Bilaan

Story of Creation from 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.

Source: Mabel Cook Cole, Philippine Folk Tales (Chicago: A. C. McClurg and Company, 1916:139-140).

Read another story on creation. This was still made during pre-colonial period.
 The Creation Story
Tagalog

When the world first began there was no land, but only the sea and the sky, and
between them was a kite (a bird something like a hawk). 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.

Source: Mabel Cook Cole, Philippine Folk Tales (Chicago: A. C. McClurg and Company, 1916:187-188).

Process Questions:
 Activity 4. In 2 to 3 sentences, answer the following questions. Write
your answer in your ACTIVITY IN 1 WHOLE SHEET OF PAPER.

1. How do you compare the origin of creation in the two stories? Which elements do
they share, and what differences do they have in explaining how the world came to
be?

2. Which creation story is espoused by your religion? How do you compare that
particular origin story to these two folk narratives?
3. Which aspects of the two cultures could have influenced the stories? Based on the
details of the two creation stories, what can you conclude about the two cultures that
came up with them?

4. Is there such a thing as a “correct” version of how the world was created? What can
you learn about diversity from the creation stories that we have?

What I Have Learned

Activity 5. Compare and contrast how your time and the early Filipinos
viewed God as reflected in the myth you have read and the belief you
have now through a Venn Diagram. Write your answer in 1 WHOLE
SHEET OF PAPER.

A C B

How Filipinos viewed

God:
A. Early Filipinos’
viewed God
B. Your time, view
God
C. Similar views
on God by early
Filipinos and
now.