BENEDICT, BAGOBO CEREMONIAL, MAGIC AND MYTH 47 



so near to the earth that the people could not work, and so Pa- 

 mulak Manobo commanded it to come up- higher. ,0 ° At about the 

 same time, the sun and moon had their altercation over the fate 

 of the baby, and no longer wished to journey together. For this- 

 reason, after the sky moved up, they began the custom of taking 

 passage over the earth at different times. Both sun and moon 

 travel above the earth, from east to west, and then pass down 

 below the earth and go back from west to east. During our night,, 

 the sun illumines the place where the dead spirits are staying. 



An eclipse 101 of the moon is believed to be caused by the rapa- 

 cious bird named Minokawa that lives just outside of the eastern 

 horizon, and has beak and claws of steel. Eight holes the moon 

 makes in the eastern horizon by which to enter for her passage 

 over the earth, and eight holes in the western horizon, by any one- 

 of which she can get out again when she takes her course under 

 the earth, back from west to east. Every day, when she comes in 

 at one of the eastern entrances, she runs the risk of being snatched 

 up and swallowed by the mammoth Minokawa-bird, in which event 

 an eclipse occurs. Then the Bagobo, following a widespread Malay 

 custom, begin to utter shouts and to beat agongs and to make a 

 tremendous din, in the hope of making the bird disgorge the moon. 102 



100 Another version, still more common among tho Bagobo, is given in the Jour. Am. 

 Folk-lore, vol. 26, p. 16. 1913. The old woman, called Tuglibung, cannot pound her rice 

 because the sky hangs so low, and she chides the sky until it rushes up to its present 

 place. Almost precisely the same story is known among the Manobo. Cf. H. O. Beyers 

 op. cit. p. 89 ; and compare the Ifagao tale, ibid, p. 105, which, like the version in my 

 text, calls in the help of a god to raise the sky. 



101 Among Malays of the Peninsula and of Sumatra, the belief is widespread that an 

 eclipse is caused by a serpent, a dragon, or a dog devouring the sun or the moon ; and 

 that the setting up of a din and clamor will frighten away the monster. Cf. SkeatT 

 op. cit., p. 11. In the Mantra myth, just quoted, the pursuit of the moon by the sun 

 is continually going on, and when the sun bites the moon a lunar eclipse occurs. Op. cit., 

 p. 977. For the Bagobo story of the eclipse, see Jour. Am. Folk-lore, vol. 26, p. 19; 

 and, for the Visayan legend, cf. Maxwell and Mtllington's collection, in the same jour- 

 nal, vol. 19, p. 209. 1906. 



In an Indian saga we find an episode of Rahu's head swallowing the sun and the 

 moon. Somadeva: op. cit., vol. 1, p. 151. 



1 ° l The Batak of Sumatra give a slightly different explanation of an eclipse. Accor- 

 ding to Warneck's story, the sun in the beginning had seven sons, each of whom gave 

 out a heat as intense as the sun herself. The plants on earth withered, and men could 

 not stand up against the heat. They asked the help of the moon. He called all the 

 stars to him and hid them; then, by the ruse of spitting betel juice into seven dishes, 

 and showing to the sun the dishes full of red juice, persuaded her that he had eaten his^ 

 children. Then the sun killed and ate her seven sons. On discovering that the moon had 



