Plot

King Fernando and his wife Queen Valeriana rule the Kingdom of Berbanya. They have three children:
Don Pedro, Don Diego, and Don Juan. One night, King Fernando dreams of Don Juan being murdered by
two traitors (which would turn out to be his two older sons), and was so overcome with fright and
became so severely depressed that he would not even eat nor rest. Due to that, He became ill and none
of his constituents are able to cure him. An old doctor advises that the Ibong Adarna, a mythical bird,
would be the only creature that could restore his health by its marvelous songs. He initially sends out
Don Pedro to look for the Ibong Adarna. After three months of wandering through the forests and
thickets, Don Pedro arrives at a golden tree, known as Piedras Platas. At the foot of the tree, he fell
down due to hunger and thirst; But what he does not know is that the golden tree is where the Ibong
Adarna roosts for the night. By nightfall, the bird flew into the air and sung the first of its seven songs; its
melody is so softly sweet that everyone, including Don Pedro, is lulled into a profound sleep. After
emitting its seventh song of the night, the bird excretes droppings on the sleeping prince that turned
him into stone.

With the disappearance of Don Pedro, King Fernando then sends his second son Don Diego to search for
the bird. Don Diego undergoes the same hardships (but ventures for five months, two more than Don
Pedro) and meets the same fate as his older brother. After three whole years without hearing any more
news, Don Juan, the youngest and most favored son is (unwillingly, by King Fernando) sent forth also.
Don Juan, however, has the fortune to meet on his way an old hermit who is impressed by the virtues
and good manners of the young prince. The old hermit, knowing the mission on which Don Juan
embarks, puts him on guard against the treacheries of the bird.

The hermit told Don Juan of the golden tree where the famed bird roosts every night after singing seven
songs, warning of the spells in its seven songs which lulls the hearer to sleep and the excretion which
petrifies anyone. He provides Don Juan with a knife and calamansi lemons,[3] both of which Juan must
use to cut seven wounds on his hands and distill them into the juice of the fruits to create pain that will
prevent him from being lulled by the seven songs. The hermit then gave Juan a golden rope that the
prince must use to bind the bird's legs while it is asleep and place it inside a cage. Before Juan leaves,
the hermit provides him with a bucket which he must use to scoop water from a well near the tree and
pour it over his two petrified brothers to restore them. Don Juan did as was bidden and soon finds
himself in possession of the desired bird and on his way back to his home country with his two brothers,
Don Pedro and Don Diego. Don Juan's venture in search of the Ibong Adarna lasts for four months in
total.

However, on the way back, with his brothers and the Ibong Adarna in tow, Don Juan's older brothers
grow envious; after all, Don Juan has obtained what they were not able to. Therefore, the two older
brothers conspired between themselves to do away with him. Don Pedro suggested that they should kill
him, but Don Diego, who was less brutal, convinced Pedro that it was sufficient to beat him, which they
did. After beating Don Juan to whom they owed their lives, they left him unconscious in the middle of
the road as the two brothers continued on their way to the palace. Once in the palace, they convinced
the king that they never knew what happened to Don Juan, but the bird was disheveled and did not sing
for it awaits Don Juan—its true captor. Don Juan woke eventually, but could not move due to the pain
caused by the beating. He prayed fervently for the health of the king and the forgiveness of God to his
brothers. The same hermit who gave him advice before catching the bird arrives and heals him
magically. Upon return to the palace, everyone was happy except his two brothers, worried that Don
Juan might tell the king what had happened. The bird then started to sing. Its enchanted song revealed
to the king that Don Pedro and Don Diego beat up Don Juan and that he was the true captor of the bird.

The two were sentenced to being cut off from the royalty and banished, but they were reprieved due to
Don Juan being forgiving and asking to give them another chance.

They were given one, however, any consequent fault would mean death. They enjoyed the bird, they did
not treat it as a pet, but rather like a person. So they made the three princes watch over the bird for 3
hours each every day. Don Pedro wanted revenge, so he conspired again and forced Don Diego to go on
board with it yet again. They planned to trick Don Juan into thinking that under his watch, the bird
escaped. They successfully did it and Don Juan set out to find the bird before the king wakes up. The
king finds the bird missing and so is Don Juan, so he asked the two to find the bird and their brother.

They found Don Juan at Mt. Armenia and decide to settle there, on the beautiful mountain. They lived
happily forgetting trouble from the past. They find a well and decide to explore the inside, arguing about
who goes first. They settle for the idea that Pedro, the eldest, be the first to descend by means of a cord
lowered by the two brothers who remain above; but he had scarcely gone a third of the way when he
feels afraid and gives the sign for his two brothers to pull him out of the well. Presently, Diego was let
down but he too could not go farther down than half of the way. When it was Juan's turn to go he
allowed himself to be let down to the lowest depths of the cistern. There the prince discovered two
enchanted palaces, the first being occupied by Princess Juana who informed him she was being held
prisoner by a giant, and the second by Princess Leonora, also the prisoner of a large seven-headed
serpent. After killing the giant and the serpent, the prince tugged on the cord and soon came up to the
surface of the earth with the two captive princesses, whom his two brothers soon wanted to take away
from him. Diego desired Princess Juana for himself and Pedro wanted Princess Leonora. Before the
parting, however, Leonora discovered that she left her ring in the innermost recesses of the well. Juan
voluntarily offered to take it for her but when he was halfway down, the two brothers let go of the rope
he was descending causing him to fall to the bottom of the well. Not long after, wedding bells were rung
in the palace; Diego married Princess Juana. Before casting her lot with Prince Pedro, Princess Leonora
requested her marriage to him be delayed for a term of seven years because she might still have a
chance to unite with Don Juan.

