Book: Filipino Popular Tales

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B Attempts of parents (or uncle) to get rid of the hero: (B1) by
letting a tree fall on him, (B2) by throwing him into a deep well and
then stoning him, (B3) by commanding him to dive into a river to repair
a fishing-net, (B4) by persuading him to enter wrestling-match with
the king's champion, (B5) by pushing him into the sea or by pushing
rocks on him at the seashore.

C Hero's first exploits: (C1) carrying tree home on his shoulders,
(C2) killing crocodile in river, or king of fishes in the sea, (C3)
escape from the well, (C4) defeating champion.

D The hero now decides to leave home, (D1) taking with him a strong
club, an enormous bolo, or an enormous top, sword, and sheath.

E On his travels he meets two (three) strong men, whom he surpasses
in strength-tests; or (E1) three men, whom he hires. They all journey
along together, seeking adventures.

F Tasks of the companions: (F1) killing of troublesome giant by
the hero after the monster has worsted the two other strong men,
(F2) removal of large stone from king's grounds, (F3) removal of
enormous decaying fish, (F4) killing of two giants, (F5) killing
seven-headed man, (F6) battering, blowing, and running contest with
king's strong men.

G Hero marries off his companions, but remains single himself, and
(G1) returns home to live with his parents, either for good or for
only a short time.


These incidents are distributed among the different versions thus:--


No. 3 AB1B3C1C2DD1EF1F2F3GG1
Version a AB1B5D
Version b C1DD1EF3F4F5GG1
Version c AB5B1B4C1C2C4
Version d AB1B2C1C3DE1F6
Version e AB1B3C1C2DG1
Version f AB4B1C1C4
Version g AB1B2C1C3DD1EF4G
Version h AB1B2C1C3DD1


Up to the point where the hero leaves home, these various Filipino
stories agree in the main: i.e., the hero is a dwarf of superhuman
strength and extraordinary eating-capacity; his parents (or guardian)
are driven by poverty to attempt to kill him (usually twice, sometimes
thrice), but their efforts are vain; he finally determines to leave
home, often taking with him some mighty weapon. From this point on,
the narratives differ widely. All are alike in this respect, however:
the hero never marries. Obviously this group of stories is connected
with two well-known European cycles of folk-tales,--"Strong Hans"
and "John the Bear." The points of resemblance will be indicated
below in an analysis of the incidents found in the members of our
group. (Variants are referred to by italicized lower-case letters thus:
a [Pusong], b [Cabagboc], etc. No. 3 refers to our complete story of
"Carancal.")


A Hero is born as result of childless couple's unceasing petitions
to Heaven (3, a, f, g), and is only a span in length when born (c,
d, g). Three of the tales do not mention anything definite about the
hero's birth (b, e, h). In all, however, his name is significant,
indicating the fact that he is either a dwarf, or wonderfully strong,
or a glutton (3 Carancal, from Tag. dangkal, "a palm;" [a] Pusong,
from Vis. puso, "paunch, belly;" [b] Cabagboc, from Bicol, "strong;"
[c] Sandapal, from Tag. dapal, "a span;" [d] Sandangcal, from Pampangan
dangkal = Tag.; [f] Tapon, Ilocano for "short;" [g] and [h] Tangarangan
and Dangandangan, from Ilocano dangan, "a span"). a describes the
hero as having "a big head and large stomach," but as being "very,
very strong, he ate a sack of corn or rice every day." In b the hero
"had great strength even when an infant." Sandangcal (d) required
a carabao-liver every meal. In e the hero's voracious appetite is
mentioned. The hero in c "would eat everything in the house, leaving
no food for his parents." Juan Tapon (f), when three years old, "used
to eat daily half a ganta of rice and a pound of meat, besides fish and
vegetables;" the quantity of food he required increased steadily until,
when he was fourteen, his parents could no longer support him. However,
he never grew taller than a six-year-old boy. Dangandangan (g) could
walk and talk the day he was born. He could eat one cavan of rice
and one carabao daily. The hero of h was so greedy that by the time
he was a "young man" his father could no longer support him. He is
described as a "dwarf" In c and d there is nothing to indicate that
the hero was not always a Tom Thumb in size.

Nearly all these details may be found duplicated in Märchen of the
"John the Bear" and "Strong Hans" types. For analogues, see Friedrich
Panzer's Beowulf, pp. 28-33, 47-48, 50-52. In Grimm's story of the
"Young Giant" (No. 90) the hero, when born, was only as big as a thumb,
and for several years did not grow one hair's breadth. But a giant
got hold of him and suckled him for six years, during which time he
grew tall and strong, after the manner of giants. It is interesting
to note that none of the nine Filipino versions make any reference to
an animal parentage or extraordinary source of nourishment of the hero.

B The poverty of the parents is the motive for their attempts on his
life in a, c, d, e, f, h. In a the mother proposes the scheme; in h,
the father; in g it is the boy's uncle, by whom he had been adopted
when his parents died. This "unnatural parents" motif is lacking in
the European variants.

B1-5 With the various attempts to destroy the hero may be discussed his
escapes (C1-3). The "falling-tree" episode occurs in all the stories
but one (b). The events of this incident are conducted in various
ways. In a, c, h, the hero is told to "catch the tree when it falls,"
so that he can carry it home (in c the hero is pushed clear into the
ground by the weight of the tree). In d the father directs his son to
stand in a certain place, "so that the tree will not fall on him;" but
when Sandangcal sees that he is about to be crushed, he nimbly jumps
aside unobserved by his father, who thinks him killed. In f the tree
is made to fall on the body of the sleeping hero. In g Darangdarang is
told to stand beside the tree being cut: it falls on him. In all the
stories but d the hero performs the feat of carrying home a tree on his
shoulders (C1). This episode is not uncommon in the European versions
(see Panzer, op. cit., p. 35), but there the hero performs it while
out at service. By the process of contamination these two incidents
(B1C1) have worked their way into another Filipino story not of our
cycle,--the Visayan story of "Juan the Student" (see JAFL 19 : 104).

B2 Of the other methods of putting an end to the hero's life, the
"well" episode is the most common. In d and h father and son go
to dig a well. When it is several metres deep, the father rains
stones on the boy, who is working at the bottom, and leaves him
for dead. In g the hero is sent down a well to find a lost ring;
and while he is there, stones and rocks are thrown on him by his
treacherous uncle. In all three the hero escapes, wiser, but none
the worse, for his adventure (C3). This incident is very common in
European members of the cycle. Bolte and Polívka (2 : 288-292) note
its occurrence in twenty-five different stories.

B3 In our story of "Carancal," as has been remarked, and in e,
the father commands his son to dive into deep water to see if the
fishing-net is intact. Seeing blood and foam appear on the surface
of the water, the father goes home, confident that he is rid of his
son at last; but not long afterward, when the parents are eating, the
hero appears, carrying on his shoulder a huge crocodile he has killed
(C2). Analogous to this exploit is Sandapal's capture of the king of
the fishes, after his father has faithlessly pushed him overboard into
the deep sea (c). The hero's fight under water with a monstrous fish or
crocodile, the blood and foam telling the story of a desperate struggle
going on, reminds one strongly of Beowulf's fight with Grendel's dam.

B4 In c, as a last resort, the father takes his son to the king,
and has the best royal warrior fight the small boy. Sandapal
conquers in five minutes. In f the father persuades his son to
enter a wrestling-match held by the king. Juan easily throws all his
opponents. With this incident compare the Middle-English "Tale of
Gamelyn" (ll. 183-270) and Shakespeare's "As You Like It" (act i,
sc. ii).

B5 In a the father, at the instigation of his wife, pushes large
rocks from a cliff down upon his son by the seashore; but the son
returns home later, rolling an immense bowlder that threatens to
crush the house.

D, D1 Satisfied that he is no longer wanted at home, the hero sets
out on adventures (a, g, h), taking along with him as a weapon a bolo
five yards long (3), or a mighty bolo his father had given him,--such
a one that none but the hero could wield it (g), or a short stout club
(h). In b the parents are not cruel to their son. The hero leaves home
with the kindest of feeling for his father. He carries along with
him an enormous top, so heavy that four persons could not lift it,
and which, when spun, could be heard for miles; a long sword made
by a blacksmith; and a wooden sheath for it made by the father. In
the European versions of the story the weapons of the hero play an
important part (see Panzer, 39-43). In c the story ends with the sale
of Sandapal to the king. In d, after Sandangcal has escaped from the
well, he comes home at night, and, finding his parents asleep, shakes
the house. Thinking it is an earthquake, they jump from the windows
in terror, and are killed. (This incident is also told as a separate
story; see JAFL 20 : 305, No. 17.) After the hero has eaten up all
the livestock he had inherited by their death, he sells his property
and sets out on his travels. In e the father sells his greedy son to
merchants. In f the parents finally give up attempts on their son's
life, and he goes away to join the army.

