iruray also believe that should a religious leader have sufficient wit, power and

goodness, he could lead all of his followers "beyond the sky" to live in the land
of Tulus (or Sualla) . . . In the days of Lagey Lingkuwos (their greatest
legendary hero), people had a difficult time with their farming. They wanted to
please Tulus by farming well, but they were never sure when the winds would
be right for burning; they had trouble predicting the arrival of the rainy season,
and thus were unsure when they should plant; and they lacked a way of calling
for the good or bad agricultural omens. Farming was, therefore, a matter of
guess work regarding timing, and the swidden cycle for those unfortunate
people was seldom properly keyed to the yearly seasons as it so clearly needed
to be.
Lagey Lingkuwos was aware of this serious problem and was determined to do
something about it.
Near his place was a settlement where six people lived. They were, like all
people, farmers. And, like all human beings at that time, they were followers of
Lagey Lingkuwos. Three were young unmarried men-all first cousins-whose
names were Kufukufu, Baka, and Seretar. Each lived in his own house, near the
houses of their uncles: the widower, Keluguy, who was the leader of the
settlement, and Singkad, the group's only married man who lived with his wife,
Kenogon. As a pet, these people had a variety of forest dove, which
the Tiruray called lemugen.
When it came time for Lagey Lingkuwos to lead his followers to the place of
Tulus, beyond the sky, he asked the special favors of the six people. Knowing
that Tulus would not leave the world without human beings to make swiddens
in the forests, and wanting the next creation to have an easier time than the last,
he asked those six followers to leave their pet bird behind in the forest, where
its call could become the needed giver of omens. He further asked them to live
in the sky for as long as there should be a world and people to farm it. They
agreed to both requests of their esteemed leader, and so it is today that the
lemugen's call gives the farmers much needed agricultural omens, and the six
constellations move across the night sky, assisting this new creation of people
to properly anchor their swidden cycle in the annual round of
seasons. Tiruray said that the six seem, like themselves, to be always
proceeding to work in their swiddens-the three young cousins ahead, followed
by their uncle and headman. Singkad comes next, prudently keeping himself
between his attractive wife and the splendid Keluguy, whom Tiruray never
refer to by name-that would be too disrespectful-but call by his nickname,
Fegeferafad.

*Stuart At Schlegel "Tiruray Constellations: The Agricultural Astronomy of a
Philippine Hill People," PJS, 96, 3 (September 1967), pp. 32S-26.