Si Malakas at si Maganda (as retold by Teofilo del Castillo)

A long time ago, there was no land. There were only the sea and the sky. A bird was then flying in the sky. Soon it grew tired and wanted to rest. But it could not. As it was smart, it made the sea throw rocks up at the sky. And the sky turned very dark and poured down water. That was how the island came about. Now the waves break on the shore and can never rise as high as the sky again.

Horrified by the unusual downpour of rain, the bird flew away as fast as it could and it saw the land just created. And on that land, the bird could see tropical trees, throwing up their naked shoulders. These green things were merely bamboos.

As the bird was flying all the time, it became thirsty. But it could not quench its thirst with the salty sea water. Therefore, the bird looked for rivulets. Unfortunately, there was none. Realizing that some water was stored in the bamboo joints, the bird alighted, and started to peck on the bamboo clumps.

“Peck harder, peck harder,” a weak voice cried, the moment its bill struck the bamboo. The bird was extremely frightened, and was about to fly away. But like a curious woman, the bird restrained itself because it wanted to know if that was really voice that it heard inside. Gathering courage, the bird pecked, pecked, and pecked.

“Peck harder, peck harder,” the weak voice complained again. The bird became more curious. It pecked and pecked with all its might. But as its pecking was ineffectual, the bird snatched a piece of rock nearby and dropped it on the bamboo. The bamboo was broken and split in two. In the wink of an eye, a man and a woman stepped out of the bamboo joint, the man bowing politely to the woman. The woman gave recognition to the man; then they walked away hand in hand.

The appearance of the human beings frightened the bird. It forgot its thirst and flew away, hardly realizing that it saw the first human beings, and had a role in their creation.