Filipino Popular Tales

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Cochinango wondered how he could ever marry the princess and himself
be king, for he was very poor. One day he heard that the king had
summoned all those who would like to attempt to answer the questions
of the princess. It was announced that the person who could answer
them all without fall should marry her. Cochinango thought that the
time had now come for him to try his fortune, so he mounted his ass
and rode towards the king's palace.

On his way Cochinango had to pass through a wide forest. Just at the
edge of the wood he met a weary traveller. Cochinango had forgotten
to bring buyo with him, so he asked the traveller for some. The
traveller said, "I have with me a magic buyo that will answer any
question you put to it. If you give me some food, I will give you my
buyo." Cochinango willingly exchanged a part of his provisions for
it. Then he rode on.

He came to a stream, where he met an old man leaning on his
cane. Seeing that the old man wanted to get on the other side, but was
too weak to swim, Cochinango offered to carry him across. In return
for his kindness, the old man gave him his cane. "You are very kind,
young man," said he. "Take this cane, which will furnish you with
food at any time." Cochinango thanked the old man, took the cane,
and rode on. It is to be known that this old man was the same one
who had given him the magic buyo. It was God himself, who had come
down on earth to test Cochinango and to reward him for his kindness.

Cochinango had not ridden far when he met a wretched old woman. Out
of pity he gave her a centavo, and in return she gave him an empty
purse from which he could ask any sum of money he wanted. Cochinango
rode on, delighted with his good fortune, when he met God again, this
time in the form of a jolly young fellow with a small guitar. He asked
Cochinango to exchange his ass for the guitar. At first Cochinango
hesitated; but, when he was told that he could make anybody dance by
plucking its strings, he readily agreed to exchange.

Cochinango now had to proceed on foot, and it took him two days
to reach the gates of the palace. Luckily he arrived on the very
day of the guessing-contest. In spite of his mean dress, he was
admitted. The princess was much astonished at Cochinango's appearance,
and disgusted by his boldness; but she was even more chagrined when he
rightly answered her first question. Yet she denied that his answer
was correct. She asked him two more questions, the most difficult
that she could think of; but Cochinango, with the help of his magic
buyo, answered both. The princess, however, could not admit that his
answers were right. She shrunk from the idea of being married to a
poor, foolish, lowly-born man. So she asked her father the king to
imprison the insolent peasant, which was instantly done.

In the prison Cochinango found many nobles who, like himself, were
victims of the guessing-match. Night came, and they were not given any
food. The princess wanted to starve them to death. Cochinango told them
not to worry; he struck a table with his cane, and instantly choice
food appeared. When this was reported to the princess by the guards,
she went to the prison and begged Cochinango to give her the cane;
but he would not give it up unless she allowed him to kiss her. At
last she consented, and went away with the cane, thinking that this
was the only way by which she could starve her prisoners. The next
day Cochinango asked for a large sum of money from his magic purse. He
distributed it among his companions and among the guards, and they had
no difficulty in getting food. Again the princess went to the prison,
and asked Cochinango for the purse; but he would give it up only on
condition that he be allowed to dine with the king. Accordingly he was
taken to the king's table, where he ate with the king and the princess;
but he was put in prison again as soon as the dinner was over.

At last Cochinango began to be tired of prison life, so he took up his
wonderful guitar and began to play it. No sooner had he touched the
strings than his fellow-prisoners and the guards began to dance. As he
played his guitar louder and louder, the inmates of the palace heard
it, and they too began to dance. He kept on playing throughout the
night; and the king, princess, and all got no rest whatsoever. By
morning most of them were tired to death. At last the king ordered
the guards to open the prison doors and let the prisoners go free;
but Cochinango would not stop playing until the king consented to
give him the princess in marriage. The princess also at last had to
agree to accept Cochinango as her husband, so he stopped playing. The
next day they were married with great pomp and ceremony.

Thus the poor, foolish boy was married to a princess. More than once
he saved the kingdom from the raiding Moros by playing his guitar;
for all his enemies were obliged to dance when they heard the music,
and thus they were easily captured or killed. When the king died,
Cochinango became his successor, and he and the princess ruled happily
for many years.

Notes.

I know of no parallel to this story as a whole; the separate incidents
found in it, however, are widespread.

