Why The Moon Shines at night
(Mindanao)
In the beginning, ta the dawn of time, God
created the world’s first man and the world’s first woman. He man was called
Andraw, whose name means “the sun” and the man was Bulan, whose name means “the
moon”. Andrew’s body was covered with blazing, hot fire, to symbolize his
superior power and his bravery. The bright and powerful flames from Andrew’s
body, could be seen for miles and miles. Bulan’s body was cool and gave off a
mild, bluish glow, to symbolize her gentleness and her calm temperament.
For many years, Andaw and Bulan were very
happy together, but being the only two for them. And so they decided to have a
child. After a few months, Bulan gave birth a beautiful baby boy. The baby boy
was neither hot like his father, nor cool like his mother, but somewhere in
between. Andaw and Bulan were both very happy, BUT Bulan forbade her husband
Andaw from touching her child for fear that his touch would burn their new son.
Andaw was very sad that he could not hod and cuddle his child, but was content
to love him from a safe distance.
One day, Bulan was busy ain the fields
collecting vegetables for dinner. Her sleeping baby son was alone in the house,
far away from the fields. The baby the woke up, hungry and thirsty and began
crying for his mother. But Bulan was so far away in the fields that she could
not hear the desperate cries of her baby son. The frustrated Andaw could see
that the baby was so agitated that it was about to fall from its cot and injure
itself. Andaw shouted to his wife, but the busy Bulan did not hear his cries
for help. Himself and grabbed the baby before it hit the floor. But the hot
flames on Andaw’s hand, burned the baby and it died instantly.
When bulan returned from the fields and saw
that andaw had killed their baby son, she went wild and began arguing with her
husband for being so careless. She could never forgive Andaw for what he had
done. The only solution was for them to separate forever. So that their did not
die in vain, Bulan cut her baby into many pieces and threw them high in the
sky. These pieces of the baby became the planets, including the planet earth.
Before Bulan left him, Andaw wanted to embrace her child
and tell her how sorry he was for the death of their son and that he never
meant any harm to come to their child. He would do anything to gain Bulan’s
forgiveness and to their son back to life. But
Bulan would not forgive Andaw and told him that they must stay apart for
all eternity and must not even meet one Another ever again. “from now on,”said
Bulan, “I will sleep during the day and come out only at night.” You, Andaw
must sleep through the night and come out during the day. That wauy, we will
still see one another again. “ those were Bulan’s last words to Andaw and she
left him. Andaw was sad to see his wife go but knew that her suggestion was
right one.
And so, everyday since that time, Bulan has
come out everynight and her husband Andaw has come out during the day. And they have never seen one
another to this very day.
