#igorot folklore

The Farmer and the Star Maidens

Batakagan and the Two Brothers

Obban (Hera of the Kankana-ey)

Once upon a time, the Moon, a woman named Kabigat, was making a large copper pot. While she was working, the son of a man named Chal-chal, the Sun, came by and watched her. Kabigat dipped her pip-i, a paddle, into the water and rubbed it over the stone. She then pounded the molten copper with the stone in her hand. The son was amazed by the pot as it grew large and beautiful. Suddenly, Kabigat looked up and saw the son and immediately struck him with her pip-i, cutting off his head! Although Chal-chal was not there, he knew Kabigat had cut off his son’s head. He rushed to where they were and put his son’s head back on his body, and the boy was alive again.  Then the Sun said to the Moon, “Because you have cut off my son’s head, the people of the Earth will forever cut off each other’s heads.”