Ang Magkal kag ang Trabungko

There was this story I heard when I was about 11 years old during one summer up in the mountains in Don Salvador Benedicto. To this day I kept on remembering and wondering about this tale. The story was told by an old man who had lived in those mountains all his life. It was a wednesday, 'tabu day', and some people were gathering at the crossroads waiting for the 'manugbarter' to come and trade their goods with the locales. So anyway, to while away the time, this old man told the following about a mythological creature.

Up there in the mountains lives a giant Magkal. A magkal is a humungous boa constrictor, and it is said that this magkal lives in the valley within the mountains called the malatan-og. It's girth is about twice the size as the trunk of a large tree. This magkal is said to be immortal. The source of its immortality is the trabungko that it carries on his head. A trabungko is a magnificent gem about large a a full grown man's clenched fist. Whoever possess this trabungko will have eternal life as well as enormous powers. So the trick here, as the old man was saying is to wait for the Magkal to sleep before attempting to steal the trabungko. However, the Magkal is not your only obstacle to gain the Trabungko, because, you see, the Magkal lives or sleeps beneath a tree whose very shadow is poison.

It's a fantastic tale and I really liked it and I always dreamed of searching for that Magkal and his Trabungko...