Ibong Adarna

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Ibong Adarna is a 16th-century Filipino

epic poem about an eponymous magical
bird. The title's longer form during the
Spanish Era was "korido at Buhay na
Pinagdaanan n͠g Tatlong Principeng
Magcacapatid na anac n͠g Haring
Fernando at n͠g Reina Valeriana sa
Cahariang Berbania" (English for "Corrido
and Life Lived by the Three Princes,
children of King Fernando and Queen
Valeriana in the Kingdom of Berbania").
Ibong Adarna

Author Unknown

Original title Corrido at Buhay na

Pinagdaanan n͠g
Tatlong Principeng
Magcacapatid na anac
n͠g Haring Fernando at
n͠g Reina Valeriana sa
Cahariang Berbania

Country Captaincy General of

the Philippines
The story revolved around the life of King
Fernando, Queen Valeriana and their
three sons, Princes Pedro, Diego and
Juan. The three princes are vying for the
throne and kingship, and were trained for
sword fight and combat. The most
courageous will inherit the throne.[1]

The story is commonly attributed to the

Tagalog poet José de la Cruz or "Huseng
Sisiw", but until now its exact authorship
is disputed. Another legend claims that
the story was written in Spain during the
mid-16th century by Miguel Lopez de
Legaspi, and brought to the Philippines in
1565.
The poem forms part of the curriculum
for Junior High School Students as well
as those in Grade 7 in the Philippines.

Story
Part One

King Fernando and his wife Queen

Villarana rules the Kingdom of Berbania.
They have 3 sons: Don Pedro, Don Diego
and Don Juan. One night, King Fernando
dreamed of Don Juan being murdered by
two traitors and he became frightened
and depressed that he did not even want
to eat or rest. He became ill, which none
of the people were able to cure. An old
doctor however advised that the Ibong
Adarna (a mythical bird) was the only
creature which could restore his health
by its marvelous songs. He first sent out
Don Pedro to look for the Ibong Adarna.
After three months of wandering through
the forests and thickets, he came to a
gold tree, known as Piedras Platas, at the
foot of the tree which he fell down tired
and thirsty. What he does not know is
that the gold tree is where the Ibong
Adarna was accustomed to pass the
night. By nightfall, Pedro fell asleep and
then the bird flew into the air and sang
the first of its seven songs; its melody
was so softly sweet that anyone was
lulled into a profound sleep. After
emitting its seventh song for the night,
the bird excreted dropping on the
sleeping prince who became stone.

King Fernando then asked his second

son Don Diego also to send out in search
of the bird. Don Diego underwent the
same hardships (but ventured for five
months, two more than Don Pedro) and
came to exactly the same fate as his
older brother. After three whole years
without hearing any news, at last Don
Juan, the youngest and most favored son
was (unwillingly by King Fernando) sent
forth, in search of the bird. Don Juan
however, had fortune to meet on his way
an old hermit who was impressed by the
virtues and good manners of the young
prince and knowing the mission on which
he embarked, put him on guard against
the treacheries of the bird.

The hermit tells of the gold tree where

the famed bird stays every night after
singing seven songs, warning of the
spells in its seven songs which lulls the
hearer to sleep and the excretion which
petrifies anyone. He provides Don Juan
with a knife and lemons[2], both of which
Juan must use to cut seven wounds on
his hands and distill into them the juice
of the fruits to create the pain that will
prevent him from being lulled by the
seven songs. The hermit then gives Juan
a golden rope which the prince must use
to bind the bird's legs while it is asleep
and take it inside a cage. Before Juan
leaves, the hermit provides him with a
bucket which he must use to scoop
water from a well near the tree and pour
over his two petrified brothers to restore
them. Don Juan did as was bidden and
soon found himself in possession of the
desired bird and on his way back to his
home country with his two brothers, Don
Pedro and Don Diego. Don Juan ventured
for four months.

