This is a stroy told by Ruth Kolling Biswil Tangliben, the second daughter of the Kalling branch

of the Kollin. Dannai clan, the specific honorees of the first reunion we had on April 25, 20! at
Baguio "ity. #t is about our clan who struggled to li$e.
The story goes this way%
There was a couple na&ed 'alengtey and Aney who li$ed in Tabagew, a sitio in (ayeo, Besao,
't.(ro$ince. They bore fi$e)5* children na&ed Dawin, Dannai, 'agdas, 'audi and the youngest,
+ebia.
,ears (assed and these got &arried and had children e-cept +ibia who was childless. Dannai,
our direct grand&other, &arried Kollin.
There was a cultural practice called .pinag a/awaw0 wherein after the rice har$est, the (ayeo
people would dress a chic1en in their .aga&ang0 or granary where palay is stored and would also do
the sa&e in their houses. 'aybe this is a than1sgi$ing rite for the har$est. #n one of these occasions,
'alengtey and his wife called their children to parta1e of the .a/aw0. After eating, 'alengtey told his
children, .2ere is a pot &oulded by your &other and &yself. There is no opening but inside are
$aluable things that we would li1e you to inherit. These are .A34+, 5A,AD, B#33ADA36, and
7534+0 or in 8nglish 9 (atience, 5o$e, 2elping one another, and 7nity or "ooperation. These are
what you &ust hold on to and always re&e&ber. Be sure not to brea1 it for in the end, people will
appreciate and tal1 good of you. Do not fight with one another. #f so&ebody needs help, go to his aid or
rescue. #f one of you lags behind in his wor1 in the fields, help hi&. These are what we would li1e to
pass on to you as we are poor and ha$e no lands to gi$e you. Then each of the& went to his own house
to also butcher a chic1en because that was the practice.

At one ti&e, the spouses Kollin and Dannai together with their friends, spouses 6alandi and
6al/eng and also +aya/aw and 'an/ay went to Balas/iyan, the places on the western side of Besao. At
that ti&e, it happened that there was a .dawa10 or a wedding feast. They partoo1 of the festi$ities
dancing to the &usic of the gongs. +aya/aw was handso&e and could do the .daing0 beautifully. The
.daing0 was done by two groups :oining hands and facing each other, each of the& singing a $erse or
.sengaw0 one after the other while all were dancing. ;hen it was +aya/aw<s turn to do the .sengaw0,
all turned their heads towards hi& and they said, .2ow handso&e that &an is. 2e loo1s li1e a star=0.
5i1ewise, our grand&other, Dannai, who was also tall and had good loo1s, could also dance gracefully.
+he danced se$eral ti&es and :ust li1e what they said of +aya/aw, they said of Dannai, .2ow beautiful
are the .#b/ne0 people. They loo1 li1e stars=0. #b/ne is what they called the (ayeo before. The ne-t day,
these spouses went ho&e with their loads.
'onths passed and so&ething strange happened. +aya/aw could not tal1 distinctly and could
not be understood. >or Dannai, her feet wea1ened, had to use a cane and could no longer go out to
wor1. #t was a disaster for the fa&ily as her children, Kalling, Bolbolin, Baw/i and 4si&ay were $ery
young then. At this ti&e, the contents of the pot that 'alengtey and Aney handed to their children,
especially the .helping one another0 was put to use. +o in ti&e of preparing the fields until har$est, the
siblings of Dannai hurried to finish the wor1 in their own fields so they could help Kollin as Dannai
could not do anything to help hi&.
;hen 4si&ay, the youngest child, was learning to wal1, their father, Kollin died lea$ing $ery
young children as orphans. Dannai could not stand by the&. Kalling, the eldest child, although still
young, went with her aunts to the fields to carry ca&ote or ya&s. +he could carry only a few in a s&all
wo$en bas1et. They taught her how to weed the fields and to plant rice. Their aunt, +ebia was &ostly
the one pounding their palay and teaching the young children to wor1. Their aunts and uncles ha$e also
to fetch water for the& as there were no pipes then. Also, they had to gather firewood for the&. The
only source of firewood were in far places li1e Bawet, 3a1awang, and 4gawi. There were no trees
nearby unli1e now that trees abound.
