, and
never come back again."

So Lumabat started for the sky-country, and many of his brothers and
sisters went with him. A part of their journey lay over the sea,
and when they had passed the sea, a rock spoke to them and said,
"Where are you going?"

In the beginning, all the rocks and plants and the animals could talk
[49] with the people. Then one boy answered the rock, "We are going
to the sky-country."

As soon as he had spoken, the boy turned into a rock. But his brothers
and sisters went on, leaving the rock behind.

Presently a tree said, "Where are you going?"

"We are going to the sky," replied one of the girls.

Immediately the girl became a tree. Thus, all the way along the
journey, if any one answered, he became a tree, or stone, or rock,
according to the nature of the object that put the question.

By and by the remainder of the party reached the border of the
sky. They had gone to the very end of the earth, as far as the
horizon. But here they had to stop, because the horizon kept moving
up and down (supa-supa). The sky and the earth would part, and then
close together again, just like the jaws of an animal in eating. This
movement of the horizon began as soon as the people reached there.

There were many young men and women, and they all tried to jump
through the place where the sky and the earth parted. But the edges
of the horizon are very sharp, like a kampilan, [50] and they came
together with a snap whenever anybody tried to jump through; and they
cut him into two pieces. Then the parts of his body became stones, or
grains of sand. One after another of the party tried to jump through,
for nobody knew the fate of the one who went before him.

Last of all, Lumabat jumped--quick, quicker than the rest; and before
the sharp edges snapped shut, he was safe in heaven. As he walked
along, he saw many wonderful things. He saw many kampilans standing
alone, and fighting, and that without any man to hold them. Lumabat
passed on by them all. Then he came to the town where the bad dead
live. The town is called "Kilut." [51] There, in the flames, he saw
many spirits with heavy sins on them. The spirits with little sins
were not in the flames; but they lay, their bodies covered with sores,
in an acid that cuts like the juice of a lemon. Lumabat went on,
past them all.

Finally he reached the house of Diwata, [52] and went up into the
house. There he saw many diwata, and they were chewing betel-nut,