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She sits on the floor, or lies on her back with hands clasped behind her head, and pours out her story in an unbroken flow to the eager young men and girls who gather to listen. Again, I have seen a girl of thirteen the sole auditor while a boy but little older than she rolled off an ulit that seemed interminable, with never a pause for breath.
Buso figures prominently in the ulit; animals play the part of heroes in Buso tales; while in nature myths the traditional Mona are more or less closely associated with the shifting of sky and sun. But this is merely equivalent to saying that all the tales hang together. A word as to the form of the stories and the manner of narration.
The stories were taken down in 1907, on Mount Merar in the district of Talun, and at Santa Cruz on the coast. Foremost in significance for the cultural tradition of the people is the ulit, a long, romantic tale relating in highly picturesque language the adventures of the mythical Bagobo, who lived somewhere back in the hazy past, before existing conditions were established.
Then the moon jumps out of the bird's mouth and runs away. All the old men know about the minokawa-bird in the ulit stories. The "Ulit:" Adventures of Mythical Bagobo at the Dawn of Tradition Lumabat and Mebu'yan And his sister had replied, "No, I don't like to do that." Then they began to fight each other.
Although Bagobo songs are often designated as men's songs and women's songs, in the case of the stories I have found as yet no monopoly by either sex of any special type. The ulit, however, is often told by a young woman just after she leaves the loom, when darkness drops.
In marked contrast is the style of the mythical romance, or ulit, which is recited in a rapid monotone, without change of pitch, with no gestures, and with a regard to accent and quantity that gives a rhythmic swing suggestive of a metrical rendering.
Semi-divine some of them were, or men possessing magical power. The old Mona people; the Malaki, who portrayed the Bagobo's ideal of manhood; and the noble lady called Bia, these and other well-marked characters figure in the ulit. Another class of stories deals with the demons known as Buso, who haunt graveyards, forests, and rocks.
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