On the way, however, being envious that

Don Juan had obtained what they were
not able to do, the two older brothers
conspired between themselves to do
away with him. Don Pedro suggested
that they should kill him but Don Diego,
who was less brutal, convinced Pedro
that it was sufficient to beat him, which
they did. After beating Don Juan to
whom they owed their lives, they left him
unconscious in the middle of the road as
the two brothers continued on their way
to the palace. Once there in the palace,
they convinced the king that they never
knew what happened to Don Juan, but
the bird was disheveled and did not sing
for it awaits Don Juan, the true captor of
this bird. Don Juan woke eventually, but
could not move due to the pain caused
by the beating. He prayed fervently for
the health of the king and the forgiveness
of God to his brothers. The same hermit
who gave him advice before catching the
bird arrives and heals him magically.
Upon return to the palace, everyone was
happy except his two brothers, worried
that Don Juan might tell on them to the
king. The bird then started to sing. Its
enchanted song revealed to the king that
Don Pedro and Don Diego beat up Don
Juan and that he was the true captor of
this bird.

The two were sentenced to being cut off

from the royalty and banished, but they
were reprieved due to Don Juan being
forgiving and asking to give them another
chance. They were given one, however,
any consequent fault would mean death.
They enjoyed the bird, they did not treat it
as a pet, but rather like a person. So they
made the three princes watch over the
bird for 3 hours each every day. Don
Pedro wanted revenge, so he conspired
again and forced Don Diego to go on
board with it yet again. They planned to
trick Don Juan into thinking that under
his watch, the bird escaped. They
successfully did it and Don Juan set out
to find the bird before the king wakes up.
The king finds the bird missing and so is
Don Juan, so he asked the two to find the
bird and their brother.
Part Two

They find Don Juan at Mt. Armenia,

where they decide that they just live
there, on the beautiful mountain. They
lived happily there and forgot the trouble
from the past. They find a well and
decide to explore the inside, arguing
about who goes first. They settle for the
idea that Pedro, the eldest, was the first
to descend by means of a cord lowered
by the two brothers who remained above;
but he had scarcely gone a third of the
way when he felt afraid and gave the sign
for his two brothers to pull him out of the
well. Presently, Diego was let down but
he too could not go farther down than
half of the way. When it was Juan's turn
to go he allowed himself to be let down
to the lowest depths of the cistern. There
the prince discovered two enchanted
palaces, the first being occupied by
Princess Juana who informed him she
was being held prisoner by a giant, and
the second by Princess Leonora, also the
prisoner of a large seven-headed serpent.
After killing the giant and the serpent, the
prince tugged on the cord and soon
came up to the surface of the earth with
the two captive princesses, whom his
two brothers soon wanted to take away
from him. Diego desired Princess Juana
for himself and Pedro wanted Princess
Leonora. Before the parting, however,
Leonora discovered that she left her ring
in the innermost recesses of the well.
Juan voluntarily offered to take it for her
but when he was halfway down, the two
brothers cut the rope he was descending
causing him to fall to the bottom of the
well. Not long after this, wedding bells
were rung in the palace. Diego married
Princess Juana but Princess Leonora
before casting her lot with Prince Pedro
requested her marriage to him delayed
for a term of seven years because she
might still have a chance to unite herself
with Don Juan.

Don Juan, thanks to Leonora's enchanted

ring found in the well, could avail himself
of the help of a wolf which cured him of
his wounds, fix his dislocations, and
bring him to the medicinal waters of the
Jordan, and took him out of the well
Already torn between all hope of ever
finding the Adarna, Don Juan resolved to
return to the Kingdom. But to his
confusion, he was unable to find his way.
No one could tell him precisely which
was the way that would lead him to the
kingdom of his father. While sleeping
under a tree, the Adarna awakens him
and convinces him to turn his back on
Leonora because Maria Blanca, the
daughter of King Salermo in Reino de los
Cristales was better. He came to a hermit
that consulted all of the animals from the
surrounding areas, but none of them
could tell the prince the direction towards
Reyno de los Cristales. But the king of all
these animals, a swiftly soaring eagle
(real name Olicornio), having
compassion for his troubles, offered to
take the prince to wherever he desired.
After an epic flight, the prince and the
eagle came to a distant crystal lake on
whose shores they landed to rest from
their long and tiresome flight. Then the
eagle related to his companion the
secrets of the crystal lake. This was the
bathing place where, in certain hours of
the day, the three daughters of the most
powerful and most feared king of the
surrounding regions used to dive into the
water and swim; and for this reason it
was not proper for the prince to commit
any indiscretion if he desired to remain
and see the spectacle of the bath. Don
Juan remained and when the hour of the
bathing arrived he saw plunging into the
pure crystal water the figures of the three
most beautiful princesses whom his
sinful eyes had ever seen. He then
secretly hid and kept one of the
princesses dresses. When the princess
noticed the theft, her two sisters had
already gone. The prince hurriedly ran to
her and on his knee begged her pardon
and placed at her feet her stolen dress
and at the same time poured forth the
most ardent and tender professions of
love. Pleased by his gentleness and
gallant phrases, the princess also fell in
love with him; but she advised him that it
would be better for him to go away
before her father would come to know of
his intrusion. If he did not do so he would
be converted into another piece of stone
for the walls of the enchanted palace in
which they live, in the same way, that all
the other suitors who aspired for their
hands had been transformed. On being
informed of the adventure of the bold
prince, the king sent for him. Don Juan,
who would risk everything for the
privilege of seeing his beloved, presented
himself to the king in spite of the
princess' warning. The king, greatly
impressed with the youth's tact and self-
possession, chose to give him a series of
tests both gigantic and impossible for
ordinary mortals. After completing these
trials the king was satisfied and offered
Don Juan his daughter.

