The Creation

 In the beginning there were no people on the earth. Lumawig,1 the Great Spirit, came down from the sky and cut many reeds¹.2 He divided these into pairs which he placed in different parts of the world, and then he said to them, “You must speak.” Immediately the reeds became people, and in each place was a man and a woman who could talk, but the language of each couple differed from that of the others.

 

Then Lumawig commanded each man and woman to marry, which they did. By and by there were many children, all speaking the same language as their parents. [100]These, in turn, married and had many children. In this way there came to be many people on the earth.

 

Now Lumawig saw that there were several things which the people on the earth needed to use, so he set to work to supply them. He created salt, and told the inhabitants² of one place to boil it down and sell it to their neighbors. But these people could not understand the directions of the Great Spirit, and the next time he visited them, they had not touched the salt.

 

Then he took it away from them and gave it to the people of a place called Mayinit.3 These did as he directed³, and because of this he told them that they should always be owners of the salt, and that the other peoples must buy of them.

 

Then Lumawig went to the people of Bontoc and told them to get clay⁴ and make pots. They got the clay, but they did not understand the moulding⁵, and the jars were not well shaped. Because of their failure, Lumawig told them that they would always have to [101]buy their jars, and he removed the pottery⁶ to Samoki.4 When he told the people there what to do, they did just as he said, and their jars were well shaped and beautiful. Then the Great Spirit saw that they were fit owners of the pottery, and he told them that they should always make many jars to sell.

 

In this way Lumawig taught the people and brought to them all the things which they now have. 

1 reeds   

芦苇( reed的名词复数 )； 芦丛； 簧舌； 簧片

参考例句：

• Our roof was made of dried reeds. 我们的屋顶是用干芦苇盖的。
• Oaks may fall when reeds stand the storm. 芦苇耐风暴，橡树却会倒。

2 inhabitants   

n.居民，住户， （栖息在某地区的）动物( inhabitant的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• They set fire to the city and massacred all the inhabitants. 他们放火烧了这座城市，而且屠杀了所有的居民。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He quartered his men on the inhabitants in the town. 他把他的部队安置在镇上的居民家中。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 directed   

adj.有指导的；有管理的；定向的；被控制的v.（用建议、指示、有益的情报等）指导( direct的过去式和过去分词 )；导演（戏剧或电影）；指示方向；把…对准（某方向或某人）

参考例句：

• The firemen directed jets of water at the burning building. 消防队员把水柱喷向燃烧着的楼房。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The general directed that the prisoners should be set free. 将军命令释放囚犯。 来自《简明英汉词典》

4 clay   

n.黏土；泥土

参考例句：

• The children like making houses of sticks and clay.孩子们喜欢用树枝或黏土盖房子玩。
• What a love of a clay doll!多么可爱的泥娃娃！

5 moulding   

n.（墙壁、家具、画框等的）装饰线条；模制件，铸造物v.用模子做( mould的现在分词)；对…影响重大；将…塑造成；（使）紧贴于

参考例句：

• Two common methods of manufacturing plastic articles are by extrusion and by injection moulding. 生产塑料制品的两种通用方法是挤出成型法和注射成型法。 来自辞典例句
• Each one is made of a stainless steel, aluminum and sheet-moulding compound. 每一个火炬由不锈钢，铝和薄板成型化合物构成。 来自互联网

6 pottery   

n.陶器，陶器场

参考例句：

• My sister likes to learn art pottery in her spare time.我妹妹喜欢在空余时间学习陶艺。
• The pottery was left to bake in the hot sun.陶器放在外面让炎热的太阳烘晒焙干。