The first part of the story--the prophecy concerning the hero recalls
the opening of many Maerchen; but our narrative is so condensed,
that it is impossible to say just what material was drawn on to
furnish this section. The riddle-contest for the hand of a princess
forms a separate cycle, to which we have already referred (notes to
No. 25); but the turn the motive takes here is altogether different
from the norm. Our hero, provided with his magic buyo, has really
won the wager before the contest is begun. As for the magic objects,
the last three--cane, purse, guitar--we have met with before, with
properties either identical with or analogous to those attributed in
this story. The method of the hero's acquiring them, too, is not new
(cf. No. 27). The magic buyo, however, is unusual: it is very likely
native Ilocano belief, or else a detail borrowed from the Ilocanos'
near neighbors, the Tinguian (see Cole, 18-19, Introduction, for
betel-nuts with magic powers). In No. 25, it will be recalled, the
hero's magic ring furnishes the answer to the king's question, just
as the buyo does in this tale. Indeed, there may be some association
of idea between a buyo and a ring suggested here. The last part of
the story--the imprisonment of the hero, and his success in thwarting
the evil designs of the obstinate princess--is reminiscent of various
cycles of tales, but I know of no exact analogue.

With the general outline of the story of "Cochinango" might be compared
a Tagalog tale,--"The Shepherd who became King" (H. E. Fansler, 78
ff.), though the resemblances between the two are only vague. The
Tagalog story, it might be noted in passing, is connected with
the second half of Grimm, No. 17, and with Grimm, No. 165. For the
"sack full of words" in the Tagalog tale, see Rittershaus, 419-421
(No. CXVIII, and notes).

The reference at the end to raiding Moros appears to be a remnant of
very old native tradition.

TALE 36

Pedro and the Witch.

Narrated by Santiago Dumlao of San Narciso, Zambales.

Pedro was the son of a poor man. He lived with his father and mother by
the seashore. Early one morning his parents went to look for food,
leaving him alone in the house. He staid there all day waiting
for them to return. Evening came, but his father and mother did not
appear; some misfortune had overtaken them. Pedro felt very hungry,
but he could find no food in the house. In the middle of the night he
heard some one tapping at the door. Thinking that it was his mother,
he arose and went to meet her. When he opened the door, however,
he saw that it was not his mother who had rapped, but Boroka, [90]
whom children are very much afraid of. Now, Boroka was a witch. She
had wings like a bird, four feet like a horse, but a head like that
of a woman. She devoured boys and girls, and was especially fond of
their liver. As soon as Pedro opened the door, she seized him and
carried him off to her home in the mountains.

Pedro was not afraid of the witch; he was obedient to her, and soon
she made him her housekeeper. Whenever she went out at night to look
for food, he was sure to have flesh and liver for breakfast the next
day. Whenever the witch was away, Pedro used to amuse himself riding
on the back of a horse that would often come to see him. It taught
him how to ride well, and the two became great friends.

One day when children began to get scarce, and Boroka was unable to
find any to eat, she made up her mind to kill Pedro. She left the house
and went to invite the other witches, so that they might have a great
feast. While she was gone, the horse came and told Pedro of his danger,
and advised him what to do. It gave him two handkerchiefs,--one red
and the other white. Then Pedro jumped on the horse's back, and the
horse ran away as fast as it could. Not long afterward he noticed
that the witches were pursuing them. When they came nearer, Pedro
dropped the red handkerchief, which was immediately changed into a
large fire. The wings of the witches were all burnt off. However,
the witches tried to pursue the horse on foot, for they could run
very fast. When they were almost upon him again, Pedro dropped the
white handkerchief, which became a wide sea through which the witches
could not pass. Pedro was now safe, and he thanked the horse for its
great help.

Notes.

While this story is not much more than a fragment, I have given it
because of its interesting connections. The chief elements appear
to be three: (1) the kidnapping of the hero by a cannibal witch,
(2) the friendly horse, (3) the transformation-flight and the escape
of the hero. Clearly much is missing. What becomes of the hero is
not stated, except that he escapes from the witches. The story is
in the form rather of a fairy-tale than of a Maerchen proper, since
it deals primarily with an ogress fond of the flesh of children. On
its surface it might be mistaken for a native demon-story told as
an exemplum to children not to answer strange knocks at the door
at night. But a glance below the surface reveals the fact that
the details of the story must have been imported, as they are not
indigenous,--Boroka, horse, transformation-flight; and a little search
for possible sources reveals the fact that this tale represents the
detritus of a literary tradition from Europe. To demonstrate, I will
cite a Pampangan metrical romance and a Tagalog romance, the former
probably the parent of our folk-tale. These two romances, in turn,
will be shown to be a borrowing from the Occident.

