How the sky became high
The gods thought of raising the skyworld high enough to be out of reach of the pestles, the din of the pounding and the merrymaking
THE RICE fields became wider and wider as the population increased. There was no famine and no hunger as there were wide lands to plant rice. The people in the villages celebrated at harvest time. After drying the palay under the sun, they put the grain in bamboo baskets or bins to store for future needs. There was merrymaking in every village.
At this time, many parts of the skyworld were still within reach of the people. Their long bamboo ladders leaned at the edge of the skyworld, and they would go up and down these bamboo ladders. Earth people could talk personally to the deities to protect them and attend to their daily problems. Sometimes the deities even went down to settle people’s disputes or help them with their tasks.
The merrymaking occasioned by rice-pounding that started in the morning often continued till late afternoon. The young men and women took turns pounding grain, winnow- ing and sifting it of chaff. Some of the mortars were tall, others low, some pestles were long, others, short.
The young men would play with their pestles, twirling them and sometimes throwing them high in the air. Deftly they would catch the pestles, pound again and knock on the rims of the mortars with the pestles to keep time. The young girls would sing in unison to keep the pounding lively. On these occasions the floor of heaven was often hit by the pestles.
FOREVER 81
The deities sometimes partook in the people’s merriment, but when they were asleep the boisterous merrymaking was very disturbing. The gods thought of raising the skyworld high enough to be out of reach of the pestles, the din of the pounding and the merrymaking.
The bead necklaces and the curved combs, which the women took off and hung in the sky when they pounded rice, were carried up, too. The beads were scattered and became the stars. The largest curved comb became the moon.
Some of the young men and women resting on the ladder were also taken up into the skyworld. They were believed to have been chosen as brides and grooms of the offspring of the deities.