[54] Since this was written MISS BENEDICT has published an excellent collection of Bagobo Myths (Journal of American Folklore, 1913, XXVI. pp. 13-63.)
In the main these stories are an attempt to account for the present order of things. In the tale which we quoted in part, at the beginning of the paper, we are told of an all-powerful being who created the earth and all that is. Other spirits and many animals inhabited the sky and earth which the creator had made. Of the latter only one, the monkey, is named. He and his kind, we are told, once inhabited and owned all the world, but were dispossessed by two human beings, Toglái and Toglibon, from whom all the people of the world are descended. After their death a great drought caused the people to disperse and seek out new homes in other parts. They journeyed in pairs and because of the objects which they carried with them, they are now known by certain names. One couple, for instance, carried with them a small basket called bira-an, and for this reason their children are known as Bira-an (Bila-an). From the time of the dispersion until the arrival of the Spaniards we learn that certain mythical heroes performed wonderful feats, in some cases being closely identified with the spirits themselves, in others making use of magic, the knowledge of which seems to have been common in those times.
The two following tales are typical of those commonly heard in a Bagobo gathering. The first was told by Urbano Eli, a Bagobo of Malilla.
"After the people were created a man named LumábEt was born. He could talk when he was one day old and the people said he was sent by Manama. He lived ninety seasons and when still a young man he had a hunting dog which he took to hunt on the mountain. The dog started up a white deer and LumábEt and his companions followed until they had gone about the world nine times when they finally caught it. At the time they caught the deer LumábEt's hair was grey and he was an old man. All the time he was gone he had only one banana and one camote with him for food. When night came he planted the skin of the banana and in the morning he had ripe bananas to eat, and the camotes came the same way. When he had caught the deer LumábEt called the people to see him and he told them to kill his father. They obeyed him and then LumábEt took off his headband and waved it in the air over the dead man, and he at once was alive again. He did this eight times and at the eighth time his father was small like a little boy, for every time the people cut him in two the knife took off a little flesh. So all the people thought LumábEt was like a god.
"One year after he killed the deer he told all the people to come into his house, but they said they could not, for the house was small and the people many. But LumábEt said there was plenty of room, so all entered his house and were not crowded. The next morning the diwata, tigyama, and other spirits came and talked with him. After that he told the people that all who believed that he was powerful could go with him, but all who did not go would be turned into animals and buso. Then LumábEt started away and those who stayed back became animals and buso.
"He went to the place Binaton, across the ocean, the place where the earth and sky meet. When he got there he saw that the sky kept going up and down the same as a man opening and closing his jaws. LumábEt said to the sky 'You must go up,' but the sky replied 'No.' At last LumábEt promised the sky that if he let the others go he might catch the last one who tried to pass; so the sky opened and the people went through; but when near to the last the sky shut down and caught the bolo of next to the last man. The last one he caught and ate.
"That day LumábEt's son Tagalion was hunting and caught many animals which he hung up. Then he said he must go to his father's place; so he leaned an arrow against a baliti tree and sat on it. It began to grow down and carried him down to his father's place, but when he arrived there were no people there. He saw a gun, made out of gold, and some white bees in the house. The bees said 'You must not cry; we can take you to the sky,' So he rode on the gun, and the bees took him to the sky and he arrived there in three days.
"One of the men was looking down on the land below, and all of the spirits made fun of him and said they would take out his intestines so that he would be like one of them and never die. The man refused to let them, and he wanted to go back home because he was afraid; so Manama said to let him go.
"The spirits took leaves of the karan grass and tied to his legs, and made a chain of the grass and let him down to the earth. When he reached the earth he was no longer a man but was an owl."
(2) The second tale, which was recorded by P. Juan Doyle, S. J., is as follows: