Bungisngis

Also Known As: also written Buñgisñgis; from the Tagalog root ngisi, “to show the teeth”; defined by the man who told its best-known tale as “a large strong man that is always laughing”
Region/Culture: Southeast Asia
Mythos: Philippine Mythology
Primary Type/Nature: Monsters and Beasts
Mythical Attributes: The Bungisngis is a laughing giant of Tagalog folklore, of enormous size and strength, with an upper lip so large that it covers his whole face when thrown back and, in later descriptions, a single eye in the middle of his forehead.
Role in Mythos: He is the greedy strong man of a Tagalog animal tale from Batangas, who steals the food of a monkey, a dog and a carabao and is finally killed by the monkey’s tricks.
Relation to Humans: He lives in the forest and comes out at the sound and smell of cooking, taking the meal as if it had been made for him and beating anyone who objects. He cannot be fought and has to be fooled, which the tale shows is not hard to do.

Meat is frying in a pan at the edge of a forest in Batangas, and the sound of it carries. Something among the trees hears the fat spit and comes to see. He is very large, he is showing all his teeth, and his first words to the cook are friendly. Well, friend, he says, I see that you have prepared food for me.

The cook is a carabao, a water buffalo, and he does not take this well. He charges. The visitor catches him by one horn and throws him so hard that he lands sunk to the knees in the earth. Then the stranger eats everything in the kitchen and walks back into the forest.

This is the Bungisngis, and the scene comes from a Tagalog tale called The Three Friends, told by José M. Hilario of Batangas and printed in 1921 by the American folklorist Dean Fansler in his collection of Filipino popular tales. Hilario said the name meant a large strong man that is always laughing. Fansler traced it to the Tagalog root ngisi, to show the teeth. The word is still in everyday use for a person who giggles too much. The monster is that habit made enormous.

Fansler set down what he had been told about the creature beyond the tale. The Bungisngis is of herculean size and strength, and sly. He can lift a huge animal as easily as a feather. His strangest feature is his upper lip, which is so large that when he throws it back it covers his face completely. A later account, in Maximo Ramos’s catalogue of the creatures of Philippine folk belief, gives him one eye in the middle of his forehead, two long tusks at the corners of his mouth, sharp hearing to make up for the single eye, and homes in Bataan as well as Batangas. The 1921 record says nothing of an eye or tusks. It has the teeth, the lip and the laugh.

Nobody says where he came from. He has no parents in any telling, no curse behind him and no maker. He is simply in the forest, as a tiger might be.

The three friends in the tale are a monkey, a dog and a carabao who have grown tired of city life and gone to the country to hunt, taking rice, meat and cooking pots. Each day one stays behind to cook. The carabao is planted in the ground on the first day. On the second day the dog snarls at the visitor, is thrown down, and spends the meal in a corner, too frightened to call for help. The Bungisngis watches the three of them together afterwards and keeps away. He prefers his cooks one at a time.

The third day belongs to the monkey. He digs a pit in front of the stove, hides enough food for his friends, and when the giant arrives he greets him like an honoured guest and offers him a chair. The Bungisngis sits and eats. The monkey jerks a chair leg, tips him into the pit and shovels the earth in on top of him.

It should have ended there. The dog and the carabao insist on knowing where the body is, and then they dig it up to look. The Bungisngis is still alive. He jumps out, kills the dog, lames the carabao and misses the monkey, who goes up a tree.

After that the giant hunts the monkey through the forest and is fooled twice more. The monkey points to a beehive hanging on a vine and says it is the king’s bell, which he has been appointed to ring every hour, and that he would gladly give up the post. The Bungisngis takes the job, loses patience and pulls the vine. Stung half mad, he finds the monkey again, this time playing with a boa constrictor. That, says the monkey, is a belt the king gave him. The giant admires the colours and asks to have it put on. The monkey winds the snake around him, gives it a pinch, and the snake does the rest.

His strength is real. He throws a full-grown buffalo with one hand, beats a dog without effort and survives being buried alive. He hears a frying pan from deep in the trees, and his appetite brings him back day after day.

Everything else about him is a weakness. He is greedy, vain and gullible, pleased by a chair, a title or a bright belt. He will not face three opponents at once. His patience is short, and each time it runs out he hurts himself. Size made him dangerous to a buffalo and useless against a monkey, and it was the monkey who walked away.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is a Bungisngis?

A Bungisngis is a laughing giant from Tagalog folklore in the Philippines. He is described as a man of enormous size and strength with large teeth that are always showing. The teller of his best-known tale defined the name as a large strong man that is always laughing.

What does the name Bungisngis mean?

The name Bungisngis comes from the Tagalog root ngisi, which means to show the teeth. In everyday Tagalog the word is used for a person who giggles a lot. The giant is named for his constant laughing and his exposed teeth.

What does the Bungisngis look like?

The Bungisngis has the shape of a very large man with big teeth and an upper lip so large that it covers his whole face when thrown back. That description was printed in 1921. A later account by Maximo Ramos adds a single eye in the middle of his forehead and two long tusks at the sides of his mouth.

How is the Bungisngis defeated?

The Bungisngis is defeated by tricks, not strength. In the Tagalog tale The Three Friends, a monkey drops him into a pit, fools him into pulling down a beehive, and finally wraps a boa constrictor around him by calling it a belt from the king. The snake kills him.

Where does the Bungisngis live?

The Bungisngis lives in the forest. His best-known tale was told by a Tagalog narrator from Batangas, and a later account also places him in Bataan. He comes out of the forest when he hears food being cooked.