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Overview
In Cole’s creation account Lumawig descends from the sky, cuts reeds into pairs and commands them to speak. They become men and women with different languages. He then teaches productive skills, assigning salt production to Mayinit and pottery to Samoki after other communities fail to follow his instructions. These episodes explain local differences within the printed narrative rather than independently establishing the origin of languages or trades.
In the flood story his two sons inundate the world to make hunting easier. Lumawig finds one surviving brother and sister at Pokis, sends his dog and deer to obtain fire, and ultimately rescues the ember himself when their swimming threatens to extinguish it. His fire warms the survivors and evaporates the floodwaters, leaving mountains. This telling distinguishes the sons who cause the flood from the father who rescues its survivors.
Lumawig on Earth describes him filling baskets from single bean pods, making chicks and piglets mature quickly and multiplying rice for his wedding to Fukan, later spelled Fugan in the same text. During a quarrel he produces water by striking a rock and pushes his troublesome brother-in-law into it, where water issues from the man’s body. Before returning to the sky, he sends his wife alive downstream in a wooden coffin with a dog and cock; a widower at Tinglayen receives and marries her. Cole proposes missionary influence on the rock-water motif, but the transmission history is not established by that resemblance alone.
Origins & earliest records
Philippines; Igorot accounts as grouped by Cole
Records & interpretation
Complete relevant story, collection preface, regional introduction and attached notes directly read.
Selected bibliography
Documented works and useful reading. This is not a list of every appearance.
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Philippine Folk Tales
The Creation, pp. 99–101 and notes; The Flood Story, pp. 102–104 and notes; Lumawig on Earth, pp. 105–110 and notes
Family, evolution & connections
Lumawig’s two hunting sons — Cole’s Igorot Flood Story
One father and two unnamed sons in this telling, pp. 102–104.
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Explicit opening father–son and elder-brother wording; Lumawig subsequently recognizes his sons’ flooding. Both sons reuse their collective profile. Their mother is not supplied. The human survivor siblings who later marry are distinct, and are not described as Lumawig’s children. His dog and deer are helpers, not children.
Lumawig’s two flood-making sons
Cole’s Igorot Flood Story explicitly identifies the hunting brothers as Lumawig’s sons. They cause the flood; the surviving human brother and sister are different characters.
Primary records and illustrations
Mabel Cook Cole, Philippine Folk Tales (Chicago: A. C. McClurg, 1916)
Igorot section. The Creation, pp. 99–101 and notes; The Flood Story, pp. 102–104 and notes; Lumawig on Earth, pp. 105–110 and notes
Whole Creation/Flood/Lumawig on Earth and notes plus section introduction read. Divine flood-makers, human survivors and assisting animals distinguished; Fukan/Fugan printed alternation retained. Public sacred source, original paraphrase.
References
Sources supporting this profile. Linked pages have their own scope and editorial standards.
- Historical collected narrative and editorial notesCole, Philippine Folk Tales (1916), The Creation, pp. 99–101 and notes; The Flood Story, pp. 102–104 and notes; Lumawig on Earth, pp. 105–110 and notesResearch access: 2026-10-05
Image credits
A sourced illustration has not yet been added. This gap is included in the coverage record.