one day the moon, who was a woman named kabigat, sat out in the yard making a large copper pot. the copper was still soft and pliable like clay, and the woman squatted on the ground with the heavy pot against her knees while she patted and shaped it.14
now while she was working a son of chal-chal, the sun, came by and stopped to watch her mould the form. against the inside of the jar she pressed a stone, while on the outside with a wooden paddle dripping with water she pounded and slapped until she had worked down the bulges and formed a smooth surface.
the boy was greatly interested in seeing the jar grow larger, more beautiful, and smoother with each stroke, and he stood still for some time. suddenly the moon looked up and saw him watching her. instantly she struck him with her paddle, cutting off his head.
now the sun was not near, but he knew as soon as [112]the moon had cut off his son’s head. and hurrying to the spot, he put the boy’s head back on, and he was alive again.
then the sun said to the moon, “you cut off my son’s head, and because you did this ever after on the earth people will cut off each other’s heads.” [113]
the serpent eagle15
igorot
once there lived two boys whose mother sent them every day to the forest to get wood16 for her fires. each morning, as they started out, she gave them some food for their trip, but it was always poor and there was little of it, and she would say:
“the wood that you brought yesterday was so poor that i cannot give you much to eat today.”
the boys tried very hard to please her, but if they brought nice pine wood she scolded them, and if they brought large dry reeds she said:
“these are no good for my fire, for they leave too much ashes in the house.”
try as they would, they failed to satisfy her; and their bodies grew very thin from working hard all day and from want of enough to eat.
one morning when they left for the mountains the mother gave them a bit of dog meat to eat, and the boys were very sad. when they reached the forest one of them said: [114]
“you wait here while i climb the tree and cut off some branches.”
type of mandaya tree house
type of mandaya tree house
he went up the tree and soon called down, “here is some wood,” and the bones of his arm dropped to the ground.
“oh,” cried his brother, “it is your arm!”
“here is some more wood,” cried the other, and the bones of the other arm dropped to the ground.
then he called again, and the bones of his leg fell, then those of his other leg, and so on till all the bones of his body lay on the ground.
“take these home,” he said, “and tell the woman that here is her wood; she only wanted my bones.”
the younger boy was very sad, for he was alone, and there was no one to go down the mountain with him. he gathered up the bundle of wood, wondering meanwhile what he should do, but just as he finished a serpent eagle called down from the tree tops:
“i will go with you, brother.”
so the boy put the bundle of wood on his shoulder, and as he was going down the mountain, his brother, who was now a serpent eagle, flew over his head. when he reached the house, he put down the bundle and said to his mother:
“here is your wood.”
when she looked at it she was very much frightened and ran out of the house.
then the serpent eagle circled round and round above her head and called:
“quiukok! quiukok! quiukok! i do not need your food any more.”
