Filipino Popular Tales

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The only other member of this group that narrates the story of
two wives instead of two sisters is Lal Behari Day's No. 22. This
Bengal tale, it appears to me, is related both to our stories and to
those of the "Mother Holle" group, thus linking ours with the latter
also. Following is Cosquin's summary of Day's story (2 : 123):--

A man had two wives,--one young, and one old. The latter was treated by
the other as if she were a slave. One day her rival, in a fit of anger,
snatched from the old woman's head the one tuft of hair she had, and
drove her from the door. The old woman went into the forest. Passing
by a cotton-tree, she saw that the ground round about the tree needed
sweeping, and she swept it. The tree, much pleased, showered its
blessings on her. She did the same thing for other trees--a banana
and a tulasi--and also for a bull, whose stall she swept out. All
blessed her. She arrived next at the hut of a venerable mouni (a
kind of ascetic), and she told him of her misery. The mouni told her
to go plunge herself once, but only once, in a certain pool. She
obeyed, and came up out of the water with the most beautiful hair
in the world, and altogether rejuvenated. The mouni next told her
to enter his hut and to select from among many willow baskets that
which pleased her. The woman took one very simple in appearance. The
mouni bade her open it: it was filled with gold and precious stones,
and was never empty. On her way back home she passed in front of the
tulasi. The tree said to her, "Go home in peace! your husband will
love you to madness." Next the bull gave her some shell ornaments
which were about its horns, and told her to place them on her wrists:
if she would but shake them, she would have all the ornaments she could
wish. The banana-tree gave her one of its large leaves, which filled
itself of its own accord with excellent dishes. And, last of all,
the cotton-tree gave her one of its branches, which would give her,
if she shook it, every kind of beautiful garment. When she returned
to the house, the other wife could hardly believe her eyes. Having
learned of the old woman's adventures, she too went into the forest:
but she passed by the trees and the bull without stopping. And instead
of dipping herself only once in the pool, as the mouni told her to do,
she plunged in a second time, hoping to become even more beautiful;
and so she came out of the water as ugly as before. The mouni did
not give her any present, either; and thenceforth, disdained by her
husband, she finished her life as a servant in his house.

It is unsafe to attempt to trace a story with only three examples
as data: but it appears to me not unreasonable to suppose that our
Tagalog story is a refined, pious, Christianized modernization of the
Visayan form represented by "The Two Wives and the Witch;" and that
the Visayan form, in turn, goes back to some Indian or Malayan moral
tale of two wives, rivals for the affection of their husband. The
Bengali tale can hardly be the direct source of our Visayan form,
but it appears to be fairly closely related to that source.

TALE 48

The Monkey and Juan Pusong Tambi-tambi.

Narrated by Encarnacion Gonzaga, a Visayan from Jaro, Iloilo. She says
that she has often heard this story; that it was very popular among
the "inhabitants of yesterday;" and that even now many are fond of it.

Tiring-tirang was a barrio in the town of Tang-tang, situated at
the foot of a hill which was called "La Campana" because of its
shape. Around the hill, about a mile from the barrio, flowed the
Malogo River, in which the people of the town used to bathe. It
so happened that one time an epidemic broke out in the community,
killing off all the inhabitants except one couple. This couple had
an only son named Juan Pusong Tambi-tambi.

When Juan had reached his twelfth year, his father died: consequently
the boy had to go to work to earn money for the support of himself
and his mother. At first Juan followed the occupation of his father,
that of fisherman; but, seeing that he made little money from this,
he decided to become a farmer. His mother had now reached the age of
seventy (!), and was often sick. Juan frequently had to neglect his
farm in order to take care of her.

One day Juan went to Pit-pit to buy medicine for his mother. On his
way to the town he saw a flock of crows eating up his corn. He paid
no attention to the birds; but on his way back, when he saw these
same birds still eating his corn, he became angry. He picked up a
stone about the size of his fist, and crept into a bush near by. He
had hardly hidden himself when the birds heard a rustling, and began
to fly off. Juan jumped up, and hurled his stone with such accuracy
and force that one of the crows fell dead to the ground. He tied
the dead crow to a bamboo pole, and planted it in the middle of his
cornfield. No sooner was he out of sight than the crows flew back to
the field again; but when they saw their dead companion, they flew off,
and never troubled Juan again.

