Why the Sky is High

Why the Sky Is High
(Tagalog)
In the early days, when the sky was still low, two brothers named Ingat and Daskol lived with their parents on earth.
As their names indicate, Ingat was careful in everything he did and was therefore his father‘s right hand man. He was always helping with the work in the field and his parents were very pleased with him.
On the other hand, Daskol did his work sloppily. In the absence of a daughter in the family, the house work came to be Daskol‘s responsibility. He fetched water, cleaned the house, and did the cooking. He also did the pounding of the palay that his father and Ingat harvested. Even in pounding, Daskol lived up to his name. Half of the grain he pounded scattered and fell to the ground. Being naturally lazy and impatient, he did not like the work of pounding rice.
One day, Daskol had to pound a greater quantity of palay than usual. He was irritated because every time he raised the pestle higher, and every time it hit the sky, the sky would be raised. In his hurry, Daskol did not notice that the sky was rising. When he finished pounding the rice, he looked up and discovered that the sky had risen and it is where it is today.

 

Why the Sky Is High
(Iloko)
In the olden days, the only people on earth were a man and a woman. One day, they ate venison which the man had brought home from hunting. But because the bones were very big and they wanted to eat the marrow, they thought of pounding the bones. The woman removed her comb and necklace and hung them on the low sky. But whenever she pounded, she would hit the sky. So she requested the sky to rise higher. It thundered and the sky rose higher. Still the pestle hit the sky. So the woman again asked the sky to go higher. It thundered and the sky rose higher. Still the pestle hit the sky. So the woman again asked the sky to go higher. Again it thundered and the sky rose as high as could be. When the woman remembered what she had hung, it was too late. They became the moon and the stars.

 

Why the Sky Is High
(Hiligaynon)
In the olden days the sky was so low—so low that it could be reached by a stick of ordinary length. The people in those days said that God had created the sky in such a way that he could hear his people when they called to him. In turn, God could send his blessings to earth as soon as men needed them. Because of this close connection between God and his subjects, the people were provided for, and they did not need to work.
Whenever they wanted to eat, they could simply call God. Before their request was made, almost, the food would be on the table; but after the expulsion of Adam and Eve, God made men work for their own living. With this change in their condition came the custom of holding feasts, when the men would rest from their labors.
One day one of the chiefs, Abing by name, held a feast. Many people came to enjoy it. A sayao, or native war-dance, was given in honor of the men belonging to the chief, and it was acted by men brandishing spears. While acting, one of the actors, who was drunk, tried to show his skill, but he forgot that the sky was so low. When he darted his spear, he happened to pierce the sky, and one of the gods was wounded. This angered God the Father: so he raised the sky as we have it today far from the earth.