etrical rendering.

Although Bagobo songs are often designated as men's songs and women's
songs, in the case of the stories I have found as yet no monopoly by
either sex of any special type. The ulit, however, is often told by a
young woman just after she leaves the loom, when darkness drops. She
sits on the floor, or lies on her back with hands clasped behind
her head, and pours out her story in an unbroken flow to the eager
young men and girls who gather to listen. Again, I have seen a girl
of thirteen the sole auditor while a boy but little older than she
rolled off an ulit that seemed interminable, with never a pause for
breath. The children did not glance at each other; but the face of
each was all alight with joy at the tale.

CHAPTER I

Myths Associated with Natural Phenomena

Cosmogony

In the beginning, Diwata [28] made the sea and the land, and planted
trees of many kinds. Then he took two lumps of earth, [29] and shaped
them like human figures; then he spit on them, and they became
man and woman. The old man was called Tuglay, and the old woman,
Tuglibung. [30] The two were married, and lived together. The Tuglay
made a great house, and planted seeds of different kinds that Diwata
gave him.

Diwata made the sun, the moon, the stars, and the rivers. First he
made the great eel (kasili), a fish that is like a snake in the river,
and wound [31] it all around the world. Diwata then made the great crab
(kayumang), and put it near the great eel, and let it go wherever it
liked. Now, when the great crab bites the great eel, the eel wriggles,
and this produces an earthquake.

When the rain falls, it is Diwata throwing out water from the sky. When
Diwata spits, the showers fall. The sun makes yellow clouds, and the
yellow clouds make the colors of the rainbow. But the white clouds
are smoke from the fire of the gods.

In the Days of the Mona

Long ago the sun hung low over the earth. And the old woman called
Mona said to the sky, "You go up high, because I cannot pound my rice
when you are in the way."

Then the sky moved up higher.

Mona [32] was the first woman, and Tuglay [33] was the first man. There
were at that time only one man and one woman on the earth. Their
eldest son was named Malaki; their eldest daughter, Bia. They lived
at the centre of the earth.

Tuglay and Mona made all the things in the world; but the god made
the woman and the man. Mona was also called Tuglibung. Tuglay and