Ordinary World: Stories from Worlds Wide and Small

Itch (an excerpt)

One day, Tungkong-Langit decided to visit the first man and woman to see how they were doing in the little corner of the world that he and Alunsina had created for them. He transformed into a lawin – the lord of the skies - so he could observe them as they were. He landed on a coconut tree and watched them. Alunsina transformed into a tagak and joined him. They started pecking each other's necks until they made so much noise that the other birds were confused by their actions and flew close to observe them.

After a few hours (but this was before hours were invented so what we have is simply an estimate), Tungkong-Langit began to get worried. Man and woman showed no inclination to mate. They simply chased each other, swam in the sea, and cared for the animals around them. They seemed oblivious to their nakedness. The man did not wonder what the woman's dark triangle of hair between her thighs hid. The woman on the other hand ignored the fleshy extension that emanated from between the man's legs. Tungkong-Langit worried about the materials he used in creating them. Their bodies would eventually decay, they would become old and they would no longer be able to procreate. Some of the materials he used were rare and needed for other creations.

"They're not worried at all," Alunsina said in bird talk, all the humans heard, though, was the song of the sea. "They don't have any sense of time. We must find a way to let them know that time passes by. Give them a sense of urgency."

Tungkong-Langit agreed. His reply was guttural, primal. When the humans heard it – it sounded like thunder. The two deities went back to their home in the clouds. Tungkong-Langit took his golden necklace – a piece of jewelry he had forged in the depths of a long dead volcano – and cast it into the sky. As the necklace moved away, Tungkong-Langit felt his strength decreasing. He had placed a lot of his own power into that necklace. "That will be the greater light – the sun," Tungkong-Langit declared. "It will stay there for a certain time, but I will have to reclaim it so that I can get my strength back."

Alunsina for her part ripped off her silver necklace – forged and woven in the coldest regions of the land – and put it in her husband's hand. "When the sun disappears, put this in heaven. That way, the humans can still see." She then took out the mirror that Tungkong-Langit had given her as a wedding present and placed it into his hands. "So that they can see at night. The necklace will give off some light, but it would never be enough. So this mirror will have to be a lesser light to help humans see what they do in the depths of darkness."

Tungkong-Langit embraced her. "They will not need it all the time. I can take it back from time to time so you will always have something to remind you of the beauty that inspired me to create everything."