ON DOMICIO the hunchback and the three goddesses.

The title of this narrative poem is "Corrido qñg bie nang queralanan Domiciong cuba qñg villang Almazan ampon ding atlung diosas a mipamansagan Capalaran, Sintingan at Lugud, qñg cayaria 'ning Persia" (Baculud, Capampangan: Limbagan nang Cornelio A. Pabalan Byron. 1915).

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The plot. Having fallen into a deep well, the hunchback Domicio finds himself in a magical world where Satan holds three goddesses captive. One after the other, each appears to him, first as a voice, then as a hand, then completely asking him to liberate them.

The goddess Capalaran promises to give him good fortune and marry him if he liberates her. He liberates her but she leaves him blind. Her sister, the goddess Sintingan, makes him handsome and a hunchback no more, and promises to marry him if he liberates her. He liberates her but she leaves him behind.

Their sister, the goddess Lugud, promises to give him the joy of being loved and to marry him, if he liberates her. He liberates her but she leaves him behind.

A duende helps Domicio go to Persia, where he finds the three goddesses who then help him become the successor of the then recently deceased sultan. As such, he is required to get married so as to beget a future successor. Being in a Muslim land, he is allowed to marry all the three. But being a Christian, he has to marry only one of them.

Domicio asks Capalaran: "If I were poor and miserable as before, would you still marry me?" Capalaran answers: "No, that is why I made you rich and a sultan." Domicio asks Sintingan: "If I were ugly and a hunchback as before, would you still marry me?" Sintingan answers: "No, that is why I made you handsome and not a hunchback." Domicio asks Lugud: "If I were poor and ugly, would you still marry me?" Lugud answers: "Yes, and I will even love you more."

Domicio marries Lugud. But suddenly, Domicio gets sick and becomes ugly and a hunchback again. That is the revenge of Sintingan. The people see his condition and they reject him and choose another sultan. That is the revenge of Capalaran.

Domicio and Lugud escape to a cave, where his condition worsens every day. Satan appears to Lugud in person and asks her to leave Domicio and go with him. Lugud remains steadfast in her love for and loyalty to her husband.

Domicio dies and wakes up to find out that he is only dreaming.

Curiously, the plot of his corrido is partly similar to the plot of "The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe" by C.S. Lewis. Here, the four children -- Lucy, Edmund, Peter, and Susan -- enter a wardrobe from where they are instantly transported to the charming land of Narnia. The foursome, together with the lion Aslan, liberate Narnia from eternal winter, a condition caused by the wicked White Witch. (This was first published in 1950.)

In the corrido (published in 1915), a certain blacksmith, who believes in Domicio's moral uprightness, persuades him to fight and subdue the devil who lives at the bottom of a deep well. He ties a rope around Domicio's waist and slowly lowers him, but at the middle of the well, the rope snaps. Domicio falls into a magical world where, as I said, he liberates the three goddesses.

The blacksmith calls Domicio without receiving any response. He runs to a church to pray and then comes back hurriedly, but only to find out that the well has been covered.

The stanza that mentions this is where the word "casap" is found, a datum that I called attention to in my column on the Kapampangan concept of "sap": Canitang talaga miuman yang milapat / Itang batung mabie a sacdal qñg bayat / Aguiang macanian man canitang quebucas / Panaya 'neng maus ing cuba nang casap.

The word "rugu" appears once, that is, in the stanza where the diosa ning Sintingan is leaving Domicio behind: Uling ing carroza binang masalusu / Inia y Domicio tinagal yang lalu / At gugulisac na manaya ca rugu / Malagung guinu cu ituqui mu cu pu.

This corrido has 331 stanzas, each one with four lines. Conspicuously absent are the words "Cristo," "Jesus," and "biblia." Appearing once are "alcoran," "derviche," and "febo." Incidentally, "febo" (sun) also appears in the "Florante at Laura" of Balagtas, who spells it with a "p" (pebo).

The underlying message of this corrido is moral integrity. Domicio never allowed his material poverty to lead him to commit any act of dishonesty or any other evil act. And the Diosa ning Lugud was the incarnation of genuine love.

This narrative uses the Kapampangan language in an artistic way, but its content is not about the Kapampangans. It is about Spaniards and Persians. This was a period in the history of Pampanga when the Kapampangans did not seem to be sufficiently interested in or aware of their identity and psyche. The language was there as a container (caban), but the kamalayang kapampangan (the singsing) was not there. Meuala ya iti, eku kamalayan.