The people were very grateful to him, and promised to do anything he should ask of them.  Before he left for the sky, they told him that they were very unhappy living on the great earth all alone, so he told them to save all the hair from their heads and the dry skin from their bodies and the next time he came he would make them some companions.  And in this way there came to be a great many people on the earth.

In the Beginning

Bilaan (Mindanao)

In the beginning there were four beings, [131] and they lived on an island no larger than a hat.  On this island there were no trees or grass or any other living thing besides these four people and one bird. [132] One day they sent this bird out across the waters to see what he could find, and when he returned he brought some earth, a piece of rattan, and some fruit.

Melu, the greatest of the four, took the soil and shaped it and beat it with a paddle in the same manner in which a woman shapes pots of clay, and when he finished he had made the earth.  Then he planted the seeds from the fruit, and they grew until there was much rattan and many trees bearing fruit.

The four beings watched the growth for a long time and were well pleased with the work, but finally Melu said: 

“Of what use is this earth and all the rattan and fruit if there are no people?”

And the others replied, “Let us make some people out of wax.”

So they took some wax and worked long, fashioning it into forms, but when they brought them to the fire the wax melted, and they saw that men could not be made in that way.

Next they decided to try to use dirt in making people, and Melu and one of his companions began working on that.  All went well till they were ready to make the noses.  The companion, who was working on that part, put them on upside down.  Melu told him that the people would drown if he left them that way, but he refused to change them.

When his back was turned, however, Melu seized the noses, one by one, and turned them as they now are.  But he was in such a hurry that he pressed his finger at the root, and it left a mark in the soft clay which you can still see on the faces of people.

The Children of the Limokon [133]

Mandaya (Mindanao)

In the very early days before there were any people on the earth, the limokon (a kind of dove) [134] were very powerful and could talk like men though they looked like birds.  One limokon laid two eggs, one at the mouth of the Mayo River and one farther up its course.  After some time these eggs hatched, and the one at the mouth of the river became a man, while the other became a woman.

The man lived alone on the bank of the river for a long time, but he was very lonely and wished many times for a companion.  One day when he was crossing the river something was swept against his legs with such force that it nearly caused him to drown.  On examining it, he found that it was a hair, and he determined to go up the river and find whence it came.  He traveled up the stream, looking on both banks, until finally he found the woman, and he was very happy to think that at last he could have a companion.