The Pampangan romance is a long story in 954 quatrains of 12-syllable
lines, and is entitled "Story of the Life of King Don Octavio and
Queen Teodora, together with that of their son Don Fernando, in
the Kingdom of Spain [no date]." The inside of the cover bears the
statement that the work is the property of Dona Modesta Lanuza. Senora
Lanuza was doubtless the redactor of this version; her name appears on
other corridos (see JAFL 29 : 213). Although a consideration of this
literary form takes us somewhat out of the realm of popular stories,
strictly speaking, we may give as our excuse for summarizing it the
fact that the related Tagalog romance, "Juan Tinoso," is one of the
most widely-known stories in the Islands, and is told as a folk-tale in
many of the provinces where no printed translations of it exist. The
story of "Don Octavio"--or "Pugut Negro," as it is popularly known
among the Pampangans--runs as follows:--

In Spain there lived a king whose queen, in the ninth month of
pregnancy, longed greatly for some pau (a species of mango). As it
was the custom then to procure any kind of fruit a pregnant woman
might desire to eat, the whole kingdom was stirred up in search of
some pau, but in vain. At last a general and a company of soldiers
who had been sent out to scour the kingdom found a pau-tree in the
mountain of Silva; but the owner, a giant, Legaspe by name, would not
give up any of the fruit except to the king himself. When the king
was informed of this, he went to the giant, and was obliged to agree
that the giant should be the godfather of the expected child. Then
he was given the fruit.

Not long after this event the queen gave birth to a son. While the baby
was being carried to the church to be baptized, the giant appeared
and claimed his right. After the baptism, the giant snatched the boy
from the nurse's hands and carried him off to his cave. He found an
old woman to take care of the infant, which grew to be a fine youth.

Now, this giant fed on human flesh. One day, when the boy was about
fifteen, the giant gave this horrible command to the old woman: "If
I fail to catch any human beings for dinner to-day, you will have to
cook my godchild, for I am intolerably hungry." No sooner had the giant
disappeared than the old woman woke up the youth, and said to him,
"My master wants me to cook you for his dinner, but I cannot do such
a thing. I will save you. Yonder you see a horse. Fetch it to me,
so that we can depart at once." The boy got the horse, and he and
the old woman mounted it and rode off as fast as they could.

They had not gone very far, however, when they heard the giant roaring
after them. The old woman immediately dropped her comb to the ground,
and it became a big mountain. Thus they gained some time; but the giant
was soon after them again. The old woman dropped her pin, which became
a dense underbrush of thorns; but the giant got through this too. Now
the old woman poured out the contents of a small bottle, and all at
once there was a large sea, in which the giant was drowned. By this
time the two companions were a great distance from Spain. Then the old
woman said to the young prince, "Take this whip. On your way home you
will see a dead Negro. Flay him, and put on his skin so that you will
be disguised. Cultivate humility, be kind to others, and look to the
whip in time of need." Having given these directions, the old woman,
who was none other than the Virgin Mary in disguise, disappeared.

Pugut-Negru ("disguised Negro") went on his way, and soon found
the dead Negro. When he had flayed him and put on the black skin,
he mounted his horse and rode facing its tail. When he reached the
capital of Albania, he was greatly ridiculed by every one. However,
he went to the king and applied for work. The king said that he might
take care of his sheep which were in a certain meadow. When he had been
conducted to the meadow where the sheep were, he saw the bones of many
men. It was said that every shepherd in that place had been killed by
"spirits" (multos). That night the spirits threw bones at Pugut-Negru;
but he chastised them with his whip, and was left in peace.

This Negro disguise of Prince Fernando, however, was only for
Albania. Leaving Albania for a time, he went in his princely garments
to visit his parents. He found them in the power of the Moors, who had
conquered the kingdom of Spain. With his whip he drove all the Moors
out of the country, and freed his family. Later he went to Navarre,
and won a tournament and the hand of the princess. Instead of marrying
her, however,--for he had already fallen in love with the youngest
daughter of the King of Albania,--he went back and resumed his old
work as shepherd, disguised as a Negro.

