His reunion with Gaygayoma was no less fond than his departure from Bolina, and Aponito remained in the sky for a long time. But eventually he again longed for the earth. So he traveled up and down many times. One day he took Takyayen down to earth to show him our world. But soon it began to rain because Gaygayoma was crying for her son, she missed him so much. Therefore, Takyayen quickly traveled back to the heavens in his own basket.

The lonely Songbird Boy

Ini-init, the sun god, finds Bolina asleep in his bed.

Now, on the earth, Aponito and Bolina had a son whom they called Dumalawi. When he became a young man, his father sent him to the rice fields to guard the crops against wild pigs. Obediently Dumalawi went out every day, but since the fields were far from his home, he felt isolated. The fences were well built and the pigs could not come near the crops, so Dumalawi had nothing to do. He became sad and lonely.

One day he saw some birds flying together, and he envied them, for they had each other’s company. All at once he became a bird too, flying around with the others, chirping and twittering. That night, Aponito and Bolina became worried when he did not come home. So Aponito went in search of his son early the next day. After looking everywhere, he happened to look up into the sky, and there he saw his son flying as a songbird.

“Please come back home, my son,” pleaded Aponito. “Your mother is crying for you: she promised to cook your favorite dish for you if you come back. I myself promise never to send you out into the fields again. Only please become our son once more.”

Dumalawi preferred to stay a bird, however, and he flew away. His parents were filled with grief because they had lost their son to the spirit birds.

On another unlucky day, not long after, Aponito’s village was attacked by a hostile tribe from a village over the hills. But the enemies did not know that Aponito possessed magic powers. All the javelins that they threw missed him, yet all his javelins hit their hearts, one after the other. In the end, all the enemy warriors lay dead but Aponito was unharmed.