Since the beginning of days, there have been two gods.
Manama,
omnipotent, confident and self-satisfied - surrounded by his attendant
diwata1 and ainitu2 -
administers the skyrealm. On the other hand, his brother - Oggasi of the earth -
finds pleasure in disrupting Manama's plans with the help of his busaw3
.
Since the beginning, there has been contention between the gods.
This is
how it happened.
In the beginning, Manama's realm was barren, and only one katungaw-tungaw4 tree grew in the desolation - but Oggasi"s realm was lush with vegetation. Envious, Manama disguised some of his fæ attendants as bees and, with their help, stole topsoil and seedlings from Oggasi's realm.
Oggasi became aware of the theft too late to prevent it. But he knew Manama was the culprit, and he bided his time until he could avenge the trespass.
Thus began the enmity between Manama and Oggasi.
Thus began the enmity
between order and chaos.
Manama spends most of his time asleep but, once a year, he wakens for a brief while to accomplish his divine tasks.
During one of his waking periods, Manama thought of MAN.
Eagerly, Manama mobilised the skyworld to create his grand project but,
predictably, the intense activity soon exhausted him and he dozed off before his
work was finished.
As Manama slept, Oggasi - in vengeance for the first theft - stole the plans
for giving Man eternal life.
Therefore Man is mortal.
When first Man awoke, however, he was too engrossed in exploring the world to
care about the briefness of his existence - and Oggasi's act of revenge seemed
futile. Oggasi continued to study Man in hopes of finding a weakness that could
be exploited, until he found a means to awaken discontent in Manama's prize
creation.
Eventually Man turned to Manama to inquire why he alone of all beings had no
counterpart.
Manama hesitated. He knew that Man's complete dependence on him would cease
once Man had a partner - yet to deny him one would ensure victory for Oggasi.
Manama realised he had no choice but to create Woman.
Thus Man gained a
partner.
All went well until the first Woman began to have undefineable longings, and
grew disconsolate from a sense of incompleteness. Manama recognised Oggasi's
influence. Seeking to ingratiate himself, and in hopes of winning back his
creatures' devotion, Manama created the kakapo5 worm
which he implanted between Man's legs.
From the worm's antics, Man and Woman
discovered the pleasures of sex. But Oggasi fed seeds to the worm, and when
these were implanted in Woman, she became pregnant - and that is why people
began to be born.
In the course of time, the distance between heaven and earth has widened, Nature has become less benign, and 'goodwill among men' has become practically non-existent.
But in the beginning of days, the skyrealm was low enough to touch and there was constant coming and going between the worlds. Whenever Manama was awake, he held audiences at which his mortal creatures would present their petitions and, if he thought them deserving, their pleas would be answered.
However, people began to multiply - and since there were more of them to
feed, there was less food. The people became discontented - and Manama grew so
tired of listening to their endless complaints that he discontinued the
audiences altogether.
Even so, Manama had to stay awake longer and longer to
cope with his divine responsibilities. Overworked, he became moody and irritable
- and because he rules the skyrealm, the weather grew unpredictable.
One day, during a particularly bad drought, people decided they'd had enough
of heat, thirst and starvation. They took the large wooden pestles they used for
pounding rice and pounded on the skyrealm itself in an effort to rouse the
sleeping Manama.
They succeeded.
Enraged that his rest had been so
disrespectfully interrupted, Manama ordered his attendants to raise the skyworld
beyond the reach of the people that he might sleep unperturbed by their
complaints.
Once the skyrealm disappeared from view, Oggasi seized his chance to cause
trouble among people without interference from his rival.
He created the
giant Makaralig to drive people from their lands and spread
death and destruction everywhere.
At first , in terror and confusion, the people begged Manama to save them - but Manama was asleep and too far away to be wakened by their cries.
It was then that people realised they had no one to turn to but themselves.
Working together, they successfully drove Oggasi away - and then they
destroyed his creature.
So it has come to pass, from that time to this, people have determined their own fate.
NOTE This version of Tales from the Manuvu was based on a re-telling of selected Manuvu origin myths by E. Arsenio Manuel in an article published in Philippine Heritage (Hamlin Press, Australia, 1974).
1 fæ
2 ancestral spirits
3 dwarves
4 lonely
5 groping (?)