E The companions--Carancal (3), Cabagboc (b), Sandangcal (d), and
Dangandangan (g)--meet with extraordinary men, who accompany them
on their travels. Cabagboc surpasses Cabual ("Breaker") and Cagabot
("Uprooter") in a contest of skill, and they agree to go with him as
his servants. Dangandangan meets two strong men,--Paridis, who uproots
forests with his hands; and Aolo, [17] the mighty fisher for sharks,
whose net is so large that weights as big as mortars are needed to
sink it. But neither of these two can turn the hero's bolo over,
hence they become his servants. Sandangcal (d), who nowhere in the
story displays any great strength, rather only craftiness and greed,
meets one at a time three strong fellows, whom he persuades to go with
him by promising to double the sum they had been working for. These men
are Mountain-Destroyer, who could destroy a mountain with one blow of
his club; Blower, who could refresh the whole world with his breath;
and Messenger, whose steps were one hundred leagues apart. This story,
which seems to be far removed from the other tales of the group,
has obviously been influenced by stories of the "Skilful Companions"
cycle (see No. 11), where the hero merely directs his servants,
doing none of the work himself. On the other hand, in 3, b, g, the
wonderful companions are more or less impedimenta: the hero himself
does all the hard work; they are merely his foil. For the "Genossen"
in other Märchen of "John the Bear" type, see Panzer, 66-74; Cosquin,
1 : 9, 23-27.

F1 The adventure with the demon in the house in the forest, related
in 3, is not found in the other Filipino versions of the tale. It
is found in the Islands, however, in the form of a separate story,
two widely different variants of which are printed below (4, [a]
and [b]). This incident occurs in nearly all the folk-tales of the
"John the Bear" type. Bolte and Polívka, in their notes to Grimm,
No. 91 (2 : 301-315), indicate its appearance in one hundred and
eighty-three Western and Eastern stories. As Panzer has shown (p. 77)
that the mistreatment of the companions by the demon in the woods
usually takes place while the one left behind is cooking food for the
others out on the hunt, this motif might more exactly be called the
"interrupted-cooking" episode than "Der Dämon im Waldhaus" (Panzer's
name for it). For Mexican and American Indian variants, see JAFL 25
: 244-254, 255. Spanish and Hindoo versions are cited by Bolte and
Polívka (2 : 305, 314).

It is pretty clear that the episode as narrated in our stories 3 and
4 owes nothing to the Spanish variants mentioned by Bolte.

F2-5 The removal of an enormous stone is a task that Carancal has
to perform twice. This exhibition of superhuman strength is of a
piece with the strong hero's other exploits, and has nothing in
common with the transplanting of mountains by means of magic. (F3)
The removal of a monstrous decaying fish is found in b as well as in
3. Cabagboc catches up the fish on the end of his sword, and hurls
the carcass into the middle of the ocean. These exploits of the
rock and the fish are not unlike the feat of the Santal hero Gumda,
who throws the king's elephant over seven seas (Campbell, 59). (F4)
In b the task of slaying the man-eating giant falls upon Cabagboc,
and his companion Uprooter, as the other comrade, Breaker, has been
married to the king's daughter. The giants are finally despatched
by the hero, who cuts off their heads with his sword. In g the two
strong men Paridis and Aolo are about to be slain by the man-eating
giant against whom they have been sent by the hero to fight, when the
hero suddenly appears and cuts off the monster's head with his mighty
bolo. (F5) The killing of a seven-headed dragon is a commonplace in
folk-tales; a seven-headed man is not so usual. Cabagboc, after both
of his comrades have been given royal wives, journeys alone. He comes
to a river guarded by a seven-headed man who proves invulnerable for
a whole day. Then a mysterious voice tells the hero to strike the
monster in the middle of the forehead, as this is the only place in
which it can be mortally wounded. Cabagboc does so and conquers. (F6)
The hero's wagering his strong men against a king's strong men will
be discussed in the notes to No. 11. The task of Pusong (a) has not
been mentioned yet. After Pusong leaves home, he journeys by himself,
and finally comes to a place where the inhabitants are feverishly
building fortifications against the Moros, who are threatening the
island. By lending his phenomenal strength, Pusong enables the people
to finish their forts in one night. Out of gratitude they later make
him their leader. Months later, when the Moros make their raid, they
are defeated by Pusong, and captured with all their slaves. Among the
wounded slaves are the parents of Pusong. On recognizing their son,
they instantly die of shame for their past cruelty to him. Nor can
the hero bear the shock any better than they: he too falls dead.

ADDITIONAL NOTES.--The three weeks' swim in 3 suggests Beowulf's
swim of a week and his fight with the sea-monsters (Beowulf 535
ff.). The mistaking of a monster fish for an island seems to be an
Oriental notion. It occurs in the "1001 Nights" ("First Voyage of
Sindbad the Sailor;" see Lane's note 8 to this story).