However, the princess, fearing that her

father might resort to a new trick to foil
their happiness, ordered the prince to
direct himself to the royal stables in order
to take the best horse and have him
ready for them to flee on that same night.
Unfortunately, the prince in his hurry took
the wrong horse and the king came
immediately went in pursuit of the
fugitives. The king, riding the best horse,
pursued them tenaciously but through
the use of cunning magic, the princess
helped them to outrace the king.

When at last they found themselves safe

and free, it did not take them long before
they could reach the portals of the
Berbanian Kingdom. But the prince,
alleging that he should have such
preparations duly made for entry into the
royal palace as are appropriate for her
category and dignity, left Doña Maria on
the way promising to return for her once
he had informed the committee that was
to receive her. Once in the midst of the
happiness of palace life, Don Juan soon
forgot his professions of love to Doña
Maria. He became dazzled by the beauty
of Princess Leonora who had been
waiting for him during all the days of his
absence and he sought her hand in
marriage while Doña Maria was
impatiently waiting for his return. When
she came to know of the infidelity of Don
Juan, the pilgrim princess made use of
the talisman which she always carried
with her and adorned with the most
beautiful royal garments and carried in a
large coach drawn by eight sorrel-colored
horses with four palfreys, she presented
herself at the door of the palace
practically inviting herself to the royal
wedding of Prince Juan and Princess
Leonora.
Out of respect for so beautiful a guest
from foreign lands and on the occasion
of the wedding itself, there were
celebrated tournaments, in one Doña
Maria succeeded in inserting as one of
the number dance of a negrito and a
negrito created from nothing through her
marvelous talisman. In the dance the
negrito carried a whip in her hand and
with it she pitilessly lashed her negrito
partner, calling him Don Juan while she
proceeded to remind of all the
vicissitudes of fortune undergone by him
at the side on Doña Maria, the part which
was played by the whipping negrito: the
scene of the bath, the different tests to
which he had been subjected by her
father, the flight of both that was full of
accidents, and his cruel abandonment of
her on the way. Every crack of the whip
which fell on the shoulders of the negrito
seemed at the time to the true Don Juan
as if it was lashing.

After all this, Don Juan finally

remembered Doña Maria. He then gave
Princess Leonora and the kingdom of
Berbania to Prince Pedro while he and
Doña Maria returned to Reyno de los
Cristales. When they came back, they
found the kingdom in a mourning state,
following the deaths of Doña Maria’s
father and sisters. The kingdom rejoiced
when they came back and crowned them
the king and queen of the kingdom.

Film and Media

The story of Ibong Adarna is known all
over the Philippines and has been told in
different dialects and media.

(The now defunct) LVN Studios produced

the first two commercial "Ibong Adarna"
films. The first one, made in 1941, starred
Mila del Sol, Fred Cortes, and Ester
Magalona. It had a magical sequence
which showed the singing of the bird.
That used a painstakingly hand-painted
process called "Varicolor." That pre-war
version was directed by Vicente
Salumbides and "Technical direction by
Manuel Conde." Fifteen years later, in
1956, LVN produced a second version,
this time under the full direction of an
older Manuel Conde, and starred Nida
Blanca, Nestor de Villa and Carlos
Salazar. The 1956 film was the first
Filipino commercial film shot and shown
in its entirety in Eastman Color.