Some time afterwards it was proclaimed that whoever could cure the
king's illness would be amply rewarded. The king had an eye-disease,
but none of the learned doctors could help him. Finally it was said
that Pugut-Negru knew how to cure eye-diseases, and so the king
summoned him. "If you can cure my disease," said the afflicted king,
"I will marry one of my daughters to you. If you cannot, you shall be
hung."--"I'll do my best, your Majesty," said Pugut-Negru humbly. Then
he gathered certain herbs, and applied them to the king's eyes. The
king soon got well, and asked his three daughters which of them wanted
to marry his savior. "I won't!" said the eldest. "Neither will I,"
rejoined the second. But the youngest and prettiest one said, "I am
at your disposal, father." So Pugut-Negru took the youngest for his
wife. After the ceremony he went back to his sheep, but he did not
live with his wife; he left her at the palace.

It was not many months after the king had been cured when the queen
fell ill. As before, it was proclaimed that any one who could cure her
would receive one of her daughters in marriage. Two princes presented
themselves, and promised to get the lion's milk that was needed to
make the queen well. After they had started on their search, they
came to the dwelling of Pugut-Negru, whom they forced to accompany
them. Pugut-Negru pretended to be lame, and so he could not keep
up with them. As he was so slow, they mercilessly threw him into a
bush of thorns and left him there. But he said to his magical whip,
"Build me at once, along the road in which the two princes will pass,
a splendid palace; and let lions, leopards, and other animals be about
it." No sooner was the order given than the palace was built, and
Pugut-Negru was in it, attired like a king. When the two princes came
up, they said to him, "May we have some of your lion's milk?"--"Yes,
on one condition I will give you the milk: you must let me brand
you with my name." Although this condition was very bitter to them,
they agreed. Then they hastened back to present the milk to the queen,
who at once married them to her two older daughters. Pugut-Negru went
back to his old life as shepherd.

Not long after this event the Moors declared war on the Christians. The
king's country was invaded, and the Christians were about to
be disastrously defeated, when a strange knight with a magic
whip (Pugut-Negru) appeared on the field and put the Saracens to
flight. This knight wounded himself in his left arm so that he might
receive the attention of the princess. The king's youngest daughter
(Pugut-Negru's own wife) dressed his wound without recognizing her
husband. After the battle was over, the knight said to the king,
"Do you know where my brother Pugut-Negru lives?" But the king was
ashamed at the way he had treated Pugut-Negru, so he denied all
knowledge of him. Although the king pressed the strange knight to
come to the palace, he refused. He hastened back to his sheep, and
donned his disguise once more.

One day the youngest princess, the wife of Don Fernando, went
stealthily to the hut of Pugut-Negru. She found him undisguised,
and at once recognized her handkerchief with which she had tied
the strange knight's wound. She embraced her husband with joy, and
hastened back to the palace to tell the king of her discovery. The
king immediately despatched his prime-minister to the hut in the
fields, and Don Fernando was brought back in state. When he had
been welcomed to the palace, he told all about his treatment by the
two cruel princes, who he said were his slaves. When the king was
convinced of their imposture,--they said they had got the lion's milk
by their own bravery,--he drove them and their heartless wives from
his kingdom. After many other adventures, in which he was always
successful, Don Fernando took his wife Maria to Spain, where they
lived with his father, King Octavio.

While it is not absolutely certain that our folk-tale of "Pedro and
the Witch" was derived from the first part of this romance, I think
it most likely. The problem here is the same as that we have met with
in the notes to Nos. 13, 16, and 21: Which are earlier,--the more
elaborate literary forms, or the simpler popular forms? Obviously no
general rule can be made that will hold: each particular case must be
examined. In the present instance, as I have shown at the beginning
of the note, the evidence seems to point to the folk-tale as being
the derivative, not necessarily of this particular form of the story,
but at any rate of the source of the romance.

