There was a brave Igorot chief in the mountain Rancheria of Ynordenan named Mengal, who defeat the Spanish missionaries and tenaciously adhered to the pagan Gods of his ancestors. He was a mighty warrior, and the mountain tribe considered him there is (King). The missionaries, who had converted the lowland natives, verged him time and gain to accept Christian baptism, but he refused.
One day in January 1767, the intrepid Fr. Manuel Carripio, bravely ascended
the jangled wilderness of Ynordenan to confer personally with the proud Igorot
king. He was accompanied by eleven native guides. He carried with him no arms,
except his rosary, and prayer book.
To utter amazement of Ari Mengal and his fierce warriors, the piece loving, godly missionary calmly and fearlessly entered the rancheria and requested and audience with the tribal king.
Ari Mengal, himself a brave man, admired the missionary’s courage. Accordingly, he welcomed the latter and listened to the eloquent words.
After listening to the padres’ persuasive words, the fiery Mengal agreed to move down tho the lowland on one condition, that is, the site in Ajanas which he would choose as his home should be levelled by the people with the soil taken from his high land rancheria. This condition was accepted by Father Corripio.
For many days the loyal parishioners of the padre and the infidel warriors of Ari Mengal labored hard, transporting the soil of the highland rancheria to the lowland Ajanas and levelling the ground where the king house would be elected the folks of Ajanas worked willingly because the conversation of Mengal brought peace on the region, this fiery king was formerly the terror of the country sides.
The worked of levelling the ground having been terminated Ari Mengal, keeping his word, move down to Ajanas and lived their peacefully as a Christian chieftain. Thus, it came to pass that name of Ajanas was named Aritao-from the Isinai term “ari-tau” which means “Our King” in honor of king Mengal.
