The Story of the Creation

Bilaan (Mindanao)

In the very beginning there lived a being so large that he cannot be compared with any known thing. His name was Melu,
and when he sat on the clouds, which were his home, he occupied all the space above. His teeth were pure gold, and
because he was very cleanly and continually rubbed himself with his hands, his skin became pure white. The dead skin
which he rubbed off his body was placed on one side in a pile, and by and by this pile became so large that he was annoyed
and set himself to consider what he could do with it.

Finally Melu decided to make the earth; so he worked very hard in putting the dead skin into shape, and when it was
finished he was so pleased with it that he determined to make two beings like himself, though smaller, to live on it.

Taking the remnants of the material left after making the earth he fashioned two men, but just as they were all finished
except their noses, Tau Tana from below the earth appeared and wanted to help him.

Melu did not wish any assistance, and a great argument ensued. Tau Tana finally won his point and made the noses which
he placed on the people upside down. When all was finished, Melu and Tau Tana whipped the forms until they moved. Then
Melu went to his home above the clouds, and Tau Tana returned to his place below the earth.

All went well until one day a great rain came, and the people on the earth nearly drowned from the water which ran off their
heads into their noses. Melu, from his place on the clouds, saw their danger, and he came quickly to earth and saved their
lives by turning their noses the other side up.

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.

The Creation Story (Tagalog Version)

When the world first began there was no land, but only the sea and the sky, and between them was a kite. One day the bird
which had nowhere to light grew tired of flying about, so she stirred up the sea until it threw its waters against the sky. The
sky, in order to restrain the sea, showered upon it many islands until it could no longer rise, but ran back and forth. Then the
sky ordered the kite to light on one of the islands to build her nest, and to leave the sea and the sky in peace.

Now at this time the land breeze and the sea breeze were married, and they had a child which was a bamboo. One day
when this bamboo was floating about on the water, it struck the feet of the kite which was on the beach. The bird, angry that
anything should strike it, pecked at the bamboo, and out of one section came a man and from the other a woman.

Then the earthquake called on all the birds and fish to see what should be done with these two, and it was decided that they
should marry. Many children were born to the couple, and from them came all the different races of people.

After a while the parents grew very tired of having so many idle and useless children around, and they wished to be rid of
them, but they knew of no place to send them to. Time went on and the children became so numerous that the parents
enjoyed no peace. One day, in desperation, the father seized a stick and began beating them on all sides.

This so frightened the children that they fled in different directions, seeking hidden rooms in the house—some concealed
themselves in the walls, some ran outside, while others hid in the fireplace, and several fled to the sea.

Now it happened that those who went into the hidden rooms of the house later became the chiefs of the Islands; and those
who concealed themselves in the walls became slaves. Those who ran outside were free men; and those who hid in the
fireplace became negroes; while those who fled to the sea were gone many years, and when their children came back, they
were the white people.