Roda Film Productions produced 2

movies: "Ibong Adarna" (1972) and its
sequel "Ang Hiwaga ng Ibong Adarna"
(1973) starring Philippine Comedy King
Dolphy as the lead Prince Adolfo and
comedians Panchito Alba as Prince
Alfonso, Babalu as Prince Albano and
Rosanna Ortiz as the Ibong Adarna.

Tagalog Pictures, Inc. produced the

movie "Si Prinsipe Abante At Ang Lihim
ng Ibong Adarna" in 1990 starring
comedian Rene Requestas as the lead
Prince Abante, Paquito Diaz as Prinsipe
Atras, Joaquin Fajardo as Prinsipe Urong-
Sulong and Monica Herrera as Princess
Luningning/the Ibong Adarna.

In 1996 Star Cinema produced the movie

"Ang TV Movie: The Adarna Adventure".
Jolina Magdangal played the Ibong
Adarna. In 2013, GMA Network produced
Adarna, a contemporary television series
adaptation starring Kylie Padilla in the
title role.

Art and Literature

During the mid-1970s, the Nutrition
Center of the Philippines (NCP) found
itself in need of a series of storybooks to
supplement their mental feeding
program.[3] They approached Virgilio S.
Almario, a well-known poet and literary
critic of that time, to spearhead the
production of this series. He then
recruited authors, editors, illustrators,
and researchers for the series, which he
would call Aklat Adarna. The Adarna bird
is a fictional creature which had the
ability to cure any sickness with its song
so the name was chosen to evoke the
healing power of education and
knowledge against the struggle of the
Filipino against poverty-causing
ignorance.[4] When NCP concluded the
storybook program, Almario carried on
with the project through the Children's
Communication Center.[5] Soon enough,
with its increasing number of
publications, CCC needed a distributor
and publisher and a decision was made
to found Adarna Book Services, later
renamed to Adarna House, Inc.

Local publisher Vibal Foundation brings

the Philippines' first interactive e-book,
Ibong Adarna, which aims to relive
classic Filipino stories through full-color
illustrations, animations and high-quality
sound. The e-book was launched at
Apple iBookstore.[6] Project Gutenberg
also has a version of the epic in its
library.[7]

References
1. "Ang Alamat ng Ibong Adarna" .
TagalogLang.com.
2. Jaykez (2010-07-24). "Jayke Story
Collection: IBONG ADARNA STORY
(English Version)" . Jayke Story
Collection. Retrieved 2017-11-21.
3. Neni Sta. Romana-Cruz (February 16,
2004). "Door to the World of Reading
Must Be Unlocked for All Children" .
Archived from the original on May 4,
2014. Retrieved May 3, 2014.
4. The Adarna House (2008-02-13). "Ang
Alamat ng Aklat Adarna | The Adarna
House Blog" .
Adarnahouse.wordpress.com. Retrieved
2014-05-04.
5.
https://web.archive.org/web/2010052322
5621/http://www.entrepreneur.com.ph/st
arterkit/article/part-2-of-businesses-
aimed-at-kids . Archived from the original
on May 23, 2010. Retrieved January 11,
2013. Missing or empty |title= (help)
6. "Archived copy" . Archived from the
original on 2013-02-15. Retrieved
2013-01-11.
7. "Ibong Adarna by Anonymous" . Project
Gutenberg. Retrieved May 3, 2014.

Neni Sta. Romana-Cruz (February 16,

2004). "Door to the World of Reading
Must Be Unlocked for All Children".
Retrieved May 3, 2014. Jump up ^ The
Adarna House (2008-02-13). "Ang Alamat
ng Aklat Adarna | The Adarna House
Blog". Adarnahouse.wordpress.com.
Retrieved 2014-05-04. Jump up ^
https://web.archive.org/web/201005232
25621/http://www.entrepreneur.com.ph/
starterkit/article/part-2-of-businesses-
aimed-at-kids . Archived from the original
on May 23, 2010. Retrieved January 11,
2013. Missing or empty |title= (help)
Jump up ^ http://beta.abs-
cbnnews.com/lifestyle/01/25/11/ibong-
adarna-flies-high-hits-ipad [dead link]
Jump up ^ "Ibong Adarna by
Anonymous". Project Gutenberg.
Retrieved May 3, 2014.

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