Philippine Literature (Grade 7)

1. Quarter 1
Lesson 5
Recalling Our
Ancestors’ Beliefs

3. 1.
2.
3.
Disadvantages
Advantages
1.
2.
3.
Sky

4. In all these
stories, what is
the reason that
made the sky
rise?

5. Why the Sky Is High
(Tagalog)
(Iloko)
(Hiligaynon)

11. He also did the pounding of the palay
that his father and Ingat harvested.
Even in pounding, Daskol lived up to
his name. Half of the grain he
pounded scattered and fell to the
ground. Being naturally lazy and
impatient, he did not like the work of
pounding rice.

12. One day, Daskol had
to pound a greater
quantity of palay
than usual. He was
irritated because
every time he raised
the pestle higher,
and every time it hit
the sky, the sky
would be raised.

13. In his hurry, Daskol did not notice that the sky
was rising. When he finished pounding the
rice, he looked up and discovered that the sky
had risen and it is where it is today.

15. In the olden days, the only people on
earth were a man and a woman.

16. One day, they ate venison which the man
had brought home from hunting.

17. But because the bones were very big
and they wanted to eat the marrow,
they thought of pounding the bones.

18. The woman removed her comb and
necklace and hung them on the low sky.
But whenever she pounded, she would
hit the sky.

20. Still the pestle hit
the sky. So the
woman again asked
the sky to go higher.
It thundered and
the sky rose higher.
Still the pestle hit
the sky.

24. In the olden days the sky was so low---so
low that it could be reached by a stick of
ordinary length. The people in those days
said that God had created the sky in such
a way that he could hear his people
when they called to him.

25. In turn, God could send his blessings to earth as
soon as men needed them. Because of this close
connection between God and his subjects, the
people were provided for, and they did not need to
work.

26. Whenever they wanted to eat, they
could simply call God. Before their
request was made, almost, the food
would be on the table;.

29. One day one of the chiefs, Abing by
name, held a feast. Many people came to
enjoy it.

30. A sayao, or native war-dance, was given in honor of
the men belonging to the chief, and it was acted by
men brandishing spears.

31. While acting, one of the actors,
who was drunk, tried to show
his skill, but he forgot that the
sky was so low.