled fish.
They slept together. After several days, Bugan found her self pregnant. She went to the shore
to drown herself because she was ashamed of herself getting pregnant by his brother. But
before she could get near the deep part of the sea, an old man appeared before her. He told her
that he was Makanunggan, the god of the Ifugaos. They were married by Makanunggan and
they had nine children, give boys and four girls.

Then came a great famine. The soil produced poor harvest. They killed a rat and offered it to
the Makanunggan but the poor harvest continued.

"I do not know why Makanunggan is angry with us. Perhap he didn't like the rat were offered
him."
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Alim Epic
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"Why don't we offer him our son, Igon?"

They all decided to kill Igon, the youngest and offered him to Makanunggan. True enough, the
poor harvest was abated. But Makanunggan appeared once again before them and told them
that what they did to Igon was outrageous . Then Makanunggan scattered them to the four
corners of the earth, to the east and west and to the north and south. And as a curse to what
they did to Igon, they would fight every time they come near each other.

Read More Filipino Epics Here

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