The Story of Creation

Then when everyone was ready to listen.

The Shaman continued her story...

"Thousands of years ago there was no land nor sun nor moon nor stars, and the world was only a great sea of water, above which stretched the sky."

The Shaman had opened her arms wide to display among the curious little kids how vast the world was even before her supposed creation story.

"The water was the kingdom of the God Maguayan, and the sky was ruled by the great God Kaptan."

The fattest kid among the bunch looked at me instead of the Shaman, while scratching his big round belly which then the Shaman eyed him for not listening.

Then that fat kid instantly switched his sight away from me, pretending to listen.

I chuckled while observing the kid.

I too am not that interested to listen but this one is not included by that Argus in his memories or in our talk together at that strange place.

Speaking of which, I wondered if Gods or a God does really exists?

And thinking of the peculiar strange phenomenons that had occurred to me yesterday and today makes me quite think that perhaps its really true.

And I recalled that blinding light I saw before I received this body...

"Well, let's just listen to her story," I mumbled, like always I put those thoughts aside while sitting beside the two guards.

The Shaman continued amidst the numerous thoughts flashing at my head.

"Maguayan had a daughter called Lidagat, the sea, and Kaptan had a son known as Lihangin, the wind. The Gods agreed to the marriage of their children, so the sea became the bride of the wind."

As she said so, she took a small falling maple leaf that the wind carries.

She opened and closed her hands briefly, then she blew the leaf away, returning it to the wind.

Rasp, solemn voice continued to echo...

"Three sons and a daughter were born to them. The sons were called Licalibutan, Liadlao, and Libulan; and the daughter received the name of Lisuga."

Now everyone was listening to her attentively, the fattest kid was included.

On the other, I had been scratching my head.

I have no clue about these many names she was mentioning, they were never included in our books.

"Licalibutan had a body of rock and was strong and brave; Liadlao was formed of gold and was always happy; Libulan was made of copper and was weak and timid; the beautiful Lisuga had a body of pure silver and was sweet and gentle. Their parents were very fond of them, and will stop at nothing to make them happy."

In short an overly protective parents? Hmm hmm, with a side comment I tried to continue despite my fading interest at the subject.

Well, I always thought that these stories are just a form of propaganda to elevate and continue their system of ruling but since strange things continued to happen around me, I listened.

"After a time Lihangin died and left the control of the winds to his eldest son Licalibutan. The faithful wife Lidagat soon followed her husband, and the children, now grown up, were left without father or mother. However, their grandfathers, Kaptan and Maguayan, took care of them and guarded them against all evil."

"After a time, Licalibutan, proud of his power over the winds, resolved to gain more power and asked his brothers to join him in an attack on Kaptan in the sky above. At first, they refused; but when Licalibutan became angry with them, the amiable Liadlao, not wishing to offend his brother, agreed to help. Then together they induced the timid Libulan to join in the plan."

Now a rebellion huh? this is kind of like the widespread stories from my past religion.

Which I never bothered anyway.

"When all was ready the three brothers rushed at the sky, but they could not beat down the gates of steel that guarded the entrance. Then Licalibutan let loose the strongest winds and blew the bars in every direction. The brothers rushed into the opening but were met by the angry God Kaptan. So terrible did he look that they turned and ran in terror; but Kaptan, furious at the destruction of his gates, sent three bolts of lightning after them."

Yes, it is really similar. I thought as the Shaman continued, being entranced in her own story telling.

"The first struck was 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 that parts of his body stuck out above the water and became what is known as land."

So that's how the minerals were created...

Pretty neat Old woman!

Now my interest was piqued.

"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, Kaptan, blinded with anger, struck her too with lightning, and her silver body broke into thousands of pieces."

"Kaptan 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 Kaptan. 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 her destroyed body a sigil then a beautiful light came forward that will shine forever."

I hate what happened to that poor Lisuga. And that useless Grandfather of them, can't he even do something else aside from killing his grandsons?

I wanted to protest and tell them what I feel as I stood among the pack of kids and realizing that I interrupted the story, I quietly sat down.

Then like a wise sage, unbothered by anything, the Shaman continued.

"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 Kaptan 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; afterward, they had a daughter who was known as Saman. Pandaguan was a younger son and he had a son called Arion."

Then the Saman paused, she smiled towards the children and to me as he said:

"As you can tell, that the Saman we call to the daughter of our Datu reminds us that the royal bloodline must be passed for our leaders had come from the blood of the Gods and that she was sacred."

"Bahh what sacred my ass!" I chuckled just by the thought, this is literally nonsense. How can that haughty Saman be comparable to the sacred Gods this Shaman had told? utter nonsense!

Not giving care to whatever I thought, the Shaman, as if to insult my suffering through indignation she continued...

"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 Kaptan, 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 afterward born, and thus the earth became inhabited in all parts."

"Pandaguan did not die. After lying on the ground for thirty days he regained his strength, but his body was blackened from the lightning, and all his descendants ever since that day have been black."

"His first son, Arion, was taken north, but as he had been born before his father's punishment he did not lose his color, and all his people therefore are white."

"Libo and Saman were carried south, where the hot sun scorched their bodies and caused all their descendants to be of a brown color."

"A son of Saman and a daughter of Sicalac were carried east, where the land at first was so lacking in food that they were compelled to eat clay. On this account their children and their children's children have always been yellow in color."

"And so the world came to be made and peopled. The sun and moon shined in the sky, and the beautiful stars light up the night. All over the land, on the body of the envious Licalibutan, the children of' Sicalac and Sicabay have grown great in numbers."