Di Lobuon

Written by H. Joplin Mosiun

January 16, 2023

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One day a group of Mangkaak went magasu (hunting with dogs). The powerful sense of the dogs led the hunting party to a ponsuon do bakas (a boar’s wallowing pool). Something in the murky pool got the canines barking wildly. The men grew suspicious and lifted their spears aiming at some movements. They were about to throw their spears when a figure stood up. 

The leader of the party warns his men, “Intangan! Ada patazo! Tuhun iti, okon ko bakas!” (Look! Don’t kill! It’s a man, not a wild boar!)

It was not a boar but a man covered in mud and thick hair. So, the hunting party took him to their village. The coarse hair on his body made him look as if he was transforming into an animal. The villagers wondered how long the man had been in the wallowing pool. They bathed him and shaved the hair on his body. 

Everyone wondered how the man ended up in the state he was in and from which village he came, but he spoke no word. They feared he may have lost his way in the forest and fallen into the wallowing pool. Nevertheless, a family took care of him and fed him well. After a week, he began muttering some words. So they finally asked him again. The man says he does not remember. So the family replied, “Do not worry but stay in our village.” So the villagers adopted the man as their own. He was named Lobuon after his discovery in a wallowing pool (lobuon). 

Note: This Mangkaak folk story was told to the author by Tampulong Aju, the former Ketua Kampung of Kg. Tongodon, Tongod.