Philippine Folk Tales Part 26

Then the sky grew black, for the Bakaka and the Tortoise were going around the meadow with lighted sticks of balekayo, [146] and setting fire to the gra.s.s. The air was full of smoke, and the little monkeys were crying; but the old Monkey bit them, and said, "Keep still, for the Bakaka told us not to speak."

But the meadow-gra.s.s was all ablaze, and the flames crept nearer and nearer to the tual-tree. Then all the monkeys saw the fire, and cried, "Oh! what will become of us?"

Some of the birds and most of the chickens flew away; but some died in the flames. A few of the pigs ran away, but most of them died. The other animals were burned to death. Not a single monkey escaped, save only the female monkey who staid at home. When her baby was born, it was a boy-monkey. The mother made it her husband, and from this pair came many monkeys.

It was the same with the deer. All were burned, except one doe who staid at home. When her little fawn was born, it was a male. She made it her husband, and from this one pair came many deer.

The Crow and the Golden Trees

The liver of the crow is "medicine" for many pains and for sickness. On this account the Bagobo kills the crow so that he may get his liver for "medicine." The liver is good to eat, either cooked or raw. If you see a crow dead, you can get its liver and eat some of it, and it will be "medicine" for your body.

The crow never makes its nest in low-growing trees, but only in tall, big trees. Far from here, the old men say, in the land where the sun rises, there are no more living trees; for the scorching heat of the sun has killed them.all, and dried up the leaves. There they stand, with naked branches, all bare of leaves. Only two trees there have not died from the heat. The trunks of these trees are of gold, and all their leaves of silver. But if any bird lights on one of these trees, it falls down dead. The ground under the two trees is covered with the bones of little birds and big birds that have died from perching on the trees with the golden trunks and the silver leaves. These two trees are full of a resin that makes all the birds die. Only the crow can sit on the branches, and not die. Hence the crow alone, of all the birds, remains alive in the land of the sunrise.

No man can get the resin from these trees. But very long ago, in the days of the Mona, there came a Malaki T'oluk Waig to the trees. He had a war-shield that shone brightly, for it had a flame of fire always burning in it. And this Malaki came to the golden trees and took the precious resin from their trunks.

CHAPTER V

An Ata Story [147]

Alelu'k and Alebu'tud [148]

Alelu'k and Alebu'tud lived together in their own house. They had no neighbors. One day Alelu'k said to his wife, "I must go and hunt some pigs."

Then he started out to hunt, taking with him his three dogs. He did not find any wild pigs; but before long he sighted a big deer with many-branched antlers. The dogs gave chase and seized the deer, and held it until the man came up and killed it with the sharp iron spike that tipped his long staff (tidalan [149]). Then the man tied to the deer's antlers a strong piece of rattan, and dragged it home.

When he reached his house, his wife met him joyfully; and they were both very happy, because they had now plenty of meat. They brought wood and kindled a fire, and fixed over the fire a frame of wood tied to upright posts stuck into the ground. On the frame they laid the body of the deer to singe off the hair over the flames. And when the hair was all burned off, and the skin clean, Alelu'k began to cut off pieces of venison, and Alebu'tud got ready the big clay pot, and poured into it water to boil the meat. But there was only a little water in the house, so Alubu'tud took her bucket (sekkadu [150]), and hurried down to the river. When she reached there, she stood with her bare feet in the stream, and dipped the bucket into the stream, and took it out full of water. But, just as she turned to climb up the river-bank, an enormous fish jumped out of the river, seized her, dragged her down, and devoured her.

At home, Alelu'k was watching for his wife to come back bringing the water. Day after day he waited for her, and all day long he was crying from sorrow.

The man (Alelu'k) symbolizes a big black ant that makes its nest in a hollow tree. The woman (Alebu'tud) is a little worm that lives in the palma brava tree. The fish is another man who carried off Alelu'k's wife.

New York.

NOTES

[1] In these legends, in a few instances, the exact phrases of the narrators have been retained for the sake of their quaintness.

[2] Obtained from Jose Teodoro, Bay, Laguna, P.I.

[3] Obtained from Fabian de la Paz, San Fernando, Pompanga, P. I., who says it was "handed down from old time."

[4] Obtained from Camilo Osias, Balayan, Luzon, P. I.

[5] The word here translated "king" is hardly satisfactory, but perhaps nothing better can be subst.i.tuted. Of course the idea "king"

has crept in since the Spanish conquest. "Datto" or "chief" might be more satisfactory. What is really meant, however, is nothing exactly imaged by these words, but rather a sort of "head-man," a man more prominent and powerful than others.

[6] See "Tar-Baby" in Uncle Remus, his Songs and Sayings, p. 7. Also "Puss in Boots" in Lang's Cinderella, p. 36.

[7] See "Uncle Remus" on "Tortoise and the Rabbit," p. 87. Also aesop's Fables, p. 162.

[8] The incident of Ca Boo-Ug pretending that he did not wish to be thrown into the water is similar to an incident in the "Tar Baby"

story (see Uncle Remus, his Songs and Sayings, p. 16).

[9] Juan Puson, or "Jack Paunch," as he would be called in English, is a favorite character in Tagalog folk-lore. His adventures are considered to be the height of humor, and a recital of these never fails to be repaid with peals of appreciative laughter. The character is merely a conventional one, to which all sorts of stories, no matter how inconsistent with each of the others, may be attached. Some of the accounts, which deal with the death of Juan and various members of his family by burning, the writer has suppressed as too coa.r.s.e for Western ideas.

[10] Anac, child.

[11] Anac hang gabi, young root of the caladium plant. It also means "child of the night."

[12] Any kind of relish to be eaten with rice, meat especially.

[13] Tuba, fermented juice of cocoa, buri, or nipa palms.

[14] "Lightning blast the stick!"

[15] The Tagalog word is literally "hash."

[16] This story is probably derived from a Spanish version of "The Forty Thieves," but like all the stories of this collection, it is from an oral version of the Tagalog tale.

[17] Filipinos do not kiss like Occidental peoples, but touch the tip of the nose, with sometimes the lips, and inhale the fragrance of the face or hair.

[18] Native houses of the poorer cla.s.ses are very slightly built, of four or six uprights, with bamboo floors and thatched roof and sides, the whole tied together with rattan. They are very safe in earthquakes.

[19] "Honorable people."

[20] Malapad--a copper piece worth about eighty to the peso or 0.0125 Mexican dollars.

[21] Sec-apat--a real or one eighth of a peso.

[22] Pallok--rice pot of earthenware.

[23] This story is rather suggestive of the Arabian Nights. The writer in unable to determine its true source.

[24] Tabo: a cocoanut sh.e.l.l cup.

[25] Sinio: corrupted from Sp. genio; Eng. genius.

[26] Multo: genius; etymology unknown.

[27] The general name for a story, of whatever type.