12 Tikbalang

Tikbalang or tigbalang (demon horse) is a half-man and half-horse creature. It has a horse's head, the body of a human but with the feet of the horse. It travels at night to **** female mortals. The raped women will then give birth to more tikbalang. They are also believed to cause travelers to lose their way particularly in mountainous or forest areas.[15]Tikbalang are very playful with people, and they usually make a person imagine things that aren't real. Sometimes a tikbalang will drive a person crazy. It is said that a person can render the Tikbalang's tricks futile somehow by wearing their shirt inside out. One can avoid the tikbalang all together by just keeping quiet or by asking politely to pass it by. The tikbalang is not particularly dangerous to humans though and it can even be tamed. Legends say that when rain falls while the sun is shining, a pair of tikbalang are being wed. Since horses only arrived in the Philippine archipelago during the Spanish colonization (thus, the borrowed term 'kabayo'), there is a theory that the image of a half-horse, half-man creature was propagated by the conquistadors to keep the natives afraid of the night. There are stories claiming that the tikbalang are actually half-bird, half-man creatures, much like the Japanese tengu. The Tikbalang (/ˈtikbaˌlaŋ/) (also Tigbalang, Tigbalan, Tikbalan, Tigbolan, or Werehorse) is a creature of Philippine folklore said to lurk in the mountains and forests of the Philippines. It is a tall, bony humanoid creature with the head and hooves of a horse and disproportionately long limbs, to the point that its knees reach above its head when it squats down.[1] In some versions it is a transformation of an aborted fetus sent to earth from limbo.

One of the most popular and enduring mythical creatures in Filipino lore. The tikbalang is said to be a half human, half horse creature in the mold of the Greek Pan, that is, having an upper body of a human and lower limbs of a horse (check out my original drawing above ^). There are two known versions of the creature's appearance: the more popular and oft portrayed version has the tikbalang with the head of a horse while the lesser known version has it sporting a human visage. Both versions however agree that the tikbalang has unusually long, powerful legs that resemble the rear quarter of a horse, hooves and all.

Legend has it that whoever can ride the tikbalang and pluck the golden hair from its nape can tame the beast and make it a willing slave. In its element however, the tikbalang, powerful as it is ,does not hurt or kill people. At worst, it leads people astray and plays mischievous tricks on their senses.

As far as I know, the word tikbalang is universally understood throughout the Philippines although there might be other regional variations of its name that I don't know of. As for the etymology of the word, I'm not that sure, really. In tagalog, a balang is a locust. Of course, we all know that locusts have relatively long hind legs so I'm wondering if this has got something to do with the portrayal of the tikbalang as hunched over with legs folded, knees taller than its shoulders. It would sure look like an oversized locust somehow.