“Bakunawa can never devour the last moon, unless you stop making noises” – Anonymous Pintados Bakunawa is the moon-eating dragon in Philippine Mythology Long ago, but not so long ago that men and gods do not remember, the great gray serpent Bakunawa lived in the eastern ocean. In those days there were seven moons, as brilliant and beautiful as gems on a velvet cloth, and Bakunawa rose from the sea each night to watch them pass over his head; He loved beauty and beautiful things. Each night, he loved the moons a little more, and in time it came to be that he loved the moons so much that he wanted them for his own. On a summer night, when the air was still and the Folk played with the lightning bugs and the moons were bright and full, Bakunawa rose up from the depths and flew up into the sky. He flew higher and higher and grew bigger and bigger until he soared above the sky and could be seen by the whole world like a silvery ribbon. He opened up his great whiskered mouth and GULP! He gobbled up the first moon. The people below saw all this, and were frightened. They rushed out of their homes into the streets and fields, shouting and stamping their feet and banging on pots and pans, trying to scare Bakunawa away. But the great gray serpent did not hear them down on the ground, and gobbled up the second moon, and right thereafter the third. The people cried out to the gods, saying “the great Bakunawa is eating the moons one by one and we cannot scare him away! Come to our aid, O gods of man!” The gods heard the pleas of the people, and a great number answered them. The gods went forth above the sky to deal with Bakunawa, but by the time they arrived, the great gray serpent had eaten all but one of the moons! The gods did battle Bakunawa then, and they fought through the night. No matter how hard he was struck, he would not spit out the moons. But he was so full from his meal that he could not fight the gods off. Bakunawa was chased out of the sky and back into the depths of the ocean, so deep that the gods could not follow him. There in the darkness he coiled around himself and fell asleep. He sleeps there still, dreaming of the moon that escaped him. If you ever see his shadow come forth a-gobbling, run out into the streets and shout and stamp your feet and call on the gods to scare his shadow away. In Bicolano myths, the Bakunawa was a goddess punished for her arrogance and greed for coveting the moons. She was punished to lose her beauty and forever remain into a dragon-like being that guards the gates to the underworld. She coveted the god of the moon Bulan. Stories tell that Bulan was so comely that even vicious mermaids would turn docile in his presence. Bakunawa then fell in love with the lunar god but was neglected. She swore to claim Bulan from the sky, thus making Haliya (Bulan´s sister and protector) her enemy. Sources: http://bicolanomythsofgodsandmonsters.blogspot.com/2016/11/bakunawa.html http://throneofsalt.blogspot.com/2017/06/bakunawa-and-seven-moons.html Thanks for checking :)