Chapter 5

Now when the man arrived at the girl's house the people were all sitting on the floor eating periwinkle, and as they sucked the meat out of the shell, they nodded their heads. The man, looking in at the door, saw them nod, and he thought they were nodding at him. So he did not tell them his errand, but returned quickly to the boy's parents and told them that all the people at the girl's house were favorable to the union.

Siagon's parents were very much pleased that their proposal had been so kindly received, and immediately prepared to go to the girl's house to arrange for the wedding.

Finally all was ready and they started for her house, carrying with them as presents for her parents two carabao, two horses, two cows, four iron kettles, sixteen jars of basi, two blankets, and two little pigs.

The surprise of the girl's people knew no bounds when they saw all this coming to their house, for they had not even thought of Siagon marrying their daughter. [87]

The Boy who Became a Stone

_Tinguian_

One day a little boy named Elonen sat out in the yard making a bird snare, and as he worked, a little bird called to him: "Tik-tik-lo-den" (come and catch me).

"I am making a snare for you," said the boy; but the bird continued to call until the snare was finished.

Then Elonen ran and threw the snare over the bird and caught it, and he put it in a jar in his house while he went with the other boys to swim.

While he was away, his grandmother grew hungry, so she ate the bird, and when Elonen returned and found that his bird was gone, he was so sad that he wished he might go away and never come back. He went out into the forest and walked a long distance, until finally he came to a big stone and said: "Stone, open your mouth and eat me." And the stone opened its mouth and swallowed the boy.

When his grandmother missed the boy, she went out and looked everywhere, hoping to find him. Finally she passed near the stone and it cried out, "Here he is." Then the old woman tried to open the stone but she could not, so she called the horses to come and help her. They came and kicked it, but it would not break. Then she called the carabao and they hooked it, but they only broke their horns. She called the chickens, which pecked it, and the thunder, which shook it, but nothing could open it, and she had to go home without the boy.

The Turtle and the Lizard

_Tinguian_

A turtle and a big lizard once went to the field of Gotgotapa to steal ginger, [88] When they reached the place the turtle said to the lizard:

"We must be very still or the man will hear us and come out."

But as soon as the lizard tasted the ginger he was so pleased that he said:

"The ginger of Gotgotapa is very good."

"Be still," said the turtle; but the lizard paid no attention to the warning, and called louder than ever:

"The ginger of Gotgotapa is very good."

Again and again he cried out, until finally the man heard him and came out of the house to catch the robbers.

The turtle could not run fast, so he lay very still, and the man did not see him. But the lizard ran and the man chased him. When they were out of sight, the turtle went into the house and hid under a cocoanut shell upon which the man used to sit. [89]

The man ran after the lizard for a long distance, but he could not catch him. After a while he came back to the house and sat down on the shell.

By and by, the turtle called, "Kook." The man jumped up and looked all around. Unable to tell where the noise came from, he sat down again,

A second time the turtle called, and this time the man looked everywhere in the house except under the shell, but could not find the turtle. Again and again the turtle called, and finally the man, realizing that all his attempts were unsuccessful, grew so excited that he died.

Then the turtle ran out of the house, and he had not gone far before he met the lizard again. They walked along together until they saw some honey in a tree, and the turtle said:

"I will go first and get some of the honey."

The lizard would not wait, but ran ahead, and when he seized the honey, the bees came out and stung him. So he ran back to the turtle for help.

After a while they came to a bird snare, and the turtle said:

"That is the silver wire that my grandfather wore about his neck."

Then the lizard ran fast to get it first, but he was caught in the snare and was held until the man came and killed him. Then the wise turtle went on alone.

The Man with the Cocoanuts

_Tinguian_

One day a man who had been to gather his cocoanuts loaded his horse heavily with the fruit. On the way home he _met_ a boy whom he asked how long it would take to reach the house.

"If you go slowly," said the boy, looking at the load on the horse, "you will arrive very soon; but if you go fast, it will take you all day."

The man could not believe this strange speech, so he hurried his horse. But the cocoanuts fell off and he had to stop to pick them up. Then he hurried his horse all the more to make up for lost time, but the cocoanuts fell off again. Many times he did this, and it was night when he reached home. [90]

The Carabao and the Shell

_Tinguian_

One very hot day, when a carabao went into the river to bathe, he met a shell and they began talking together.

"You are very slow," said the carabao to the shell.

"Oh, no," replied the shell. "I can beat you in a race."

"Then let us try and see," said the carabao.

So they went out on the bank and started to run.

After the carabao had gone a long distance he stopped and called, "Shell!"

And another shell lying by the river answered, "Here I am!"

Then the carabao, thinking that it was the same shell with which he was racing, ran on.

By and by he stopped again and called, "Shell!"

Again another shell answered, "Here I am!"

