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Bantugan
Bantugan is the best-known hero of the Maranao Darangen. People in Lanao tell of his deeds as a warrior and prince. Sources differ on details across the many cycles. We list him as a hero of the epic, with no text here.
Folklore is retold; versions differ.
Sources: Philippine Folk Tales (Cole 1916) · Wikipedia: Darangen
The story
Bantugan is the best-known hero of the Maranao people of Lanao. He appears in the Darangen, the long sung epic of Lake Lanao. Maranao singers perform it at weddings and feasts, with gong and string music. The American teacher Frank Laubach heard singers perform Bantugan on a boat trip in 1930, and he began to write the songs down. That is one reason the hero became known outside Lanao.
A written version of one tale appears in Mabel Cook Cole's Philippine Folk Tales (1916), which is not yet free of copyright. In it, Bantugan is a very strong man from the Rio Grande valley, and his father is the brother of earthquake and thunder. He wants to marry the daughter of a sultan far away. He sends his young son, Balatama, with a proposal. The boy cuts down a snake on the road and faces the court. A golden statue he carries brings a storm when it is shown.
Cole's retelling is short and may differ from the sung cycles.