It is thought that these deities have brass intestines and that they can draw up a house into their ethereal abodes with a gold limbá,13 but the conception of them is so vague and so varying that I am unable to give further definite information.
13Lim-bá possibly means chain.
THE SECONDARY ORDER OF DEITIES
It is with the secondary order of divinities, however, that we have to deal more at length, for they are the guardians and champions of the Manóbo in all the vicissitudes and concerns of life.
They are thought to be beings that in the long forgotten past lived their earthly lives here below and after their mortal course was run were in some inexplicable way changed into diuáta. Though belonging now to a different and more powerful order, they still retain a fondness for the tribesmen who sojourn here below. Selecting certain men and women for their favored friends 14 they keep in touch with worldly affairs and at the call of their favorites hasten to the help of humankind.
13Lim-bá possibly means chain.
14These are the báilan or priests and priestesses of Manóboland.
In physical appearance these deities are human and Manóbo-like but they are described as being "as fair as the moon." Warriors they are, to a certainty, for they are said to carry their shield and all the insignia of a Manóbo warrior chief and to fare forth at times to punish some bold demon for his evil machinations against the tribe.
They are said to reside on the highest and most inaccessible mountains 15in the vicinity of their favorite priests but are ready to fly "on the wings of the wind" to any part of the world in answer to a call for help.