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The
Tausug Story of Creation |
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| One day, in Paradise,
God decided that He would make the ruler of the Earth
strong and steadfast. So he said to the angels, "Let
us mold Man out of earth." The angels immediately
went down to fetch some soil, but the devils, which
were close to the soil, did not allow them to take it,
for they were jealous of the angels. So the angels came
rushing back to God. God saw that the devils could be
placated by giving them something that He also gave
His angels, and so He agreed to also give the devils
revelation of everything He would do. Thus appeased,
the devils helped the angels gather soil to create Man.
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| But Man made out of
pure earth crumbled. So God mixed water with the soil,
and the water held the scattering fragments together
somewhat, but then the mixture would not dry. God therefore
summoned the wind to dry the Man. And when the Man was
dried, God saw that the Man was stiff, that he could
not move. God thus placed fire inside Man. It was so
that Man, in the end, was composed of the four elements
of the Earth: earth, water, air and fire. |
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| There were some problems
with this marvelous creature, though. When Man sneezed,
his neck stretched out. God told his angels (and the
devils, too) that such a malady would be countered if
the Man would say "God bless me" whenever
he sneezed. The devils saw that they could play tricks
on Man, and so, after having the simple fault of neck-stretching
fixed, they created another one. The made it so that
Man’s jaw dropped so far down that it touched
his chest whenever he yawned. Presently, God revealed
that this prank would be countered if Man would say
"God preserve me from the devils" whenever
he yawned. Thus the devils’ joke was stifled. |
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| But
Man was lonely. So God put him to sleep and took a piece
of his rib, and created Woman. He blessed them and what
would be the fruits of their beautiful union.
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| The
first children Man and Woman had were a white boy and
a white girl. Then they had a black boy and a black
girl. The white boy and the white girl married and left
Paradise, to live on the Earth on their own. The black
boy and the black girl also married and lived on the
Earth on their own. So the Earth became populated with
whites and blacks first.
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| Life
was well for Man and Woman in Paradise. But one day
a stranger there came to Woman, offering her a fruit.
But Woman was already full. She took the fruit anyway
and ate it. When Man came along, she urged him to eat
it, too. And because the two of them had been full to
start with, their stomachs rebelled and they started
urinating and defecating in Paradise. This caused God
to throw them out, and to curse their entire line from
ever coming back. It has thus been established that
the real source of all our suffering is Woman’s
gluttony. Until now our two immortal forebears have
not been found.
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