The Creation

_Igorot_

In the beginning there were no people on the earth. Lumawig, [93]

the Great Spirit, came down from the sky and cut many reeds. [94] He

divided these into pairs which he placed in different parts of the

world, and then he said to them, "You must speak." Immediately the

reeds became people, and in each place was a man and a woman who could

talk, but the language of each couple differed from that of the others.

Then Lumawig commanded each man and woman to marry, which they did. By

and by there were many children, all speaking the same language as

their parents. These, in turn, married and had many children. In this

way there came to be many people on the earth.

Now Lumawig saw that there were several things which the people on

the earth needed to use, so he set to work to supply them. He created

salt, and told the inhabitants of one place to boil it down and sell

it to their neighbors. But these people could not understand the

directions of the Great Spirit, and the next time he visited them,

they had not touched the salt.

Then he took it away from them and gave it to the people of a place

called Mayinit. [95] These did as he directed, and because of this

he told them that they should always be owners of the salt, and that

the other peoples must buy of them.

Then Lumawig went to the people of Bontoc and told them to get clay

and make pots. They got the clay, but they did not understand the

moulding, and the jars were not well shaped. Because of their failure,

Lumawig told them that they would always have to buy their jars,

and he removed the pottery to Samoki. [96] When he told the people

there what to do, they did just as he said, and their jars were well

shaped and beautiful. Then the Great Spirit saw that they were fit

owners of the pottery, and he told them that they should always make

many jars to sell.

In this way Lumawig taught the people and brought to them all the

things which they now have.