In Tagalog mythology, the first two humans (Maganda and Malakas) emerged from a giant bamboo plant. This is their story. In a time before humans, there was a big bird flying between the sea and the sky. Its movement stirred up the ocean and water reached the sky. The sky was irritated by the water. It threw islands at the sea to calm it down and told the bird to build a nest on one of the islands. The bird did as it was told, but one day, it was injured by a giant bamboo plant. The bird got angry. It started pecking at the bamboo plant and wouldn't stop until the bamboo split open. Out of the bamboo, the first two humans emerged: Maganda ("beautiful") as the first woman and Malakas ("strong") as the first man. The gods wondered what to do with these new lifeforms and debated the matter. Finally it was decided that Maganda and Malakas should marry each other and multiply. The two humans followed this decision and gave life to many children. There seem to be different accounts of the events following the splitting of the giant bamboo - some involve Maganda and Malakas eating a special apple, others talk about Maganda and Malakas getting angry at their many children for being idle and not doing any work. According to some forms of this legend, because of the different hiding places the children would find while running away from their parents, the different ethnic groups of humanity would evolve. Parents getting angry at their children is notably also an important theme in ancient Mesopotamian myths such as the oldest legends of a giant flood (in both the Atrahasis and Gilgamesh myths), even though for slightly different reasons: in these cases, the kids were not idle but instead too loud. This legend of pre-colonial Philippine folklore is partly reminiscent of the Biblical story of Adam and Eve, but obviously has its own beautiful tropical take on the origin of humanity. Thanks to my wife for requesting this image!