Origin

_Bagobo_ (_Mindanao_)

In the beginning there lived one man and one woman, Toglai and

Toglibon. Their first children were a boy and a girl. When they were

old enough, the boy and the girl went far away across the waters

seeking a good place to live in. Nothing more was heard of them until

their children, the Spaniards and Americans, came back. After the

first boy and girl left, other children were born to the couple,

but they all remained at Cibolan on Mt. Apo with their parents,

until Toglai and Toglibon died and became spirits.

Soon after that there came a great drought which lasted for three

years. All the waters dried up, so that there were no rivers, and no

plants could live.

"Surely," said the people, "Manama is punishing us and we must go

elsewhere to find food and a place to dwell in."

So they started out. Two went in the direction of the sunset, carrying

with them stones from Cibolan River. After a long journey they reached

a place where were broad fields of cogon grass and an abundance of

water, and there they made their home. Their children still live in

that place and are called Magindanau, because of the stones which

the couple carried when they left Cibolan.

Two children of Toglai and Toglibon went to the south, seeking a home,

and they carried with them women's baskets (baraan). When they found a

good spot, they settled down. Their descendants, still dwelling at that

place, are called Baraan or Bilaan, because of the women's baskets.

So two by two the children of the first couple left the land of their

birth. In the place where each settled a new people developed, and

thus it came about that all the tribes in the world received their

names from things that the people carried out of Cibolan, or from

the places where they settled.

All the children left Mt. Apo save two (a boy and a girl), whom hunger

and thirst had made too weak to travel. One day when they were about

to die the boy crawled out to the field to see if there was one

living thing, and to his surprise he found a stalk of sugar-cane

growing lustily. He eagerly cut it, and enough water came out to

refresh him and his sister until the rains came. Because of this,

their children are called Bagobo.