The following is displayed here courtesy of "The H. Otley Beyer Foundation Museum".

Extract From the Humudhud

By: H.O.Beyer

Manila - July 12, 1912

One of the two epics of the Ifugaos.

 The Ifugaos have two great epic poems - the Alim and the Hudhud. The first corresponds in general type to the Hindu Ramayana, and the second to the Maharata (or Mahabharata). This correspondence refers to type only, of course, and not to the contents, which are very different. The extract here given is from the first part of the Hudhud. The whole is so long that it would require more than 14 hours of actual time to sing it; but it is better wholly repeated in any one ceremony. Short or long extracts from it are used on various occasions. The women use it as a harvest song, when working in the fields; men often sing snatches of it when journeying along the trails. So far as I know, it is unique to the pure Ifugao dialect group and is best known in Kiangan, Ifugao (though it is found as far north of Anganad clan, in Central Ifugao.)

The Hudhud consists of a series of great song stories, hero stories - sung about famous hero ancestors of long ago, detailing their lives and adventures and their dealings with gods and men. Some of the chief male characters are: Aliguyun of Gonhadan, Gumigin of Da’u-lai-an, Dulinai-an, Dinui-agan nak Panga-iwan, Dulnuan nak Panga-iwan, Dumai-ahon nak Bulai-ung-an.

The chief female characters are: Bugan nak Manga-iwan, Bugan nak Dinui-agan, Aginai- a nak Amtalao ad Dumanai-an and etc.

The story of the birth and marriage ceremonies, respectively and etc.

Men who know the whole of the Hudhud are celebrated for their knowledge. Gimpatan of Kiangan is one such.

The extract here given is the only part of the Hudhud that has yet been transcribed. The text of this extract is very correct, but it contains many phonetic errors, as it was transcribed by a Christian Filipino using the Spanish alphabet. The Ifugao from whom it was obtained, Leon of Kutug, was a famous priest and died about 1905 or 1906.

Neither Mr. Barton nor myself have as yet had time to work on this epic, but I hope that we may do so in the near future. Their importance is great, both as pure literature and because they may be one of the greatest helps in solving the problem of the Ifugao people.

One of the chief difficulties to be encountered in securing these epics is the fact that they are in more or less an obsolete language, and their translation will require much time and labor. For that reason no translation is given of the extract here represented.