The carabao was surprised that the shell could keep up with him. But he ran on and on, and every time he stopped to call, another shell answered him. But he was determined that the shell should not beat him, so he ran until he dropped dead. [91]

The Alligator's Fruit

_Tinguian_

Two women went to gather some wild fruit from a vine which belonged to the alligator.

"You must be careful not to throw the rind with your teeth marks on it where the alligator can see it," said one of the women to the other as they sat eating the fruit.

But the other woman paid no attention and threw the rind showing teeth marks into the river, where the alligator saw it.

Thus he knew at once who had taken his fruit, and he was very angry. He went to the house of the woman and called to the people:

"Bring out the woman that I may eat her, for she has eaten my fruit"

"Very well," answered the people. "But sit down and wait a little while."

Then they put the iron soil-turner into the fire, and when it was red hot, they took it to the door and said to the alligator:

"Here, eat this first."

He opened his mouth, and they pushed the red hot iron down his throat, and he died.

Dogedog

_Tinguian_

Dogedog had always been very lazy, and now that his father and mother were dead and he had no one to care for him, he lived very poorly. He had little to eat. His house was old and small and so poor that it had not even a floor. Still he would rather sit all day and idle away his time than to work and have more things.

One day, however, when the rainy season was near at hand, Dogedog began thinking how cold he would be when the storms came, and he felt so sorry for himself that he decided to make a floor in his house.

Wrapping some rice in a banana leaf for his dinner, he took his long knife and went to the forest to cut some bamboo. He hung the bundle of rice in a tree until he should need it; but while he was working a cat came and ate it. When the hungry man came for his dinner, there was none left. Dogedog went back to his miserable little house which looked forlorn to him even, now that he had decided to have a floor.

The next day he went again to the forest and hung his rice in the tree as he did before, but again the cat came and ate it. So the man had to go home without any dinner.

The third day he took the rice, but this time he fixed a trap in the tree, and when the cat came it was caught.

"Now I have you!" cried the man when he found the cat; "and I shall kill you for stealing my rice."

"Oh, do not kill me," pleaded the cat, "and I will be of some use to you."

So Dogedog decided to spare the cat's life, and he took it home and tied it near the door to guard the house.

Some time later when he went to look at it, he was very much surprised to find that it had become a cock.

"Now I can go to the cock-fight at Magsingal," cried the man. And he was very happy, for he had much rather do that than work.

Thinking no more of getting wood for his floor, he started out at once for Magsingal with the cock under his arm. As he was crossing a river he met an alligator which called out to him:

"Where are you going, Dogedog?"

"To the cock-fight at Magsingal," replied the man as he fondly stroked the rooster.

"Wait, and I will go with you," said the alligator; and he drew himself out of the water.

The two walking along together soon entered a forest where they met a deer and it asked:

"Where are you going, Dogedog?"

"To the cock-fight at Magsingal," said the man.

"Wait and I will go with you," said the deer; and he also joined them.

By and by they met a mound of earth that had been raised by the ants, and they would have passed without noticing it had it not inquired:

"Where are you going, Dogedog?"

"To the cock-fight at Magsingal," said the man once more; and the mound of earth joined them.

The company then hurried on, and just as they were leaving the forest, they passed a big tree in which was a monkey.

"Where are you going, Dogedog?" shrieked the monkey. And without waiting for an answer he scrambled down the tree and followed them.

As the party walked along they talked together, and the alligator said to Dogedog:

"If any man wants to dive into the water, I can stay under longer than he."

Then the deer, not to be outdone, said:

"If any man wants to run, I can run faster."

The mound of earth, anxious to show its strength, said:

"If any man wants to wrestle, I can beat him."

And the monkey said:

"If any man wants to climb, I can go higher."

They reached Magsingal in good time and the people were ready for the fight to begin. When Dogedog put his rooster, which had been a cat, into the pit, it killed the other cock at once, for it used its claws like a cat.

The people brought more roosters and wagered much money, but Dogedog's cock killed all the others until there was not one left in Magsingal, and Dogedog won much money. Then they went outside the town and brought all the cocks they could find, but not one could win over that of Dogedog.

When the cocks were all dead, the people wanted some other sport, so they brought a man who could stay under water for a long time, and Dogedog made him compete with the alligator. But after a while the man had to come up first Then they brought a swift runner and he raced with the deer, but the man was left far behind. Next they looked around until they found a very large man who was willing to contend with the mound of earth, but after a hard struggle the man was thrown.

Finally they brought a man who could climb higher than anyone else, but the monkey went far above him, and he had to give up.

