THE FIRST MAN AND WOMAN
Above: Illustration about Malaka & Maganda
There was time, when no land ever existed. The only thing present then was the blue sea and the clear sky. A bird found itself soaring up above the heavens. She (the bird), soon got exhausted and decided that she would take a bit of rest. Alas, the poor bird could not find a place to do so.
This bird was very wily and she devised a plan for that would infuriate the sea and giving it a reason to toss rocks unto the sky. The sky turned furiously at the sea and its dark clouds began pouring down massive amounts of rain water. That was the beginning of the birth of the island. According to the legend, that is the reason why the waves’ rupture on the shorn can never again arise as high as the sky.
Mortified by the bizarre outpouring of the rain, the bird took off as quickly as it could. She spotted the island that recently took form and decided to take a gander at the place. On that land, she saw a glimpse of tropical trees, flinging up their bare-naked shoulders. These green trees were purely bamboos.
Since she had been flying constantly, she had a sudden need to quench her thirst. The problem was, she couldn’t satisfy her longing for a cool drink for the sea could only offer salt water. Her only means was to search for rivulets. To her dismay, she could not find a single one. Having realized that the bamboo was able to store some water in its joints, she began to peck on the bamboo clutches.
She started to hear a faint voice saying: “Peck harder, peck harder!”, whenever she would strike her beak on the bamboo. The bird felt very afraid and was opting to just take off and fly away. But the bird’s curiosity got the better of her. She was able to compose herself and had the urge to figure out who was behind that voice. After gathering up her guts to start pecking, she did so – and quite strongly and vigorously.
The frail voice started to whine again and said: “Peck harder, peck harder.” This made the bird all the more inquisitive and determined. She concluded that her pecking was not good enough so she got a piece of rock close by and precisely dropped the rock on the bamboo. It was then that the bamboo was split into two. In a blink of an eye, a man and a woman got out of the bamboo joint.
The man found himself bowing courteously to the woman. The woman on the other hand gave proper acknowledgement to the man. The man and the woman then held each other’s hand and walked away. The manifestation of the first human beings on the island scared the bird. She forgot all about her desire for water and just swiftly flew far away. Afterwards, she was able to grasp her role in the creation of the first man and woman.
