Bernardo Carpio – The Strong Man in the Mountain

About the legend

Being

Superhuman Folk Hero

Cultural meaning

Bernardo Carpio is one of the best-known heroes of Tagalog folklore: a man of enormous strength who is trapped inside the mountains of Montalban. When the ground shakes, people say it is Bernardo moving inside the mountain. In the oldest records of Tagalog beliefs, earthquakes were caused by a huge creature moving deep inside the earth. In this retelling, Bernardo stands for strength that serves others, guided by loob, a good heart, and for a hope that does not give up.

Fun fact

A little printed booklet of Bernardo's long poem, made in Manila in 1919, is kept in a university library in the United States, and anyone can turn its pages online.

Cultural notes

Bernardo Carpio comes from the Tagalog awit, a long story told in rhyming verse. The awit "Historia famosa ni Bernardo Carpio" was written in the 19th century and is attributed to Jose dela Cruz, known as Huseng Sisiw. It had at least five Tagalog editions, the oldest from 1860, and was translated into Bikol, Ilonggo and Ilokano. Montalban is today the town of Rodriguez in Rizal, where the Marikina River runs through the narrow gorge at Wawa, between the mountains Pamitinan and Binacayan. The legends told there differ: in some, Bernardo holds the two mountains apart; in others, he is trapped between them and struggling to break free. In another folk telling, the Spanish rulers hire an engkantado, a sorcerer, whose agimat, a magic amulet, traps Bernardo between two grinding rocks. In time the legend became a symbol of hope for freedom, and an old saying promises that when the last link of his chains breaks, sorrow will give way to freedom and happiness.

About this retelling

Localized literary legend The Montalban legend of Bernardo Carpio, the strong hero trapped in the mountain, retold for children.

The awit and the Montalban legend are old: Bernardo's great strength, his chase after the lightning, the two mountains that close together, and a hero trapped in the mountain. In the awit, Bernardo chases the lightning in anger after it shatters a bronze lion at a church door, and an angel tells him the lightning is hiding inside the mountain; he goes in, and the mountain closes behind him. This retelling tells only the lightning version and gives Bernardo a reason that fits the story's lesson: he chases the lightning away from the houses. His grandma and her words about strength, his good deeds as a boy, the dare with the boulder, the children Ising and Kiko, the villagers who try to free him and Grandma's visits to the mountain were added for Filipino Tales. The legend says Bernardo is trapped, and so does this story, but here he is not hurt or alone, and he chooses not to give up. When the ground shakes, Grandma first takes the children to safety under the table. The story leaves out the telling in which powerful men have him trapped, and it ends with the elders' hope that one day he will walk free, not with his return.

Sources

• "Historia famosa ni Bernardo Carpio: sa reinong España na anac ni D. Sancho Diaz at ni Doña Jimena", Maynila: Limbagan ni J. Martinez, 1919 (Internet Archive (University of Michigan microfilm))
• Earlier Bernardo Carpio awit tradition summarized by Sagisag Kultura / CulturEd, National Commission for Culture and the Arts (CulturEd)
• "Bernardo Carpio", overview of the legend's versions (Wikipedia)
• Montalban Gorge between Mount Pamitinan and Mount Binacayan, Rodriguez, Rizal (Pamitinan Protected Landscape)

Themes

• Strength
• Helping others
• Responsibility

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