All these contests had brought much money to Dogedog, and now he had to buy two horses to carry his sacks of silver. As soon as he reached home, he bought the house of a very rich man and went to live in it. And he was very happy, for he did not have to work any more. [92]

IGOROT

Introduction

Three or four days' journey to the south and east of the Tinguian live the Igorot; but so difficult are the trails over the mountains and through the swift rivers that there is little intercourse between the two tribes, consequently each believes the other a people to be feared. Salt, weapons, and jars are sometimes exchanged, but the customs and beliefs are not similar. Each group leads its own life and is governed by its own spirits.

From a distance an Igorot village looks like a group of haystacks nestling among the hills; but viewed more closely, it is found to consist of houses whose board sides are almost hidden by the overhanging grass roofs. The upper part of the house is used as a storehouse, while below, on a ground floor, the family cooks and eats. In one end there is a tiny boxlike bedroom where the father, mother, and small children sleep. After they are two or three years old the girls spend the night in a dormitory, while the boys sleep in the men's council house.

These people have splendid terraced fields on the mountain sides where water is brought from the streams through troughs and ditches. Here both men and women are busy early and late cultivating the rice, sweet potatoes, and small vegetables on which they live. The men are head-hunters and ardent warriors, each village demanding a head in payment for any taken by a hostile village.

Watching over the Igorot, controlling the winds and the rains, and providing good crops and health for the people, is the Great Spirit, Lumawig, who lives in the sky. He is believed to have created the Igorot and even to have lived among them on the earth. He no longer visits them in person, they say, but each month they perform a ceremony at which they pray to him to protect them and entreat him to favor them with health and good crops.

The following tales are told by the fathers and mothers to the children to teach them how things came to be as they are.

The Creation

_Igorot_

In the beginning there were no people on the earth. Lumawig, [93] the Great Spirit, came down from the sky and cut many reeds. [94] He divided these into pairs which he placed in different parts of the world, and then he said to them, "You must speak." Immediately the reeds became people, and in each place was a man and a woman who could talk, but the language of each couple differed from that of the others.

Then Lumawig commanded each man and woman to marry, which they did. By and by there were many children, all speaking the same language as their parents. These, in turn, married and had many children. In this way there came to be many people on the earth.

Now Lumawig saw that there were several things which the people on the earth needed to use, so he set to work to supply them. He created salt, and told the inhabitants of one place to boil it down and sell it to their neighbors. But these people could not understand the directions of the Great Spirit, and the next time he visited them, they had not touched the salt.

Then he took it away from them and gave it to the people of a place called Mayinit. [95] These did as he directed, and because of this he told them that they should always be owners of the salt, and that the other peoples must buy of them.

Then Lumawig went to the people of Bontoc and told them to get clay and make pots. They got the clay, but they did not understand the moulding, and the jars were not well shaped. Because of their failure, Lumawig told them that they would always have to buy their jars, and he removed the pottery to Samoki. [96] When he told the people there what to do, they did just as he said, and their jars were well shaped and beautiful. Then the Great Spirit saw that they were fit owners of the pottery, and he told them that they should always make many jars to sell.

In this way Lumawig taught the people and brought to them all the things which they now have.

The Flood Story

_Igorot_

Once upon a time, when the world was flat and there were no mountains, there lived two brothers, sons of Lumawig, the Great Spirit. The brothers were fond of hunting, and since no mountains had formed there was no good place to catch wild pig and deer, and the older brother said:

"Let us cause water to flow over all the world and cover it, and then mountains will rise up." [97]

So they caused water to flow over all the earth, and when it was covered they took the head-basket [98] of the town and set it for a trap. The brothers were very much pleased when they went to look at their trap, for they had caught not only many wild pigs and deer but also many people.

Now Lumawig looked down from his place in the sky and saw that his sons had flooded the earth and that in all the world there was just one spot which was not covered. And he saw that all the people in the world had been drowned except one brother and sister who lived in Pokis.

Then Lumawig descended, and he called to the boy and girl, saying:

"Oh, you are still alive."

"Yes," answered the boy, "we are still alive, but we are very cold."

So Lumawig commanded his dog and deer to get fire [99] for the boy and girl. The dog and the deer swam quickly away, but though Lumawig waited a long time they did not return, and all the time the boy and girl were growing colder.

Finally Lumawig himself went after the dog and the deer, and when he reached them he said:

"Why are you so long in bringing the fire to Pokis? Get ready and come quickly while I watch you, for the boy and girl are very cold."

Then the dog and the deer took the fire and started to swim through the flood, but when they had gone only a little way the fire was put out.

Lumawig commanded them to get more fire and they did so, but they swam only a little way again when that of the deer went out, and that of the dog would have been extinguished also had not Lumawig gone quickly to him and taken it.

As soon as Lumawig reached Pokis he built a big fire which warmed the brother and sister; and the water evaporated so that the world was as it was before, except that now there were mountains. The brother and sister married and had children, and thus there came to be many people on the earth.

