Monday, August 23, 2010

Philippine Mythology - Creation Stories - Tausog Version

The Creation


(Tausug)


One day, in Paradise, God decided that He would make the ruler of the Earth strong and steadfast. So he said to the angels, "Let us mold Man out of earth." The angels immediately went down to fetch some soil, but the devils, which were close to the soil, did not allow them to take it, for they were jealous of the angels. So the angels came rushing back to God. God saw that the devils could be placated by giving them something that He also gave His angels, and so He agreed to also give the devils revelation of everything He would do. Thus appeased, the devils helped the angels gather soil to create Man.

But Man made out of pure earth crumbled. So God mixed water with the soil, and the water held the scattering fragments together somewhat, but then the mixture would not dry. God therefore summoned the wind to dry the Man. And when the Man was dried, God saw that the Man was stiff, that he could not move. God thus placed fire inside Man. It was so that Man, in the end, was composed of the four elements of the Earth: earth, water, air and fire.

There were some problems with this marvelous creature, though. When Man sneezed, his neck stretched out. God told his angels (and the devils, too) that such a malady would be countered if the Man would say "God bless me" whenever he sneezed. The devils saw that they could play tricks on Man, and so, after having the simple fault of neck-stretching fixed, they created another one. The made it so that Man’s jaw dropped so far down that it touched his chest whenever he yawned. Presently, God revealed that this prank would be countered if Man would say "God preserve me from the devils" whenever he yawned. Thus the devils’ joke was stifled.

But Man was lonely. So God put him to sleep and took a piece of his rib, and created Woman. He blessed them and what would be the fruits of their beautiful union.

The first children Man and Woman had were a white boy and a white girl. Then they had a black boy and a black girl. The white boy and the white girl married and left Paradise, to live on the Earth on their own. The black boy and the black girl also married and lived on the Earth on their own. So the Earth became populated with whites and blacks first.

Life was well for Man and Woman in Paradise. But one day a stranger there came to Woman, offering her a fruit. But Woman was already full. She took the fruit anyway and ate it. When Man came along, she urged him to eat it, too. And because the two of them had been full to start with, their stomachs rebelled and they started urinating and defecating in Paradise. This caused God to throw them out, and to curse their entire line from ever coming back. It has thus been established that the real source of all our suffering is Woman’s gluttony. Until now our two immortal forebears have not been found. 

By Jayson with No comments

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