Swords and sails
Ben stumbled across the best kids book ever, especially good for Kali geeks!
Swords and sails in the philippines was written by Phyllis Ayer Sowers and illustrated by Margaret Ayer, in 1944. It tells the story of Abdul, a young moro boy, during the Japanese invasion. It starts with the line: " Abdul would almost have given his knife to know what was going on in the jungle across the lagoon. " His knife is the most important thing in the world to him, and he gets captured, tortured, catches fire, and still he just carries on without a complaint. Abdul is helluva tough!
"Because he acted like an enemy, Abdul was pleased to see the white man's wrist was dripping with blood from a nasty cut made by the pirate knife." Yeah, they don't make books like this anymore. From what I've read about the period, it seems like a pretty well researched book too. Abdul carries an Anting-anting and there are a few references to traditional weapons too.
More photos on my flickr page:
leonieo (check the moro warrior tag if the images are no longer on the front page)
