THE CYCLE OF THE SUN AND THE

MOON
A Manobo Folk Tale

People

from
long
ago
shared not only the passion
for
telling
stories,
but
folklorists have found many
similarities in the subjects
and
patterns
of
tales
among different cultures.
Versions of the story you
are about to read also exist
in
Malay
and
Indian
folklore. The tale relates
how the stars came about
and why the moon seems
to stay away from the sun.

A long time ago, only the Sun rode

the sky. His wife, the Moon, stayed
at home and tended the children
and their farm. The Moon loved
their two children, and went about
her tasks happily ---- fetching
water, gathering gabi leaves, and
digging camotes for supper.
One cloudy day when
home, the Moon had
river for water. She
children to sleep and
husband.

the Sun was

to go to the
crooned the
called to her

Dear husband, I am going to

fetch water. Watch over the
children, but do not go near
them because you know what
will happen if you do.
And
after this warning, she left.
The Sun looked lovingly at his
children. He had never before
been able to really know them
or
even
get
near
them.
Overcome
with
love
and
affection, he kissed them. To his
horror, they shriveled up before
his eyes and crumbled to ashes.

His anguish was great. He moaned and cried.

Suddenly he remembered what his wife had told
him ---- not to touch the children. Not knowing
what to do, he hid in the forest.
Soon after this the Moon returned. A water jar
was balanced on her head and she carried a
bundle of freshly cut gabi leaves in her arms.
Laying down the jar and leaves, she turned to
look for her children. Wild was her grief to find
only ashes where her lovely brown babies had
once been.

Her screams and lamentations

reached her husband in the
forest and, his pity overcoming
his fear, he went home. However,
as soon as the Moon saw him,
her wailing became louder.
My husband, why did you do it?
Did I not tell you never to touch
or even draw near our children?
Why did you disobey me?
I couldnt help kissing them, O
wife; they looked so sweet. I have
never seen anything so sweet
before. Forgive me, O Moon!
Forgive me, he begged her.

But the Moon would not be

comforted. Her reproaches
increased in intensity. In the end,
the Sun got angry.
Mang-gad! he shouted. Did you
say that I disobeyed you? How dare
you think that you are superior to
me, that you can order me what to
do. Mang-gad! Slave! How dare you
say that I disobeyed you!
Ai! she moaned. I am nothing at
all! Then my children are nothing
too! and with one defiant sweep of
her arm, she scattered their ashes
to the four winds.

Horrified and enraged, the Sun seized the

gabi leaves, threw then in his wifes face,
and dashed out of the house.
When he returned very late that night, his ill
temper was gone. He regretted having
shouted at his wife. He found the house
dark and empty. His wife had fled, but
pinpoints of glimmering light is the distance
told him where she was, for he knew the
lights were his children following their
mother in her flight.

So started the endless cycle

of the Sun chasing the
Moon, and the Moon
fleeing from the Sun. the
Moon is forever with her
children, the may tiny
lights we call the stars.
Now and then, a shooting
star breaks across the
path of the Moon.
It is nothing more than an
attempt from her husband
to make her and their
children return to him.

But the Moon speeds away

faster, sometimes leaving
the sky altogether, with
only her star-babies there.
This happens when the
marks of the gabi leaves
on the Moons face swell
and she remembers the
pain and humiliation of
her husbands anger when
he threw the gabi leaves
to her face and called her
mang-gad (property) and
binotong (slave).

Comprehension Response
Answer the questions in complete sentence.
1. What did the Moon warn her husband not to do?
2. Why did the Sun kiss the children?
3. What happened to the children?
4. Why did the Sun hide in the forest?
5. What did the Moon do when she found out what
happened to her children?
6. Why did the Sun get angry with the Moon?
7. What did he do in his anger?
8. What did the Moon do with the ashes of her children?
9. Why did the Moon run away?
10.How does this tale explain the absence of the moon
on certain nights? What is the scientific explanation
for the moons absence?