The romance of "Prince Don Juan Tinoso, Son of King Artos and
Queen Blanca of the Kingdom of Valencia, and the Four Princesses,
the Daughters of Don Diego of Hungary," which we have spoken of
above as a Tagalog romance, has been printed also in the Pampangan,
Visayan, Ilocano, Bicol, and Pangasinan dialects. As to the date of
the Tagalog version, Retana mentions an edition between 1860 and 1898
(No. 4176). This romance is not directly connected with our folk-tale,
it will be seen, but is related closely (in the second half, at least)
with "Pugut-Negru." Briefly the life of Juan Tinoso runs thus:--

King Artos and Queen Blanca of Valencia had one son, Don Juan
Tinoso,--handsome, brave, strong, kind. One day, while passing the
prison, Don Juan heard sounds of great lamentation. On being admitted,
he saw the giant Mauleon, a captive of his father's. Moved by the
giant's entreaties, Juan freed him; and the monster, grateful in
return, gave him a magic handkerchief that would furnish him with
everything he wanted, and would, if displayed, subdue all wild
animals. Then the giant departed. King Artos, extremely wroth
with his son for freeing one of his captives, drove Juan out of
his kingdom. Juan went to the mountains, and there became king of
the animals.

One night Juan dreamed of the beautiful Flocerpida, the youngest and
most beautiful of the four daughters of Diego, King of Hungary. But,
determined to do penance for the liberty he had taken in freeing
Mauleon, Juan asked his magic handkerchief for the disguise of an
old leper, which he vowed he would wear for seven years. He went to
Hungary and entered the service of King Diego as a gardener. The
princess Flocerpida was very compassionate toward the old leper,
and Juan's love grew stronger. One night, when Juan was bathing,
Flocerpida saw him without his disguise, and immediately fell in love
with him. One day King Diego summoned all the knights of his kingdom,
so that his daughters might choose husbands. The three older princesses
threw their golden granadas, which were caught by men of rank; but
Flocerpida refused to throw hers. Angry, the king next day ordered
all his subjects to be present, and required his daughter to throw
her golden apple. She threw it to the old leprous gardener, and the
two were married; but the king drove his daughter from the palace.

Soon King Diego grew sick. The doctors prescribed lion's milk, and the
three noble sons-in-law set out to get it. They forced the gardener,
their brother-in-law, to go with them, reviling him all the way;
but, as he was on foot, they soon left him behind. By means of his
magic handkerchief, Juan procured a prince's armor and mount, and,
riding fast, he anticipated his brothers-in-law at the cave of the
lioness. They soon came up and asked for milk. Juan, king of the
animals, would give it to them only on condition that they allowed
themselves to be branded on the back with an inscription saying that
they were the servants of Don Juan Tinoso. They agreed, and received
the milk. On the return Don Juan again outstripped them, resumed his
old disguise, and was reviled by the brothers when they came up. King
Diego drank the milk and recovered his health.

Later King Diego received an embassy from the Moors saying that
they were coming to fight him. He appointed his three sons-in-law
generals. While they were at the war, Juan Tinoso summoned three
giants, and told them to go fight the Moors too, to get the Moorish
flag, and to exchange it with the generals for their three golden
granadas. On the return of the Christian army, a big fiesta was
prepared to honor the successful princes. King Artos and Queen Blanca
of Valencia were invited. On the first day some of the guests asked
about Flocerpida, and the king gave orders that she should appear
on the morrow in an old beggar's gown that he was sending her;
but Juan Tinoso supplied her with beautiful clothes and a coach,
and he himself was dressed as a prince. They went to the fiesta,
where, in the presence of the king, he demanded his three servants,
pointing to his three brothers-in-law. They were made to undress,
and the brands on their backs became clear. Then Juan Tinoso told his
story: he said that it was he who obtained the lion's milk, who won
against the Moors, (and showed the golden granadas exchanged for the
enemy's standard.) King Diego and King Artos were then reconciled to
him and Flocerpida, and the other three princes and their wives were
driven out of Hungary.

Next to "Doce Pares" and "Bernardo Carpio," this romance is the most
popular of the metrical romances circulating in the Philippines. It
is read, told as a folk-tale, and acted as a moro-moro (see JAFL 29 :
205 [note], 206). It belongs to the same cycle of stories as Grimm,
No. 136, "Iron John," which has many members. (For bibliography,
see Koehler-Bolte, 330-334; Cosquin, I : 138-154.) These members
vary greatly, and some of them (e.g., Cosquin, No. XII) establish
definitely the connection between the "Pugut-Negru" type--kidnapping
of hero, friendly horse, transformation-flight, disguise of hero,
etc.--and the "Juan Tinoso" type, although it will be seen that our
second romance lacks the first three incidents mentioned.