4ne ti&e, their &other, Dannai, sent Kalling and Baw/i to Bawet where their field was to dri$e
away the birds eating the ripe palay. #t was a $ery far place. Bollin did not go with the& as he went to
collect stic1s for coo1ing. ;hen the two reached Bawet, they were horrified to see rats :u&ping on the
palay left by their aunt +ebia which she har$ested the day before but left it there because she prioriti?ed
carrying firewood because they had nothing to coo1 with. ;hen it was ti&e to go ho&e, Kalling
prepared so&e palay to carry although they were not told to carry but young as they were, they were
thin1ing responsibly. Baw/i told Kalling to also prepare a load for hi& to carry but his sister
discouraged hi& saying it would be hard for hi& as the way is far and besides, the way was not friendly
for children li1e hi&. But Baw/i insisted saying he was able for his load was light so they started for
ho&e and after passing through the woods and ca&e to the place called 8swagen where they had to go
down, Baw/i felt he could no longer carry so he as1ed Kalling to lessen his load but she said, .# was
telling you that you will not be able to do it. The way is bad. 'y load is also hea$y and &y nec1 is
painful. Be a little patient until we reach the ricefields in 5ilit0. But Baw/i cried so Kalling said, .;e
can<t do anything because we are going down and if # will put down &y load, it will roll down the hill
because there is not e$en a little flat space0.The &ore Baw/i cried and shouted, .A&a, A&a0 for their
father. At this, Kalling also cried. +he said .Don<t cry for father because he is dead. 2e is not here
any&ore. #f he were here, &aybe we would not be in here in this place. 'aybe &other would not ha$e
sent us to go and dri$e away the birds. >ather is dead so don<t shout for hi& because when he was still
li$ing and when he ca&e ho&e fro& wor1, he would carry you in his bac1 while also carrying Bollin
on his lap0.
Both of the& were crying while going down the hill. ;hen they were nearing 5ilit, a &an saw
the& co&ing down so he tied his carabao and went to &eet the&. 2e 1new so&ething was wrong for
they were crying. 2e got Kalling<s load including Baw/i<s and said, .#t<s bad to cry in the fields. Don<t
shout for your father because he is not here any&ore. 2e died and left you and it<s unfortunate that your
&other cannot also wal10. The &an also shed tears out of pity. ;hen they ca&e upon a tree at the edge
of the way, they rested and the &an re&o$ed so&e bundles of palay off both their loads, retied the&
and the e-tra one, tied it to a branch of the tree to get when they return the following day. Then the &an
said, .wait for &e and # will go see if there are left o$er bananas that the laborers did not eat0. 2e
returned with four bananas and the children ate one each. The &an again said, .get the re&aining
bananas for you to eat when you reach +in/iting)ricefields* but don<t cry because it is bad)o&en*. #f it
were not for &y laborers and the carabao that # ha$e to feed, # could go ho&e with you0.
The ne-t day, Kalling and Bollin without Baw/i went bac1 to Bawet. They got the palay left at
5ilit when they returned ho&e. After so&e days, the &an who helped the& ca&e ho&e. 2e went to the
Dap/ay)&eeting place* and narrated the story of Kalling and Baw/i crying while they were wal1ing
down at 8swagen. Dawin, Dannai<s brother, was listening and he was the one who told that the one who
helped the children was Tengay.
The ne-t day, Dawin went to Dannai<s house and scolded her saying, .;hat is your proble&@
,ou did not thin1 about the ris1s of sending your young children to a far place. They e$en ha$e to cross
a ri$er in Bey/ewa. +uppose they slipped@ Do they 1now how to swi&@ Anyway, let<s not lose hope.
6od is &erciful and it will not be long before these children will grow up0. Because of what happened,
Dawin led his siblings to go to har$est the palay in Bawet to free their sister, Dannai, of her worries.
,ears passed and the children of Kollin and Dannai were growing up. Kalling acted as father
and &other to her siblings. ;he she reached a &arriageable age, her uncle 5u&as/i, husband of her
aunt, +ebia, con$inced Kalling to &arry his nephew, Biswil. Kalling agreed and the burden of plowing
their fields was now on Biswil<s shoulders but their helping one another did not end especially that one
of the aunts, 'agdas, wife of 5o1ey and &other of Donggay, died and help was also being e-tended to
their fa&ily.
Bolbolin went to school and continued at 5a Trinidad 2igh +chool. 2e wore short pants that is
torn, he would tie the torn edges which could not be co&pared to his peer, Aicente A&bucay, who had
decent pants because they had &ore in life. Aicente<s &other, Dolinsa often went to chat with Dannai
and the latter would as1 Dolinsa what she was sending her son, Aicente. Dannai would accept the fact
that Bolbolin could not be sent the sa&e things as what was being sent to Aicente for where would
Kalling get the& and she, being the &other, was also paraly?ed@ 2owe$er, Bolbolin was able to finish
his schooling o$erco&ing hardships. ;hen he was ready to settle down, he &arried (otenciana Rulite
fro& Kagubatan, Tadian, by who& he had si- children but unfortunately, she died in an accident. After
that, 'aria Tinacba fro& +agada, 't.(ro$ince, ca&e into his lfe and were also blessed with ten
children.
