246 A NATURALIST IN CELEBES ch. x 



empung ^ Wailan wangko was alone in the world. Then an 

 island became visible which rose from the water. A coco- 

 nut tree was cast upon the island, and a tree grew there 

 called Mahawatu. Then the empung Wailan wangko took 

 the coco-nut tree which had been driven ashore and broke 

 it in two, when lo ! a man came out, whom.the god called 

 Wangi. 



' Then the god Wailan wangko spoke to Wangi and 

 said, "You remain now upon the earth whUst I climb into 

 the tree Mahawatu." Then said Wangi, " It is good." But 

 Wangi considered with himself, and climbed up into the tree 

 Mahawatu and said to the god, " I have come to ask Wailan 

 wangko why I must remain all alone upon the earth." 



' Then the empung answered him and said, " Go back 

 again and take some earth and make two figures, one a 

 man and the other a woman." This Wangi did, therefore, 

 and both the figures were human, and they could walk 

 about, but they could not speak. When this was done, 

 Wangi again climbed into the tree and asked the empung 

 Wailan wangko, " How now ! both the figures are well 

 made but they cannot speak." 



' Then the empung Wailan wangko said to Wangi, " Take 

 this ginger and blow it into the skulls and ears of your 

 figures that they may speak and give them names also ; to 

 the man you shall give the name Adam, and to the woman 

 the name Ewa." ' 



The Wailan wangko of this myth is the great god of the 

 southern districts of Minahassa. He is generally nameless, 

 the ' I am that I am ' of the Alfiir, the Almighty Lord who 

 made the Earth. He is sometimes represented as sitting 

 in a tree on an island from the principal event in the 

 above legends (23). 



■' ' Empung ' literally maans a grandfather, and is used as the generic 

 name for the gods. 



