n he seized his sharp-bladed kampilan,
and slew the Bia. Maddened by grief and rage, he dashed to the door
and made one leap to the ground, screaming, "All the people in the
world shall fall by my sword!"
On his war-shield he rode, and flew with the wind until he came to
the horizon. Here lived the Malaki Lindig Ramut ka Langit. [82] And
when the two malaki met, they began to fight; and the seven brothers
of the Malaki Lindig that live at the edge of the sky, likewise came
out to fight. But when the battle had gone on but a little time,
all the eight malaki of the horizon fell down dead. Then the angry
Malaki who had slain the Bia and the eight young men went looking
for more people to kill; and when he had shed the blood of many, he
became a buso with only one eye in his forehead, for the buso with
one eye are the worst buso of all. Everybody that he met he slew.
After some time, he reached the house of the great priest called
"Pandita," and the Pandita checked him, saying, "Stop a minute,
and let me ask you first what has happened to make you like this."
Then the Buso-man replied sadly, "I used to have a wife named Moglung,
who was the best of all the bia; but when I went looking for the Malaki
Tuangun, that other Bia made me dizzy, and gave me betel, and combed my
hair. Then she was my wife for a little while. But I have killed her,
and become a buso, and I want to kill all the people in the world."
"You had better lie down on my mat here, and go to sleep," advised
the Pandita. While the Buso slept, the Pandita rubbed his joints with
betel-nut; and when he woke up, he was a malaki again.
Then the Pandita talked to him, and said, "Only a few days
ago, the Moglung passed here on her way to her brother's home in
heaven. She went by a bad road, for she would have to mount the steep
rock-terraces. If you follow, you will come first to the Terraces of
the Wind (Tarasu'ban ka Kara'mag [83]), then you reach the Terraces of
Eight-fold Darkness (Walu Lapit Dukilum [84]), and then the Terraces
of the Rain (Tarasuban k'Udan [85]).
Eagerly the Malaki set out on his journey, with his kabir [86] on his
back, and his betel-nut and buyo-leaf [87] in the kabir. He had not
travelled far, before he came to a steep ascent of rock-terraces,--the
Terraces of the Wind, that had eight million steps. The Malaki knew
not how to climb up the rocky structure that rose sheer before him,
and so he sat down at the foot of the ascent, an
|