Don Juan, thanks to Leonora's enchanted ring found in the well, could avail himself of the help of a wolf
which cured him of his wounds, fix his dislocations, and bring him to the medicinal waters of the Jordan,
and took him out of the well. Already torn between all hope of ever finding the Adarna, Don Juan
resolved to return to the Kingdom. But to his confusion, he was unable to find his way. No one could tell
him precisely which was the way that would lead him to the kingdom of his father. While sleeping under
a tree, the Adarna awakens him and convinces him to turn his back on Leonora because Maria Blanca,
the daughter of King Salermo in Reino de Los Cristales was better. He came to a hermit that consulted all
of the animals from the surrounding areas, but none of them could tell the prince the direction towards
Reino de Los Cristales. But the king of all these animals, a swiftly soaring eagle (real name Olicornio),
having compassion for his troubles, offered to take the prince to wherever he desired. After an epic
flight, the prince and the eagle came to a distant crystal lake, whose shores they landed to rest from
their long and tiresome flight. Then the eagle related to his companion the secrets of the crystal lake.
This was the bathing place where, in certain hours of the day, the three daughters of the most powerful
and most feared king of the surrounding regions used to dive into the water and swim; and for this
reason, it was not proper for the prince to commit any indiscretion if he desired to remain and see the
spectacle of the bath. Don Juan remained and when the hour of the bathing arrived he saw plunging
into the pure crystal water the figures of the three most beautiful princesses whom his sinful eyes had
ever seen. He then secretly hid and kept one of the princess's dresses. When the princess noticed the
theft, her two sisters had already gone. The prince hurriedly ran to her and on his knee begged her
pardon and placed at her feet her stolen dress and at the same time poured forth the most ardent and
tender professions of love. Pleased by his gentleness and gallant phrases, the princess also fell in love
with him; but she advised him that it would be better for him to leave before her father would come to
know of his intrusion. If he did not do so he would be converted into another piece of stone for the walls
of the enchanted palace in which they live, in the same way, that all the other suitors who aspired for
their hands had been transformed. On being informed of the adventure of the bold prince, the king sent
for him.

Don Juan, who would risk everything for the privilege of seeing his beloved, presented himself to the
king in spite of the princess' warning. The king, greatly impressed with the youth's tact and self-
possession, chose to give him a series of tests both gigantic and impossible for ordinary mortals. After
completing these trials the king was satisfied and offered Don Juan his daughter. However, the princess,
fearing that her father might resort to a new trick to foil their happiness, ordered the prince to direct
himself to the royal stables in order to take the best horse and have him ready for them to flee on that
same night. Unfortunately, the prince in his hurry, took the wrong horse and the king came immediately
went in pursuit of the fugitives. The king, riding the best horse, pursued them tenaciously but through
the use of cunning magic, the princess helped them to outrace the king.

When at last they found themselves safe and free, it did not take them long before they could reach the
portals of the Berbanian Kingdom. But the prince, alleging that he should have such preparations duly
made for entry into the royal palace as are appropriate for her category and dignity, left Doña Maria on
the way promising to return for her once he had informed the committee to receive her. Once in the
midst of the happiness of palace life, Don Juan soon forgot his profession of love to Doña Maria. He
became dazzled by the beauty of Princess Leonora who had been waiting for him during all the days of
his absence and he sought her hand in marriage while Doña Maria was impatiently waiting for his
return. When she came to know of the infidelity of Don Juan, the pilgrim princess made use of the
talisman which she always carried with her and adorned it with the most beautiful royal garments and
carried in a large coach drawn by eight sorrel-colored horses with four palfreys, she presented herself at
the door of the palace practically inviting herself to the royal wedding of Prince Juan and Princess
Leonora.

Out of respect for a so beautiful guest from foreign lands and on the occasion of the wedding itself,
there were celebrated tournaments, in one Doña Maria succeeded in inserting as one of the number
dance of a negrita and a negrito created from nothing through her marvelous talisman. In the dance the
negrita carried a whip in her hand and with it she pitilessly lashed her negrito partner, calling him Don
Juan, while she proceeded to remind of all the vicissitudes of fortune undergone by him at the side on
Doña Maria, the part which was played by the whipping negrito: the scene of the bath, the different
tests to which he had been subjected by her father, the flight of both that was full of accidents, and his
cruel abandonment of her on the way. Every crack of the whip which fell on the shoulders of the negrito
was felt by Don Juan as if it was him who was being whipped. After all this, Don Juan finally remembered
Doña Maria. He then gave Princess Leonora and the kingdom of Berbania to Prince Pedro while he and
Doña Maria returned to Reino de los Cristales. When they came back, they found the kingdom in a
mourning state, following the deaths of Doña Maria's father and sisters. The kingdom rejoiced when
they came back and crowned them their king and queen.