A sourced illustration has not yet been added. This gap is included in the coverage record.

Overview

In The Story of the Creation, Melu is a vast cloud-dwelling being with golden teeth and skin made white by constant rubbing. Accumulated shed skin becomes the material from which he makes earth and two smaller human forms. Tau Tana insists on helping and places their noses upside down. The makers bring the forms to life by whipping them; when rain threatens to drown them through their nostrils, Melu turns the noses correctly. He later uses collected hair and dry skin to provide more people.

In the separate In the Beginning account, Melu shares a tiny island with Fiuweigh, Diwata, Saweigh and the bird Buswit. He fashions land from soil the bird brings, using a paddle like a potter, and plants the returned fruit seeds. Wax figures melt, so the makers try earth instead. Here Melu corrects an unnamed companion’s reversed noses before the danger is realized, leaving an indentation where his finger presses. Neither the material sequence nor the timing is flattened into one reconstructed story.

Cole’s notes call Melu a powerful spirit approached in danger and speculate about Christian or Muslim transmission of narrative similarities. Those suggestions remain attributed, without establishing a sole origin or a uniform present-day account. Bilaan is the collection’s historical spelling.

Great creator whose two tellings use different earth-making materialsPublic traditional narrative
01

Origins & earliest records

Philippines; Bilaan accounts as grouped by Cole

02

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.

  1. 01

    Philippine Folk Tales

    Mabel Cook Cole, compiler and annotator · 1916

    Bilaan, The Story of the Creation, pp. 139–140 and notes16–18; In the Beginning, pp. 141–142 and notes19–20

Family & connections

A source-supported family tree or inspiration record has not yet been compiled for this profile. Related reading below indicates a connection in subject matter, not a proven lineage or creative influence.

Primary records and illustrations

Direct primary record

Mabel Cook Cole, Philippine Folk Tales (Chicago: A. C. McClurg, 1916)

Bilaan section. Bilaan, The Story of the Creation, pp. 139–140 and notes16–18; In the Beginning, pp. 141–142 and notes19–20

Complete relevant account(s), notes and section introduction read. Source-specific actions and variant sequences preserved; modern anatomy, identity equations and transmission histories not inferred. Original paraphrase.

Inspect the digitized plate · Source collection manifest

References

Sources supporting this profile. Linked pages have their own scope and editorial standards.

  1. Historical collected narrative and editorial notesCole, Philippine Folk Tales (1916), Bilaan, The Story of the Creation, pp. 139–140 and notes16–18; In the Beginning, pp. 141–142 and notes19–20Research access: 2026-10-05

Image credits

A sourced illustration has not yet been added. This gap is included in the coverage record.

FT·1794 · RESEARCH EDITION 01Back to top ↑