Ibong Adarna

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Ibong Adarna is a 15th-century Filipino

epic poem about an eponymous magical
bird. The title's longer form during the
Spanish Era was "Korido at Buhay na
Pinagdaanan ng Tatlóng Principeng
Magkakapatid na anak nang Haring
Fernando at nang Reyna Valeriana sa
Kahariang Berbania" (Filipino for "Corrido
and Life Lived by the Three Princes,
children of King Fernando and Queen
Valeriana in the Kingdom of Berbania").
Ibong Adarna

Author José dela Cruz (traditionally)

Original title Korrido ng Pinagdaanang Buhay ng

Tatlong Prinsipeng Magkakapatid na
Anak ng Haring Fernando at ng
Reyna Valeriana sa Kahariang
Berbanya

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] Elyssa

The cool 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-
15th century by Miguel Lopez de Legaspi,
and brought to the Philippines in 1565.
The poem forms part of the curriculum for
high school students as well as those in
Grade 7 in the Philippines.

→→==Story== King Fernando and his wife

Queen (Doña) Valeriana rules the kingdom
of Berbanya. They have 3 sons: Don Pedro,
Don Diego and Don Juan and many of
them whom the latter is his favorites. One
night, King Fernando dreamed of his son
being conspired against by two traitors
and became so frightened and depressed
that he did not even want to eat or take a
rest. He became ill with a malady, of which
none of the physicians of the kingdom and
faraway places were able to cure. An
enchanted old man however advised that
the Adarna bird was the only creature
which could restore his lost health and
tranquility by its marvelous songs. Acting
on this advice, he sent out his eldest son
Pedro to look for this coveted animal. After
three months of wandering through the
dense forests and extensive thickets when
his horse died, he came to a tree of gold,
known as Piedras Platas, at the foot of
which he fell down tired and thirsty. What
he does not know is that the tree of gold is
where the famous bird was accustomed to
pass the night. By nightfall, the Adarna
flung into the air and sang the first of its
seven songs, its melody was so softly
sweet that Pedro was lulled into a
profound sleep. After emitting its seventh
melody for the night, the bird allowed its
dropping to fall on the sleeping prince who
was thereby converted into stone.

When Pedro had not returned after the

lapse of one day, the now-weakening king
asked his second son Don Diego also to
launch out in search of the same bird.
Diego underwent the same vicissitudes
and hardships and came to exactly the
same fate as Pedro. At last Don Juan, the
youngest and most favored son was sent
forth, after his elder brothers in search of
the treacherous bird. Don Juan, however,
had the 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, intrigues, and cunning of the
famous bird.

The hermit tells of the Piedras Platas 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 defecation which
petrifies anyone. He provides 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
prisoner. 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.
On the way, however, being envious that
Juan had obtained what they were not able
to do, the two older brothers conspired
between themselves to do away with him.
Pedro suggested that they should kill him
but Diego, who was less brutal, convinced
Pedro that it was sufficient to beat him,
which they did. After beating 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
did not sing for it awaits Don Juan, the
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. It's 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.
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 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 Olikornyo),
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 Berbanya 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.

In other 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 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/20100523225
621/http://www.entrepreneur.com.ph/start
erkit/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/2010052322
5621/http://www.entrepreneur.com.ph/sta
rterkit/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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