Filipino Legends: Igorot Folk Tales

Most people aren’t aware of this book by Clayton Abbott -- Filipino Legends: Igorot Folk Tales (1976), with drawings by Mark Rountree. Known primarily for his books on the history of Cedar County, the late author wrote this book to document his first job after graduating from the University of Wisconsin in Spring 1926—eighteen months teaching the English language and culture at the Trinidad Agricultural School at Baguio in the northern Luzon of the Philippine Islands. It was less than thirty years after the execution of the Filipino hero, Jose Rizal, by the Spanish and during the middle of the period in which Filipinos were preparing themselves for independence. His students were from all the sub-provinces—each of which had its own separate culture and different dialect. As part of their homework, he asked his students to translate their native folktales into English. Igorots had no written language; and before this time, their legends had been preserved by being handed down verball