ey should starve unless their ruler would let them have rice
from his barns. At first they were afraid to go petition the head man,
for they feared that he would refuse them; but, when nearly one-half
of the children had died from starvation, they agreed to send some
representatives to beg for rice.

Seven men were chosen to be the ambassadors. When they reached
the house of the datu, for so they called their ruler, they asked
for admittance, crying that they wanted rice for their wives and
children. When the datu heard their cry, he went to the door and
made a motion as if he would knock the petitioners off the ladder
leading to the house. He lost his balance and fell, striking his
head sharply on the bottom of the ladder. Thinking that he was dead,
the seven men made no attempt to help him, but went home, proclaiming
that soon there would be rice enough for all.

But the datu was not dead, only badly stunned. The next morning, as he
was walking around his granaries, they exploded with a loud noise; and
all the rice flew away in the form of insects, and vanished from his
sight. This kind of insect which originated from the rice we call doron
(from the Spanish word duro), on account of the toughness of its skin.

A more intelligible version of this story is the following related
by Felix de la Llana, who was told it by an old farmer of Candelaria,
Zambales. It appears to represent old Pagan tradition modified somewhat
by Christianity.

The Origin of Locusts.

When all the surface of the earth was yet a wilderness and the people
were very few, there lived a farmer who wished to become rich all at
once. So he told his wife to pray to Kayamanan, the goddess of riches,
to give them fortune.

One night the goddess with arms extended appeared to them in a dream,
and advised the ambitious farmer to build six large barns. Then
she went to the goddess of plenty, Kainomayan, and asked her to
give this farmer abundant crops. When the farmer harvested his rice
the next season, he was astounded to find that the crop more than
filled his six barns. So delighted was he, and so greedy, that he
and his wife thought no more of the source of their good fortune,
and they neglected to celebrate a feast in honor of God and his
goddesses. He felt like a powerful monarch, and did not wish to work
any more. However, his riches did not last long, as we shall see.

One day the goddess Kayamanan disguised herself, and in the form of a