Tungkung Langit and Alunsina

This story of creation from the old people in Panay, living near the mountains, has been retold countless
times. It said that in the beginning, there was only confusion. Even before the creation of the earth and sky,
only darkness existed -- a bottomless world of mist; shapeless and formless.
From the depths of this void, came two gods, Tungkung Langit (“Pillar of the Sky”) and Alunsina (“The
Unmarried One”). Their origins were unknown, but what was known was Tungkung Langit’s love for
Alunsina. The two deities got married after years of courtship. They situated their abode in the highest
realm. This ethereal space always had warm waters and a cool breeze. This was the place where order and
regularity first took form.
Tungkung Langit took charge over the regular movement of the cosmic; he made sure of the maintenance
of the order of things. He was a kind, loving, and hardworking deity. Meanwhile, Alunsina was the opposite.
She was selfish, lazy, and constantly jealous. She would idly sit by their heavenly home, delight herself with
senseless thoughts, or sit by their pool to comb her long black hair.
One day, Tungkung Langit decided to fix the chaos of the flow of time and the position of things. He bid his
wife goodbye only to find out that his jealous wife had asked the breeze to spy on him. This upset Tungkung
Langit.
Tungkung Langit confronted his wife, Alunsina. He pointed out that her jealousy was ungodly and pointless
for there were no other living creature in the world except for the two of them. Alunsina resented Tungkung
Langit for this and started to quarrel with him.
Tungkung Langit lost his temper. In his anger, he took away the powers of his wife and commanded her
away. He did not know where Alunsina went. Tungkung Langit felt lonely after a couple of days. He realized
the gravity of what he had done. Their whole palace, once filled with Alunsina’s sweet and angelic voice,
now feels cold and desolate.
He would find himself alone in the mornings; and would feel the same loneliness in the afternoons when
he came home. He would constantly feel the same loneliness seeping in his heart. Alunsina was nowhere to
meet him at the door or comfort his tired muscles.
Tungkung Langit’s loneliness lasted for months on end. He tried looking for Alunsina, but she was nowhere
to be found. He knew he should act on overcoming his desolation.
While he was sailing across the regions of the clouds, he thought of creating the sea and the earth. As the
earth and the sea suddenly appeared in his will, the dull and empty sea bothered him. He came down to
earth and planted it with flowers and trees. He scattered his wife’s treasure jewels in the sky, hoping that it
would catch Alunsina’s attention. These became the stars. Her comb became the moon, and her crown, the
sun. But Alunsina never returned.
The elders in Panay would often tell that up until now Tungkung Langit still lives alone in his palace in the
skies. And that the rain are his sad tears, the loud thunders are his sobs calling for Alunsina to come back.
 Suan’s Good Luck
(Kapampangan Hero Story)
There was once an old woman who had an only son named Suan. Suan was a clever, sharp-witted boy. His
mother sent him to school. Instead of going to school, however, Suan climbed up the tree that stood by the
roadside. As soon as his mother had passed by from the market, Suan hurried home ahead of her. When she
reached home, he cried, “Mother, I know what you bought in the market to-day.” He then told her, article by
article. This same thing happened so repeatedly, that his mother began to believe in his skill as a diviner.

One day the ring of the datu’s daughter disappeared. All the people in the locality searched for it, but in
vain. The datu called for volunteers to find the lost ring, and he offered his daughter’s hand as a prize to the
one who should succeed. Suan’s mother heard of the proclamation. So she went to the palace and presented
Suan to the datu.

“Well, Suan, to-morrow tell me where the ring is,” said the datu.
“Yes, my lord, I will tell you, if you will give your soldiers over to me for to-night,” Suan replied.

“You shall have everything you need,” said the datu.

That evening Suan ordered the soldiers to stand around him in a semicircle. When all were ready, Suan
pointed at each one of them, and said, “The ring is here, and nowhere else.” Itso happened that Suan fixed
his eyes on the guilty soldier, who trembled and became pale. “I know who has it,” said Suan. Then he
ordered them to retire.

Late in the night this soldier came to Suan, and said, “I will get the ring you are in search of, and will give it
to you if you will promise me my safety.”

“Give it to me, and you shall be safe,” said Suan.

Very early the next morning Suan came to the palace with a turkey in his arms. “Where is the ring?” the
datu demanded. “Why, sir, it is in this turkey’s intestines,” Suan replied. The turkey was then killed, and the
ring was found inside it.

“You have done very well, Suan. Now you shall have my daughter’s hand,” said the datu. So Suan became the
princess’s husband.

One day the datu proposed a bet with any one who wished to prove Suan’s skill. Accordingly, another datu
came. He offered to bet seven cascos of treasure that Suan could not tell the number of seeds that were in
his orange. Suan did not know what to do. At midnight he went secretly to the cascos. Here he heard their
conversation, and from it he learned the number of seeds in the orange.

In the morning Suan said boastfully, “I tell you, your orange has nine seeds.” Thus Suan won the whole
treasure.

Hoping to recover his loss, the datu came again. This time he had with him fourteen cascos full of gold. He
asked Suan to tell him what was inside his golden ball. Suan did not know what to say. So in the dead of
night he went out to the cascos, but he could learn nothing there. The next morning Suan was summoned
into the presence of the two datus. He had no idea whatever as to what was in the ball; so he said scornfully,
“Nonsense!”

“That is right, that is right!” shouted a man. “The ball contains nine cents.”

Consequently, Suan won the fourteen cascos full of gold. From now on, nobody doubted Suan’s merit.