The Legend of Tawg and the Curse of Tintinan Island

Tawg the Fearless

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If you promise to sit still then there will be a story to tell. This is all about an open secret that everyone knew but dare not say.  For whoever had the courage to reveal its secrecy, will forever be condemned to the bottom of the bay.
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The Legend of Tawg and the Curse of Tintinan Island

Chapter 1
Tawg, the Fearless

It was a warm summer day in 1521, in a small fishing village perched atop a small promontory on the edge of a huge estuary that spreads widely across a crescent bay. Sea merchants fondly called the place 'Dungguan and this is where it all began.

Natives from the mountains and neighboring villages used to flock and relocate here in the summer season, to harvest the bounty of the shore and its deep gulf that harbours with fish aplenty. Anchovies and silver-bellied 'atún's' were said to migrate here in droves, to feed and breed in the wide embayment of mangroves and nipa palm grooves that streches as far as the eye can see. There were even rumors that people oftentimes were lost for days without ever finding dry land because of its vastness. During the low tide, the tidal flats became so extensive that the natives who came to gather the edible mollusk like shrimps and seashells are compelled to bring about their canoes with them, dragging their hand-hewn dugouts along the countless tidepools and shallow channels so that when the tide comes back they will be periled not from swimming back to shore.
Traders and merchants from the neighboring islands also flocked here before the monsoonal season began, charmed not just by the natural deep harbor where they anchor their large 'praus', a large bateau propelled by sails and paddles, brimming with barter merchandize but also for the widely acclaimed fair-haired maidens that the settlement was famously recognized.  As the story goes, it was the merchants who vested to name the place 'Dungguan', a colloquial description in the local dialect that defines a natural harbor in which to ply their merchant vessels safe and secure.

It was also of no consequence that a bubbling freshwater spring manifested itself at the base of a small ravine that slowly meanders into a small stream on the outskirt of the settlement. Locals called it Bolok-bolok spring since the beginning. For the wandering traders, Dungguan is a safe harbor to anchor with enough freshwater to fill up their clay pots and fair maidens to quench their parched souls.
Although there was also an ample source of freshwater from a spring called Bili-bili near the riverbank in the major settlement of Bigà-Camayaan, a few kilometers upland, the serpentine channels of the wide Abatan river and its myriad of tributaries where the spring discharges into the ocean along with its infamous torrent of flotsam from the highlands always dissuaded the traders to venture inland without cautious hesitance. To the wandering sea traders, the crocodiles basking along the riverbanks were of no significance.
But not to the natives who lived near the river. Legend has it that the mighty Kusgan, a fierce warrior of the Suban-on clan, became the chieftain of the encompassing swampland when he wrestled and plucked a few teeth from a huge man-eating  crocodile that was stalking the lovely Busilak, the comely maiden who later became his enamored wife, as she was taking a dip near the spring one sultry summer night. Fashioned into an impressive necklace feestoned with cowry shells and strung by a braided cord from a wild vine, the ornament was indeed a spectacle to behold and Kusgan became a legend known far and wide. 'Kangag', as the crocodile was fondly called after the incident, cease to sow terror along the riverbank and instead became an unwilling target for slingshot practice by the village children. It was wildly rumored that the toothless beast died of starvation and was never seen again basking for warmth in the mudbanks.

From this union Tawg 'the Fearless' was born although it was only in the later years of his life that the villagers began to notice his phenomenal strenght and prudence that nobly surpassed anybody else beforehand. It was he who carved his own name in the annals of the legends of the land when the war parties of their mortal enemies, the warring, forest-dwelling tribe of the Lasang-non, came to pillage the peaceful inhabitants of the marshes in one of their frequent slave abduction forays. Tawg was said to have singlehandedly smitten all but the young warriors and their escorts with his war pestle and twarthed the onslaught before it had even began. From then on, Tawg gained the respect of their enemies that never again bothered the natives of the marshes. At the young age of 18 summers, he was bestowed with the prestigeous title as the warrior-chief of the  Suban-on clan by the elders of Bigà-Camayaan.
It was also for this reason that Tawg was granted the privilege to rule as a minor chieftain in all of the coastal areas that are encompassed by the Abatan river's delta, from the fishing village of Mangga in the northeast up to the edge of the mangrove forested headland down west, which was later called 'Dungguan' by the sea traders.

When peace at last befall the land the seafaring merchants came to trade and the settlement prospered considerably. Thereafter, the natives decided to build a stone jetty from the shoreline up to the deepest channel of the bay for the trader's to dock their huge 'praus' which were always full of barter goods from the neighboring islands and beyond. From the belly of their boat holds came forth metal trinkets and bales of colorful fine-weave, wrap-around 'sarong's' from the southernmost seas that were greatly prized by the maidens and men alike. Brass gongs and silver adornments compete with the sought after gold ornamental pieces that the natives bartered with goats, chickens, wild boars, a few satchel of gold nuggets, strings of opaque pearls and precious stones. Into the holds of the traders 'praus' poured forth the bounties of the sea, basketful of dried and salted fish of all kinds, sackful of seashells and bushels of edible rootcrops that the locals likewise bartered with the people from the highlands. Nipa fronds that were weave into roofing sheets were also in great abundance. Salt, a commodity in par with gold in its importance, was also plentiful as well as hemp mats and all sorts of native baskets made from wild vines, bamboo slats and rattan fronds. Copra, or dried coconut meat, from which coconut oil is processed for domestic consumption were also traded. There was always a raucous and festive atmosphere in the village whenever the sea merchants came to ply their wares and in the midst of these frivolities Tawg's authority stands tall with his honor and administration of peaceful and fair commerce.
Except for the trade of all sort of weaponry. Tawg made sure that all kinds of bladed weapons and war materials shall pass his stringent inspection and approbation before any trade was finalized especially in the case of one novelty, gunpowder. The yellow skinned traders, replete in their fanciful vessels and matching silk costumeries, who came from the great land north of where the finches flies during the summer heat, brought forth a few bags of the substance and end up burning a thatched hut in a fiery display. Although there was a heated deliberation by the village elders as to the fate of those who were afflicted by the conflagration against the 'singkit's', as the yellowmen were oftentimes called, Tawg's tact and impartial conciliation prevailed with a considerable compensation to the victims and a stern warning to the perpetrators. It was also rumored that the slit-eyed merchants,who hailed from the northern land called Zhunggo, gave him a gift as a token of their appreciation and respect in the form of an ornate 'sundang', a single-edge bolo encased in a gold encrusted silver sheath that from then on never left his side. Some of their finest porcelain vessels were also offered but Tawg allegedly gave them to the consorts of his warrior's instead. There were speculations that had the incident happened in the other settlements, the 'singkit's' would have been burned alive or summarily beheaded without question.  From then on there was relative peace and a prosperous trade concession between the natives and merchants for they knew that Tawg was wise and a judiciously impartial man.
Until one fateful day in the summer of 1521 when the chronicles of the swamp dwellers was altered forever.