log
story.

God first created the earth. Then he took a rock from the earth
and threw it on the terrestrial surface. When the rock was broken
into many small pieces, he breathed into them the breath of life,
and they became living creatures. At first these creatures, though
differing in shapes and sizes, were not given different powers.

Among these creatures of God's were the snake and the ant. One day
the snake went to God to ask for power. It said, "I come to thee,
O God! to ask for thy favor. The world thou hast just created is wild
with confusion. I have come to ask thee to give me the special power
to kill all those that are rebellious and troublesome."

"Go back to your fellow-creatures!" answered God. "Hereafter you are
endowed with the power to store in your teeth this poison. When you
bite the vile and contemptible, inject into the wound some of this
poison, and they will be killed; but first of all, observe their
actions, and be conscientious and thoughtful." Then God gave the
snake the poison. The snake returned to the earth in great joy.

When the ant heard that the snake was endowed with such power, it at
once went to God to ask that the same privilege be granted it. The ant
found God on his heavenly throne, instructing his host of angels. The
ant approached God, and addressed him thus: "O thou almighty God! my
brother the snake has been granted a great privilege by thee. Why
art thou so unkind to me? Give me the same power, and I will be of
great aid to the snake in destroying sinners." God, thinking that
the snake might need an assistant, gave the ant the same privilege
that he had given the snake.

The ant was so greatly overjoyed, that it ran as fast as it could
to the earth. When God saw it running, he called to the ant, but it
paid no attention to him. Then God, being very much enraged, took away
some of the ant's power, lest the ant might use it unreasonably. And
so to-day the ant's bite is not so poisonous as the snake's.

Notes.

Another form of this story, recorded by Andrea Silva, also of Lipa,
Batangas, runs as follows:--

In the olden times, when this great universe was still young, the
inhabitants of this Archipelago had a sacred belief in a superior
god whom they called Bathala. He was the creator of all things.

One day Bathala called the animals one by one, and bestowed upon each a
gift, or the power of doing something. To the bird he gave the power to
fly. Next Bathala c