For six months Juan had no trouble from birds. He did not know,
however, that not far from his field there was a monkey (chongo)
living in a large tree. This monkey used to come to his field every
day and steal two or three ears of corn. One day, as Juan was walking
across his field, he saw many dead cornstalks. He said to himself,
"I wonder who it is that comes here and steals my corn! I am no longer
troubled by birds; and yet I find here many husks." He went home and
made an image of a crooked old man like himself. This he covered with
sticky wax. He placed it in the middle of the field.

The next morning, when the sun was shining very brightly, the monkey
felt hungry, so he ran towards the field to steal some corn to
eat. There he saw the statue. Thinking that it was Juan, he decided
to ask permission before he took any corn. "Good-morning, Juan!" said
the monkey in a courteous tone; but the image made no reply. "You
are too proud to bend your neck, Juan," continued the monkey. "I have
only come to ask you for three or four ears of corn. I have not eaten
since yesterday, you know; and if you deny me this request, I shall
die before morning." The waxen statue still stood motionless. "Do you
hear me, Juan?" said the monkey impatiently. Still the statue made
no reply. "Since you are too proud to answer me, I will soon give you
some presents. Look out!" he cried, and with his right paw he slapped
the statue which he thought was Juan; but his paw stuck to the wax,
and he could not get free. "Let my hand loose!" the monkey shouted,
"or you will get another present." Then he slapped the statue with his
left paw, and, as before, stuck fast. "You are foolish, Juan. If you
do not let me go this very moment, I'll kick you." He did so, first
with one foot, and then with the other. At last he could no longer
move, and he began to curse the statue. Juan, who had been hiding
in a bush near by, now presented himself, and said to the monkey,
"Now I have caught you, you thief!" He would have killed the monkey
at once, had not the monkey begged for mercy, and promised that he
would at some future time repay him for his kindness if he would only
spare his life. So Juan set the monkey free.

It was now the month of April. The monkey, impatient to fulfil his word
to Juan, went one day to the field, and there he found Juan hard at
work. "Good-morning, Master Juan!" he cried. "I see that you are busy."

"Busy indeed!" replied Juan.

"Master Juan, do you want to marry the king's daughter? If you do,
I'll arrange everything for you," said the monkey.

Juan replied, "Yes," little thinking that what the monkey promised
could be true.

The monkey scampered off towards the market. When he entered the
market, he saw a boy counting his money. The monkey pretended to be
looking in the other direction, but walked towards the boy. When he
saw that the money was fairly within his reach, he seized it and ran
back to Juan. After telling his master what he had done, the monkey
went to the king's palace, and said, "Sir, my master, Juan, wants
to borrow your ganta, for he desires to measure his money." The king
gave him the ganta. In three days the monkey appeared at the palace
again to return the measure, in the bottom of which he stuck three
centavos. "My master, Juan, thanks you for your kindness," said the
monkey. The monkey was about to leave the room when the king perceived
the three centavos sticking to the bottom of the measure.

"Here, monkey, here are your three cents!" said the king. "Oh, oh,
oh, oh, oh!" answered the monkey, laughing, "my master cares not for
three cents. He has too much money. He is very, very rich." The king
was much surprised to hear that there was a man richer than himself.

Two weeks later the monkey returned to the palace again, and said,
"Pray, king, my master, Juan, desires to borrow your ganta again. He
wants to finish measuring his money."

The king was filled with curiosity; and he said, "I'll let you borrow
the ganta, monkey, but you must tell me first who is this Juan whom
you call your master."

"My master, Juan," replied the monkey, "is the richest man in the
world."

Before giving the measure to the monkey, the king went to his room
and stuck four pieces of gold on the four corners of the ganta. "I'll
find out who is the richer, Juan or I," he said to himself. The monkey
took the measure, and left the hall with a polite bow.