G The denouement. Cabagboc finally reaches home, and spends the
rest of his life with his parents (b); Sandapal (c) is bought by the
king, and amuses the court lords and ladies by his feats of strength;
Sandangcal (d) distributes ten billion pesos among his three helpers,
and lives the rest of his days feasting on carabao-livers; Greedy
Juan (e) comes back home with a magic money-producing goat, which he
leaves to his parents, while he by chance finds a wonderful house in
the forest with plenty to eat, and there he remains; Juan Tapon (f)
joins the king's army to fight a neighboring monarch; Dangandangan
(g) becomes a general in the king's army; Tangarangan (h) performs
marvellous deeds abroad, but never returns home again.


Two other variants remain to be noticed briefly. One of these I have
only in abstract, the other is avowedly a confusion of two stories
by the narrator. Both are Ilocano tales. The hero's name in both is
Kakarangkang (from kaka, a term of respect given to either a senior
or a junior; and dangkang, "a span"). In both, the hero is a great
eater and prodigiously strong. The only adventure of Kakarangkang
recorded in the abstract is an adventure with a crocodile. Kakarangkang
goes fishing and hooks a crocodile; but, while trying to draw it to
shore, he is thrown into the air, falls into the reptile's mouth,
and is swallowed. He manages, however, to cut his way out. In the
other story, besides some incidents properly belonging to the story
of "The Monkey and the Turtle" (cf. also 4 [b]), we find this same
adventure with the crocodile, the slaying of a seven-headed giant
(F5), and the removal of an enormous decaying fish (F3). The diminutive
hero receives the hand of the king's daughter in return for this last
service,--an honor which the heroes of our other versions decline. The
incident of the small hero being swallowed by an animal and ultimately
emerging into the light of day alive, at once suggests Tom Thumb's
adventure in the cow and the wolf. For "swallow" tales in general,
see Macculloch, 47-51; Bolte-Polívka, 1 : 395-398; Cosquin, 2 :
150-155. The combination of the "interrupted-cooking" episode (F1),
which properly belongs to the "John the Bear" cycle, with motifs from
"The Monkey and the Turtle" and "The Monkey and the Crocodile" stories,
will be discussed in the notes to Nos. 4, 55, and 56.


TALE 4


Suac and His Adventures.

Narrated by Anastacia Villegas of Arayat, Pampanga, who heard the
story from her grandmother.

Once upon a time, in a certain town in Pampanga, there lived a boy
named Suac. In order to try his fortune, one day he went a-hunting with
Sunga and Sacu in Mount Telapayong. When they reached the mountain,
they spread their nets, and made their dogs ready for the chase, to
see if any wild animals would come to that place. Not long afterwards
they captured a large hog. They took it under a large tree and killed
it. Then Sunga and Suac went out into the forest again.

Sacu was left to prepare their food. While he was busy cooking,
he heard a voice saying, "Ha, ha! what a nice meal you are
preparing! Hurry up! I am hungry." On looking up, Sacu saw on the top
of the tree a horrible creature,--a very large black man with a long
beard. This was Pugut.

Sacu said to him, "Aba! [18] I am not cooking this food for you. My
companions and I are hungry."

"Well, let us see who shall have it, then," said Pugut as he came
down the tree. At first Sacu did not want to give him the food; but
Pugut knocked the hunter down, and before he had time to recover had
eaten up all the food. Then he climbed the tree again. When Sunga
and Suac came back, Sunga said to Sacu, "Is the food ready? Here is
a deer that we have caught."

Sacu answered, "When the food was ready, Pugut came and ate it all. I
tried to prevent him, but in vain: I could not resist him."

"Well," said Sunga, "let me be the cook while you and Suac are the
hunters." Then Sacu and Suac went out, and Sunga was left to cook. The
food was no sooner ready than Pugut came again, and ate it all as
before. So when the hunters returned, bringing a hog with them,
they still had nothing to eat.

Accordingly Suac was left to cook, and his companions went away to
hunt again. Suac roasted the hog. Pugut smelled it. He looked down,
and said, "Ha, ha! I have another cook; hurry up! boy, I am hungry."

"I pray you, please do not deprive us of this food too," said Suac.

"I must have it, for I am hungry," said Pugut. "Otherwise I shall eat
you up." When the hog was roasted a nice brown, Pugut came down the
tree. But Suac placed the food near the fire and stood by it; and when
Pugut tried to seize it, the boy pushed him into the fire. Pugut's
beard was burnt, and it became kinky. [19] The boy then ran to a
deep pit. He covered it on the top with grass. Pugut did not stay to
eat the food, but followed Suac. Suac was very cunning. He stood on
the opposite side of the pit, and said, "I pray you, do not step on
my grass!"

