![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWVBxzlbnPNf0VrRhoFkt_Eda9Ss_gxTgKRXnQeunjI3j-0PCzyJ9GonxSvIUiWf47Sny-XBnJxKUi7ogDQ_VLU8uZAd2yn_H_YExJVW4h3dWd9w3YvLYABh4PjZMEaTj_5DmBgvfeLNE/s320/igorot.jpg)
Who lived on these islands so far away, literally on the other side of the world?
Our heavy black-bound Collier's Encyclopedia offered some hints. I couldn't read the words well, but there were pictures of heavily- muscled men wearing only loincloths.
And heavily-muscled headhunters, whose villages seemed occupied only by men.
And Lapu-Lapu, the native chief who defeated and killed Magellan during his round-the-world trip in 1521. Apparently they wanted to be left alone.
When I was in grade school, I somehow found some comic books written in the Tagalog language. I couldn't read them, but then I couldn't read much in those days. One starred a muscular Tarzan named Toro.
And another Bernardo Carpio, who caused earthquakes.
There wasn't much to research in the grade school library -- just things like copra and tropical climates and Austronesian language. No movies or tv programs or children's books were set in the Philippines But still, in my earliest childhood, I idealized it as a place where muscular men lived together in tribal villages, with no adults asking "Do you like girls yet?" or grinning knowingly whenever they talked to a girl. As a good place.
I've done research since.
No comments:
Post a Comment
No offensive, insulting, racist, or homophobic comments are permitted.
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.