Baw/i also got &arried ti 8li?abeth (ilsy)6ay&an* who also bore nine children e-cluding one
child who died. The episode where Kalling and Baw/i cried at 8swagen was told by &y &other,
Kalling)Ruth Tangliben narrating*, when we went to the plant rice at Bawet. This ricefield was gi$en to
Baw/i, later gi$en to his son, Rodney );hen Ruth narrated the story, Rodney :o1ingly said that he also
cried when he went there with his father, Baw/i, when they were children because of the distance and
the hardship of carrying. 2owe$er, it is true that Rodney and siblings endured the sa&e hardships in
going there but they were older and there was the father to guide the&. Ruth in telling the story
re&inded Rodney to go clean the field so it would not be neglected.*
4si&ay also grew to be a lo$ely young lady. +he went with #ganay and other girls to Baguio
"ity to apply as coo1s to the &iners as there were se$eral &ines around Baguio before. +he then
&arried (atricio +ap/at and they also brought out beautiful children. They stayed in Kin/iway, Besao
for se$eral years before they went to Baguio in their older years.
As for grand&other Dannai, # had been gi$ing her co&pany and helping her when she needed
&e to so&e things. As she could not go out, her urine and feces had to be collected, then thrown away.
+he had also to be fed. # was $ery than1ful when >rances Du1lan had been co&ing to help &e ta1e care
of her. # was &ore o$er:oyed when Bidda, an old &aid had been also co&ing to help us. At night, when
grand&other wanted to sit up and # didn<t hear her calling, Bidda would be the one to wa1e up to help
her.
;hen ;orld ;ar ## escalated and Besao was bo&bed, 'anong (ablo Tellias)husband of Dayep,
Kalling<s first born* carried grand&other Dannai to a safer place in A1dangan, then carried her bac1 to
her house at night. +o&e of &y chores for grand&other was to get banana lea$es, then let the& wilt in
the sun.These are what we used to collect her feces , put it in a .duyo0 or wooden bowl, then thrown
away. 4ne ti&e, our father, Biswil had an .a/aw0 at our house in Tabagen. The brothers, Bollin and
Baw/i went to parta1e of this and there, they agreed to build a house for grand&other at (oblacion,
Kin/iway so it would be easier to help ta1e care of her. ;hen the sibling Bollin, Baw/i and 4si&ay got
&arried, they all built their houses near each other. Kalling<s fa&ily was left in (ayeo. +o when
grand&other<s house was built, she was brought up to Kin/iway and stayed there until her death in
about B50. ;hen she urinated, she had to pull her legs sitting down. # a& sure cousin 6ertrude Kollin
>ernando)Bollin<s second child* had seen her doing this. According to &y obser$ation, &ost of you, &y
cousins and nephews and nieces inherited grand&other Dannai<s tall height and beauty. 6randfather
Kollin, according to those who ha$e seen hi& was also tall and handso&e :ust li1e his brother Aglanaw,
who& we had seen.
>or the pot that 'alengtey and Aney bestowed to their children, #<& sure that it was carefully
handled. (roof is that the late Ayubang Anton would always tal1 appreciati$ely about the unity of
'alangtey<s children and grandchildren whene$er there was a co&&unity gathering.
2owe$er, at this ti&e, #<& not happy to see that the pot is crac1ed. #<& therefore begging you,
&y cousins, nephew, nieces, children and grandchildren to weld the pot and return it to the original.
5ong before, our grandparents and parents were uneducated but handled it carefully. 3ow, &any of you
are teachers, nurses, doctors, lawyers, priests and others who 1now better but how co&e it is crac1ed@
#t is our only inheritance fro& our grandparents.
(lease do not &ind &y story being not in the proper seCuence. 4ur grand&other, Dannai had
been telling &e &any stories, but # forgot the&. 'ay our lord bless us with peace and :oy. # than1 2i&
for gi$ing &e the strength to be able to co&e and &eet all of you who descended fro& Kollin and
Dannai. #t is unbelie$able that our big nu&ber descended fro& only this pair. 'ay we li$e long
including &yself who is in &y sunset years. # pray that he will gi$e &e &ore years so that # can &eet
you again ne-t reunion.
As told by Ruth K.B. Tangliben
This is a si&ple english translation of &anang Ruth<s story which she told in the Tabagew
dialect according to her but because &ost of the children did not hear the story, #<& trying to retell it
where so&e &ay understand. # belie$e this story gi$es us &any $aluable lessons while gi$ing
infor&ation about our grandparents and parents. 2owe$er, any suggestions for a title@(lease also gi$e
your co&&ents.
/5ydia K. 5ebeng
Baw/i Branch