The sacrifice of Igon.--One year the crops failed, there was much
sickness, and everything went wrong. Then Wígan remembered the
advice of Maknóngan, and he told his sons to procure an animal
for the sacrifice. They caught a rat and sacrificed it, but the
evil conditions were not remedied. Then they went out into the
forest and captured a large snake and sacrificed it to the gods,
but the disease and crop failure still continued. Then Wígan said:
"The sacrifice is not great enough, for the gods do not hear! Take
your brother Igon, who has no wife, and sacrifice him!" So they
bound Igon, and sacrificed him, and called upon the gods. And
Maknóngan came, and all the other great gods, to the feast. And
they took away the sickness, and filled the granaries with rice,
and increased the chickens, the pigs, and the children. Then
Maknóngan said to the people: "It is well, but you have committed
an evil in spilling human blood and have thereby brought war
and fighting into the world. Now you must separate to the north,
south, east, and west, and not live together any more. And when
ye have need to sacrifice to the gods, do not offer rats, snakes,
or your children, but take pigs and chickens only."
And one of the sons of Wígan went to the north, and one to the
south, and one to the east, and one to the west; and from them
are descended the peoples of the Earth World, who fight and kill
one another to this day because of the sacrifice of Igon.
Many other illustrations might be given of the differences between
the Central and Kiángan Ifugao religious conceptions, but the above
will suffice for the purposes of the present paper. [66]
One more type of Ifugao origin myth merits our attention before we
come to the conclusion. This type consists of the myths invented
to explain the origin of the ancient Chinese jars, bronze gongs,
amber-agate beads, and other rare articles of foreign manufacture on
which the Ifugaos place a high value, and the origin of which they
do not know. Many of these objects have been in the possession of the
people for at least several hundred years. They were probably brought
into the Islands by Chinese traders centuries before the coming of
the Spaniards, and gradually found their way to the Ifugaos through
the medium of their cursory commerce with the surrounding peoples. [67]
One of these myths, explaining the origin of three well-known jars,
runs as follows.
LEGEND CONCERNING BANGGÍLÎT OF HINAGÁNGAN, AND THE JARS THAT HE
BROUGHT FROM THE VILLAGE OF SOULS [68]
A long time ago, before the coming of the Spaniards, there lived
at Hinagángan a man called Banggílît. He was a wealthy man,
possessing four rice granaries and a very large house; but he
was not a priest. His constant desire was to hunt in the forest.
One day Banggílît went hunting in the forest and was overtaken
by night. He called his dogs but they did not come. He made fire,
cooked, and ate. Then one dog came to him, and he took it in lead
and departed. Near by he found a path. The dog with him barked
and the second dog answered, and they went on. And the dog with
Banggílît began to whimper and whine, and to pull on the leash;
and Banggílît ran, and they went on. Suddenly it became light all
around them, and they came out of the forest into a large group of
people. And the people said among themselves: "Surely Banggílît
is dead," and they examined his body and asked: "Where were you
speared?" And Banggílît spoke and said: "I have not been speared! I
went hunting and was overtaken by night, and my dog here ran ahead
on our path. I followed, and came here, and lo! it is light here!"
And they took Banggílît and went to their town--for there are many
large towns there in the dwelling-place of souls. They wished to
give him food, but he said: "Wait until my own food is exhausted,
and then I will eat of your rice here." And they asked him: "How
many days will you remain with us?" and Banggílît answered that
he would remain four days. Then the people began to laugh and one
of them said: "Not four days but four years here!" "Ha!" cried
Banggílît, "I shall never do that! Wait until you see!" "Just
so!" answered the other, "but one day here is the same as a year
on the Earth World," but Banggílît thought that he was lying.
Banggílît visited all of the towns there. He worked in the rice
fields and they gave him four jars as his wages. Then his host said
to him: "Return home now, for you have been here four days, which,
according to the usage of the Earth World, are four years." "Yes,"
answered Banggílît, "I wish to go home now, as I am homesick for
my family. You have been very good to me, for you have given me
wages for my work." And the host said: "It was a gift; not wages,
but a gift, that I gave you," and he led the way and pointed out
to Banggílît a ladder. "Go down that ladder, and in a short time
you will arrive at your house," he said. Banggílît started to go
down, but one of the jars struck heavily against the ladder and
was broken. He went down the ladder and at last arrived in the top
of a betel-nut tree. He slid down the trunk of the tree to the
ground, and the chickens were crowing and it was just dawn. And
he looked at his surroundings and exclaimed: "Why this is my own
house!" His relatives came out and said: "Who are you?" and he
replied: "This is my house." They looked at him closely and cried:
"Well now, it is Banggílît who has been gone these four years!" And
they sat down and talked long together. He showed them the jars,
and they asked: "Where did you get those?" And he answered:
"I brought them from the Sky World," and they were afraid and
went to look for the ladder but it was no longer there. [69]
The above myth may well have been invented by some man who, unknown
to his relatives and friends, wandered across the mountains into
Lepanto or Benguet and returned after four years with the jars in
question. Hundreds of myths and legends of this type are current
among the Ifugaos.
No representative collection of Philippine myths has yet been made,
and the present paper can only be considered a beginning. I hope to
be able to continue the work.