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(DSC09763) Long time ago when the island of Leyte (Tendaya island, named after a chieftain) was still sparsely uninhabited, a young couple lived in the swampy shores of Kabatok, their livelihood was catching crabs and shellfish and crossing the Bay to a village in Samar island (Ibabao or Sibabao island, which to this day the village is named Basey), to sell in a “tabo”(market fair) in that village everyday. Dang, was a strong fisherman, he was a tall, good-looking relative of the Bornean Datu Siagu of the southern side of Tendaya. His body was tattooed (“patik”) all over in the tradition of his tribe, he wore a loin cloth and was agile with the spear and machete he always carried with him. His other possessions were a “bangka” (small boat) and some “taklub”(basket traps for catching fish and crabs in shallow waters). His wife, Mulay was a weaver and basket maker. She made “taklub” to be sold in the Samar village during “tabo”. She was lithe, and agile too, her arms and legs were tattooed with motifs of birds and flowerets and crisscrossed with the patterns of basket weaving. The rest of her body was not tattooed, she wore a “tapis” of cloth made from the tapa bark, kind of bark found throughout the islands of South Pacific. Her chest was bare covered only with leis of shell and coconut. Her long hair was scrimped up into a bun called “tagonibaisat” and adorned with cloth and shell too. On special occasions, both Dang and Mulay would adorn themselves with gold earrings, necklaces and bracelets altogether with their shell leis to show off that they come from a noble lineage of the Datus. It was said that Gold was still found in the mountains of the island where they could fashion them into trinkets. Dang and Mulay where childless. So their lives were dedicated to crab and shell gathering, and in some occasions pearl diving and gathering treasures from the sea. Mulay gathered the perennial grass that grew along in the swamp and made them to mats, baskets and cloth. One day, Dang ventured into the bay that looped around the Kabatok area. The bay was filled with varieties of fish and crustaceans and perhaps, he said into himself, he would gather pearls to sell on the next “tabo”. His bangka reached far off the rim of the bay where the ocean floor inclined deep into the depths of the Pacific ocean. Here he took a dive and ventured into the fathoms. Underneath, he was enveloped by shadows and noticed a whirl of sand in the ocean, schools of fish darted here and there as if in a frenzy. The ocean floor was moving! Hurriedly yet curious, Dang tried to make out what the moving shadow was and to his great surprise it was a huge crab which measured three big “balanghays” (big seafaring boats that could accommodate families), and was big as a hill. Dang swam hurriedly to the surface, rowed his bangka with speed to Kabatok and arrived so excited to tell his wife. They planned to catch the enormous creature for it would indeed be many meals for the coming months and its shell would be fashioned into utensils, weapons or adornment they could sell in the Ibabao markets. The couple built a crab basket to catch the creature that measured as high as a big hill. It was an enormous crab basket (taklub) in which they towed with their boat far into the Bay as a trap.

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1 comment

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    • photo of success2020
    • What an interesting story. I would run the other way :)

    • said success2020

    • 8 months 15 days ago

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