Philippine Folklore Stories eBook

This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 41 pages of information about Philippine Folklore Stories.

Philippine Folklore Stories eBook

This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 41 pages of information about Philippine Folklore Stories.

The first struck the copper Libulan and melted him into a ball.  The second struck the golden Liadlao and he too was melted.  The third bolt struck Licalibutan and his rocky body broke into many pieces and fell into the sea.  So huge was he that parts of his body stuck out above the water and became what is known as land.

In the meantime the gentle Lisuga had missed her brothers and started to look for them.  She went toward the sky, but as she approached the broken gates, Captan, blind with anger, struck her too with lightning, and her silver body broke into thousands of pieces.

Captan then came down from the sky and tore the sea apart, calling on Maguayan to come to him and accusing him of ordering the attack on the sky.  Soon Maguayan appeared and answered that he knew nothing of the plot as he had been asleep far down in the sea.  After a time he succeeded in calming the angry Captan.  Together they wept at the loss of their grandchildren, especially the gentle and beautiful Lisuga; but with all their power they could not restore the dead to life.  However, they gave to each body a beautiful light that will shine forever.

And so it was that golden Liadlao became the sun and copper Libulan the moon, while the thousands of pieces of silver Lisuga shine as the stars of heaven.  To wicked Licalibutan the gods gave no light, but resolved to make his body support a new race of people.  So Captan gave Maguayan a seed and he planted it on the land, which, as you will remember, was part of Licalibutan’s huge body.  Soon a bamboo tree grew up, and from the hollow of one of its branches a man and a woman came out.  The man’s name was Sicalac, and the woman was called Sicabay.  They were the parents of the human race.  Their first child was a son whom they called Libo; afterwards they had a daughter who was known as Saman.  Pandaguan was a younger son and he had a son called Arion.

Pandaguan was very clever and invented a trap to catch fish.  The very first thing he caught was a huge shark.  When he brought it to land, it looked so great and fierce that he thought it was surely a god, and he at once ordered his people to worship it.  Soon all gathered around and began to sing and pray to the shark.  Suddenly the sky and sea opened, and the gods came out and ordered Pandaguan to throw the shark back into the sea and to worship none but them.

All were afraid except Pandaguan.  He grew very bold and answered that the shark was as big as the gods, and that since he had been able to overpower it he would also be able to conquer the gods.  Then Captan, hearing this, struck Pandaguan with a small thunderbolt, for he did not wish to kill him but merely to teach him a lesson.  Then he and Maguayan decided to punish these people by scattering them over the earth, so they carried some to one land and some to another.  Many children were afterwards born, and thus the earth became inhabited in all parts.

Copyrights
Project Gutenberg
Philippine Folklore Stories from Project Gutenberg. Public domain.