Magbangal

_Bukidnon_ (_Mindanao_)

Magbangal was a good hunter, and he often went to a certain hill

where he killed wild pigs for food. One night as it was nearing the

planting season, he sat in his house thinking, and after a long time

he called to his wife. She came to him, and he said:

"Tomorrow I shall go to the hill and clear the land for our planting,

but I wish you to stay here."

"Oh, let me go with you," begged his wife, "for you have no other

companion."

"No," said Magbangal, "I wish to go alone, and you must stay at home."

So finally his wife agreed, and in the morning she arose early to

prepare food for him. When the rice was cooked and the fish ready

she called him to come and eat, but he said:

"No, I do not want to eat now, but I will return this afternoon and

you must have it ready for me."

Then he gathered up his ten hatchets and bolos, [118] a sharpening

stone, and a bamboo tube for water, and started for the hill. Upon

reaching his land he cut some small trees to make a bench. When it

was finished, he sat down on it and said to the bolos, "You bolos must

sharpen yourselves on the stone." And the bolos went to the stone and

were sharpened. Then to the hatchets he said, "You hatchets must be

sharpened," and they also sharpened themselves.

When all were ready, he said: "Now you bolos cut all the small brush

under the trees, and you hatchets must cut the large trees." So the

bolos and the hatchets went to work, and from his place on the bench

Magbangal could see the land being cleared.

Magbangal's wife was at work in their house weaving a skirt, but

when she heard the trees continually falling she stopped to listen

and thought to herself, "My husband must have found many people to

help him clear our land. When he left here, he was alone, but surely

he cannot cut down the trees so fast. I will see who is helping him."

She left the house and walked rapidly toward the field, but as she

drew nearer she proceeded more slowly, and finally stopped behind

a tree. From her hiding-place, she could see her husband asleep on

the bench, and she could also see that the bolos and hatchets were

cutting the trees with no hands to guide them.

"Oh," said she, "Magbangal is very powerful. Never before have I

seen bolos and hatchets working without hands, and he never told me

of his power."

Suddenly she saw her husband jump up, and, seizing a bolo, he cut

off one of his own arms. He awoke and sat up and said:

"Someone must be looking at me, for one of my arms is cut off."

When he saw his wife he knew that she was the cause of his losing

his arm, and as they went home together, he exclaimed:

"Now I am going away. It is better for me to go to the sky where I

can give the sign to the people when it is time to plant; and you

must go to the water and become a fish."

Soon after he went to the sky and became the constellation Magbangal;

and ever since, when the people see these stars appear in the sky,

they know that it is time to plant their rice.