“Now I am going away.  It is better for me to go to the sky where I can give the sign to the people when it is time to plant; and you must go to the water and become a fish.”

Soon after he went to the sky and became the constellation Magbangal; and ever since, when the people see these stars appear in the sky, they know that it is time to plant their rice.

How Children Became Monkeys

Bukidnon (Mindanao)

One day a mother took her two children with her when she went to color cloth.  Not far from her home was a mud hole [119] where the carabao liked to wallow, and to this hole she carried her cloth, some dye pots, and two shell spoons.

After she had put the cloth into the mud to let it take up the dark color, she built a fire and put over it a pot containing water and the leaves used for dyeing.  Then she sat down to wait for the water to boil, while the children played near by.

By and by when she went to stir the leaves with a shell spoon, some of the water splashed up and burned her hand, so that she jumped and cried out.  This amused the children and their laughter changed them into monkeys, and the spoons became their tails. [120]

The nails of the monkeys are still black, because while they were children they had helped their mother dye the cloth.

Bulanawan and Aguio

Bukidnon (Mindanao)

Langgona and his wife had twin boys named Bulanawan and Aguio.  One day, when they were about two years old, the mother took Bulanawan to the field with her when she went to pick cotton.  She spread the fiber she had gathered the day before on the ground to dry near the child, and while she was getting more a great wind suddenly arose which wound the cotton around the baby and carried him away.  Far away to a distant land the wind took Bulanawan, and in that place he grew up.  When he was a man, he became a great warrior. [121]

One day while Bulanawan and his wife were walking along the seashore, they sat down to rest on a large, flat rock, and Bulanawan fell asleep.  Now Aguio, the twin brother of Bulanawan, had become a great warrior also, and he went on a journey to this distant land, not knowing that his brother was there.  It happened that he was walking along the seashore in his war-dress [122] on this same day, and when he saw the woman sitting on the large, flat rock, he thought her very beautiful, and he determined to steal her.

As he drew near he asked her to give him some of her husband’s betel-nut to chew, and when she refused he went forward to fight her husband, not knowing they were brothers.  As soon as his wife awakened him Bulanawan sprang up, seized her, put her in the cuff of his sleeve, [123] and came forth ready to fight.  Aguio grew very angry at this, and they fought until their weapons were broken, and the earth trembled.