Filipino Popular Tales. Various

to eat!”

So the eldest brother took off his camisa china1 and climbed up one of the trees. When he reached the top, the tree broke.

      “Bung!” Down came the poor fellow. “One!” cried the youngest brother. “Three more!” shouted the rest.

      “Don’t come down until you have dropped four!” they all cried at once. Who would answer them? Their brother lay dead on the ground.

      While they were waiting for the second “Bung!” the second brother climbed up the same tree. What had happened to the first happened also to him, and so to the third in turn. As soon as the youngest brother heard the third fall, he thought of looking for his share. He crept about to find the cocoanuts. Alas! he discovered that his three brothers lay dead on the ground. He went away from the place crying very loud.

Now, his crying happened to disturb the patianac,2 who were trying to sleep. They went out to see what was the matter. When they found the poor helpless blind man, they were very much moved, and they gave him food and shelter for the night. They also gave him the tail of a pagui,3 which would help him find his fortune, they said. At daybreak they showed him the way out of the grove.

      The blind man walked on and on, until he was hailed by a lame man resting under a shady tree. “Friend, carry me on your shoulders, and let us travel together!” said the lame man to the blind.

      “Willingly,” replied the blind man.

      They travelled for many hours, and at last came to a big, lonely house. They knocked at the open door, but nobody answered. At last they entered, and found the place empty. While they were searching through the house, the owner came. He was a two-headed giant. The blind man and the lame man were upstairs.

      The giant was afraid to enter the house, but he called in a voice of thunder, “Who’s there?”

      “We are big men,” answered the two companions.

      “How big are you?” asked the giant.

      “We are so big that the foundation of the house shakes when we walk,” the two replied.

      “Give me a proof that you are really big men!” cried the giant again.

      “We will show you one of our hairs,” they answered, and they dropped from the window the tail of the pagui.

      The giant looked at it in wonder. He was immediately convinced that they were more powerful than he was. So, picking up the “hair,” the giant went away, afraid to face such antagonists in single combat.

      So the prediction of the patianac came true. The house and all the property of the giant fell into the hands of the blind man and the lame man. They lived there happily all the rest of their lives.

      Juan the Blind Man.

       Table of Contents

      Narrated by Pedro D. L. Sorreta, a Bicol from Virac, Catanduanes, where the story is common.

Many years ago there lived in a little village near a thick forest eight blind men who were close friends. In spite of their physical defects, they were always happy—perhaps much happier than their fellow-villagers, for at night they would always go secretly to one of the neighboring cocoanut-groves, where they would spend their time drinking tuba4 or eating young cocoanuts.

One evening a severe typhoon5 struck the little village, and most of the cocoanut-trees were broken off at the top. The next afternoon the joyous party went to the cocoanut-grove to steal fruits. As soon as they arrived there, seven of them climbed trees. Juan, the youngest of all, was ordered to remain below so as to count and gather in the cocoanuts his friends threw down to him. While his companions were climbing the trees, Juan was singing—

      “Eight friends, good friends,

      One fruit each eats;

      Good Juan here bends,

      Young nuts he takes.”

      He had no sooner repeated his verse three times than he heard a fall.

      “One,” he counted; and he began to sing the second verse:—

      “Believe me, that everything

      Which man can use he must bring,

      No matter at all of what it’s made;

      So, friends, a counter you need.”

      Crrapup! he heard another fall, which was followed by three in close succession. “Good!” he said, “five in all. Three more, friends,” and he raised his head as if he could see his companions. After a few minutes he heard two more falls.

      “Six, seven—well, only seven,” he said, as he began searching for the cocoanuts on the ground. “One more for me, friends—one more, and every one is satisfied.” But it was his friends who had fallen; for, as the trees were only stumps, the climbers fell off when they reached the tops.

      Juan, however, did not guess what had happened until he found one of the dead bodies. Then he ran away as fast as he could. At last he struck Justo, a lame man. After hearing Juan’s story, Justo advised Juan not to return to his village, lest he be accused of murder by the relatives of the other men.

      After a long talk, the two agreed to travel together and seek a place of refuge, for the blind man’s proposal seemed a good one to the lame man:—

      “Blind man, strong legs;

      Lame man, good eyes;

      Four-footed are pigs;

      Four-handed are monkeys.

      But we’ll walk on two,

      And we’ll see with two.”

      So when morning dawned, they started on their journey.

      They had not travelled far when Justo saw a horn in the road, and told Juan about it. Juan said—

      “Believe me, that everything

      Which man can use he must bring,

      No matter at all of what it’s made;

      So, friend, a horn too we need.”

      The next thing that Justo saw was a rusted axe; and after being told about it, Juan repeated his little verse again, ending it with, “So, friend, an axe too we need.” A few hours later the lame man saw a piece of rope; and when the blind man knew of it, he said—

      “Bring one, bring two, bring all,

      The horn, the axe, the rope as well.”

      And last of all they found an old drum, which they took along with them too.

      Soon Justo saw a very big house. They were glad, for they thought that they could get something to eat there. When they came near it, they found that the door was open; but when they entered it, Justo saw nothing but bolos, spears, and shields hanging on the walls. After a warm discussion as to what they should do, they decided to hide in the ceiling of the house, and remain there until the owner returned.

      They had no sooner made themselves comfortable than they heard some persons coming. When Justo saw the bloody bolos and spears of the men, and the big sack of money they carried, he was terrified, for he suspected that they were outlaws. He trembled; his hair stood on end; he could not control himself. At last he shouted, “Ay, here?”