THE BUNTUK ORIGIN MYTH: The Syncretic Myth

All the collected versions of the Talanganay myth are syncretisms of what is here assumed to have been the original Talanganay myth and one or more other myths that have independent existence in neighboring areas. In these syncretic myths, the roles of the main figures are either ascribed to Talanganay or shared with him. It was a certain Bidolong, the most influential leader in Buaya, who died a few years before my arrival in 1964, who thought he did a good thing by introducing syncretism.