"I am going to eat you up," said Pugut angrily, as he stepped on the
grass and fell into the pit. The boy covered the pit with stones
and earth, thinking that Pugut would perish there; but he was
mistaken. Suac had not gone far when he saw Pugut following him;
but just then he saw, too, a crocodile. He stopped and resolutely
waited for Pugut, whom he gave a blow and pushed into the mouth of
the crocodile. Thus Pugut was destroyed.

Suac then took his victim's club, and returned under the tree. After a
while his companions came back. He related to them how he had overcome
Pugut, and then they ate. The next day they returned to town.

Suac, on hearing that there was a giant who came every night into
the neighborhood to devour people, went one night to encounter the
giant. When the giant came, he said, "You are just the thing for me
to eat." But Suac gave him a deadly blow with Pugut's club, and the
giant tumbled down dead.

Later Suac rid the islands of all the wild monsters, and became the
ruler over his people.


The Three Friends,--The Monkey, the Dog, and the Carabao.

Narrated by José M. Hilario, a Tagalog from Batangas, Batangas.

Once there lived three friends,--a monkey, a dog, and a carabao. They
were getting tired of city life, so they decided to go to the
country to hunt. They took along with them rice, meat, and some
kitchen utensils.

The first day the carabao was left at home to cook the food,
so that his two companions might have something to eat when they
returned from the hunt. After the monkey and the dog had departed,
the carabao began to fry the meat. Unfortunately the noise of the
frying was heard by the Buñgisñgis in the forest. Seeing this chance
to fill his stomach, the Buñgisñgis went up to the carabao, and said,
"Well, friend, I see that you have prepared food for me."

For an answer, the carabao made a furious attack on him. The Buñgisñgis
was angered by the carabao's lack of hospitality, and, seizing him
by the horn, threw him knee-deep into the earth. Then the Buñgisñgis
ate up all the food and disappeared.

When the monkey and the dog came home, they saw that everything was
in disorder, and found their friend sunk knee-deep in the ground. The
carabao informed them that a big strong man had come and beaten him
in a fight. The three then cooked their food. The Buñgisñgis saw
them cooking, but he did not dare attack all three of them at once,
for in union there is strength.

The next day the dog was left behind as cook. As soon as the food
was ready, the Buñgisñgis came and spoke to him in the same way he
had spoken to the carabao. The dog began to snarl; and the Buñgisñgis,
taking offence, threw him down. The dog could not cry to his companions
for help; for, if he did, the Buñgisñgis would certainly kill him. So
he retired to a corner of the room and watched his unwelcome guest
eat all of the food. Soon after the Buñgisñgis's departure, the monkey
and the carabao returned. They were angry to learn that the Buñgisñgis
had been there again.

The next day the monkey was cook; but, before cooking, he made a
pitfall in front of the stove. After putting away enough food for
his companions and himself, he put the rice on the stove. When the
Buñgisñgis came, the monkey said very politely, "Sir, you have come
just in time. The food is ready, and I hope you'll compliment me by
accepting it."

The Buñgisñgis gladly accepted the offer, and, after sitting down in
a chair, began to devour the food. The monkey took hold of a leg of
the chair, gave a jerk, and sent his guest tumbling into the pit. He
then filled the pit with earth, so that the Buñgisñgis was buried
with no solemnity.

When the monkey's companions arrived, they asked about the
Buñgisñgis. At first the monkey was not inclined to tell them what had
happened; but, on being urged and urged by them, he finally said that
the Buñgisñgis was buried "there in front of the stove." His foolish
companions, curious, began to dig up the grave. Unfortunately the
Buñgisñgis was still alive. He jumped out, and killed the dog and
lamed the carabao; but the monkey climbed up a tree, and so escaped.

One day while the monkey was wandering in the forest, he saw a beehive
on top of a vine.

"Now I'll certainly kill you," said some one coming towards the monkey.

Turning around, the monkey saw the Buñgisñgis. "Spare me," he said,
"and I will give up my place to you. The king has appointed me to
ring each hour of the day that bell up there," pointing to the top
of the vine.

"All right! I accept the position," said the Buñgisñgis. "Stay
here while I find out what time it is," said the monkey. The monkey
had been gone a long time, and the Buñgisñgis, becoming impatient,
pulled the vine. The bees immediately buzzed about him, and punished
him for his curiosity.

Maddened with pain, the Buñgisñgis went in search of the monkey,
and found him playing with a boa-constrictor. "You villain! I'll not
hear any excuses from you. You shall certainly die," he said.

"Don't kill me, and I will give you this belt which the king has
given me," pleaded the monkey.

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