Lumawig on Earth

_Igorot_

One day when Lumawig, [100] the Great Spirit, looked down from his place in the sky he saw two sisters gathering beans. And he decided to go down to visit them. When he arrived at the place he asked them what they were doing. The younger, whose name was Fukan, answered:

"We are gathering beans, but it takes a long time to get enough, for my sister wants to go bathing all the time."

Then Lumawig said to the older sister:

"Hand me a single pod of the beans."

And when she had given it to him, he shelled it into the basket and immediately the basket was full. [101] The younger sister laughed at this, and Lumawig said to her:

"Give me another pod and another basket."

She did so, and when he had shelled the pod, that basket was full also. Then he said to the younger sister:

"Go home and get three more baskets."

She went home, but when she asked for three more baskets her mother said that the beans were few and she could not need so many. Then Fukan told her of the young man who could fill a basket from one pod of beans, and the father, who heard her story, said:

"Go bring the young man here, for I think he must be a god."

So Fukan took the three baskets back to Lumawig, and when he had filled them as he did the other two, he helped the girls carry them to the house. As they reached their home, he stopped outside to cool himself, but the father called to him and he went up into the house and asked for some water. The father brought him a cocoanut shell full, and before drinking Lumawig looked at it and said:

"If I stay here with you, I shall become very strong."

The next morning Lumawig asked to see their chickens, and when they opened the chicken-coop out came a hen and many little chicks. "Are these all of your chickens?" asked Lumawig; and the father assured him that they were all. He then bade them bring rice meal that he might feed them, and as the chickens ate they all grew rapidly till they were cocks and hens.

Next Lumawig asked how many pigs they had, and the father replied that they had one with some little ones. Then Lumawig bade them fill a pail with sweet potato leaves and he fed the pigs. And as they ate they also grew to full size.

The father was so pleased with all these things that he offered his elder daughter to Lumawig for a wife. But the Great Spirit said he preferred to marry the younger; so that was arranged. Now when his brother-in-law learned that Lumawig desired a feast at his wedding, he was very angry and said:

"Where would you get food for your wedding feast? There is no rice, nor beef, nor pork, nor chicken,"

But Lumawig only answered, "I shall provide our wedding feast."

In the morning they all set out for Lanao, for Lumawig did not care to stay any longer in the house with his brother-in-law. As soon as they arrived he sent out for some tree trunks, but the trees that the people brought in were so small that Lumawig himself went to the forest and cut two large pine trees which he hurled to Lanao.

When the people had built a fire of the trees he commanded them to bring ten kettles filled with water. Soon the water was boiling hot and the brother-in-law laughed and said:

"Where is your rice? You have the boiling water, but you do not seem to think of the rice."

In answer to this Lumawig took a small basket of rice and passed it over five kettles and they were full. Then he called "Yishtjau," and some deer came running out of the forest. These were not what he wanted, however, so he called again and some pigs came. He told the people that they were each to catch one and for his brother-in-law he selected the largest and best.

They all set out in pursuit of the pigs and the others quickly caught theirs, but though the brother-in-law chased his until he was very tired and hot he could not catch it Lumawig laughed at him and said:

"You chase that pig until he is thin and still you cannot catch it, though all the others have theirs."

Thereupon he grasped the hind legs of the pig and lifted it. All the people laughed and the brother-in-law said:

"Of course you can catch it, because I chased it until it was tired."

Lumawig then handed it to him and said, "Here, you carry it." But no sooner had the brother-in-law put it over his shoulder than it cut loose and ran away.

"Why did you let it go?" asked Lumawig. "Do you care nothing for it, even after I caught it for you? Catch it again and bring it here."

So the brother-in-law started out again, and he chased it up stream and down, but he could not catch it. Finally Lumawig reached down and picked up the pig and carried it to the place where the others were cooking.

After they had all eaten and drunk and made their offerings to the spirits, Lumawig said:

"Come, let us go to the mountain to consult the omen concerning the northern tribes."

So they consulted the omen, but it was not favorable, and they were starting home when the brother-in-law asked Lumawig to create some water, as the people were hot and thirsty.

"Why do you not create water, Lumawig?" he repeated as Lumawig paid no attention to him. "You care nothing that the people are thirsty and in need of drink."

Then they quarreled and were very angry and Lumawig said to the people, "Let us sit down and rest."

While they rested, Lumawig struck the rock with his spear and water came out. [102] The brother-in-law jumped up to get a drink first, but Lumawig held him back and said he must be the last to drink. So they all drank, and when they had finished, the brother-in-law stepped up, but Lumawig gave him a push which sent him into the rock and water came from his body.

"You must stay there," said Lumawig, "because you have troubled me a great deal." And they went home, leaving him in the rock.