As he was walking towards Juan's farm, the monkey noticed the four
pieces of gold sticking to the corners of the ganta. He knew that they
had been artfully placed there by the king himself. Two weeks later
he went back to the palace to return the measure, not forgetting to
stick a gold dollar on each corner. "Good-afternoon, king!" said he,
"my master, Juan, returns you your ganta with a thousand thanks."

"Very well," replied the king; "but tell me all about this master
of yours who measures his money. I am a king; still I only count
my money."

The monkey remained silent. Not receiving a prompt reply, the king
turned to Cabal, one of his lords, and said in a whisper, "Do you
know who this Juan is who measures his money?"

"I have not heard of him," replied the lord, "except from this monkey
and yourself."

The king then turned to the monkey, and said, "Monkey, if you don't
tell me who your master is, where he lives, and all about him, I'll
hang you." Doubtless the king was jealous of Juan because of his
great wealth.

Fearing that he would lose his life, the monkey said to the king,
"My master, Juan, the richest and best man in the world, lives in
the town of XYZ. He goes to church every morning wearing his striped
(tambi-tambi) clothes. This is why he is known among his people as
Juan Pusong Tambi-tambi. If you will just look out of your window
to-morrow morning, you will see him pass by your garden."

The king's anger was appeased by this explanation. Early the next
morning he was at his window, anxious to get a glimpse of Juan. He had
not been there long when his attention was attracted by the appearance
of a crooked man dressed in striped clothes. "This must be the man whom
the monkey described to me yesterday," he said to himself. Soon his
servant entered the room, and said, "The monkey desires to see you."

The king left the window and went to where the monkey was waiting for
him. As soon as the monkey saw the king, he bowed politely, and said,
"My master, Juan, sends me to tell you frankly that he loves your
daughter, and that, if it pleases you, he will marry her." At first
the king was angry to hear these words; but, being very desirous to
get more money, he at last consented without even asking his daughter.

"If my master does not call on you to-day, he will surely come
to-morrow." So saying, the monkey left the palace, and ran about
town, trying to think of some way he might escape the great danger he
was in. It so happened that an old man who was carrying a bundle of
clothes to his son in the mountains passed along the same road where
the monkey was. The sun was very hot, so the old man decided to rest
under a leafy tree. No sooner was he seated there than the cunning
monkey climbed the tree, and shook the branches with such force that
twigs and fruits fell all around the old man. Panic-stricken, he ran
away as fast as his feet would carry him, leaving everything behind
him. When the man was out of sight, the monkey climbed down the tree,
picked up the bundle of clothes, and carried it to Juan.

"To-morrow, Juan," said the monkey, "you will marry the princess. I'll
arrange everything for you if you will only follow my advice." Half
doubting and half believing, Juan asked the monkey if he really meant
what he said. "What do you think of me?" asked the monkey.

Without waiting for a reply from Juan, the monkey left the hut, and ran
towards the home of the Burincantadas who lived on the summit of the
hill. As soon as he entered the gate, he began to scoop up the ground
as fast as he could. The Burincantadas, who at that very moment were
looking out of the window, saw the monkey. They rushed downstairs,
and, half frightened, said to him, "What are you trying to do?"

"Why, our king has been defeated in the war. The enemies have already
taken possession of the crown. The princess is dead, and it is said
that everybody will be killed before tomorrow noon," replied the
monkey, his teeth chattering. "I am resolved to hide myself under
the ground to save my life."

The three Burincantadas seized him by the arm, and said, "For mercy's
sake, have pity on us! Tell us where we can hide!" They were already
trembling with fear.

"Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh! let me loose! The enemy are coming!" On hearing
these words, the Burincantadas all shouted at once, "Tell us where
to hide!"

"If you will not let me scoop out a hole here, I'll jump into the
well," said the monkey in a hoarse voice.

As soon as the Burincantadas heard the word "well," they all ran as
fast as they could, following the monkey. "Let me jump first!" said
the monkey.

"No, let us jump first!" shouted the Burincantadas; and so they
did. The monkey made a motion as if he were going to follow; but,
instead, he lifted up the biggest stone he could find and threw it
down the well. "They are dead," he said to himself, laughing. "Ah,
I have caught you! Ha, ha!"

The Burincantadas now being dead, the monkey was at leisure to
decide what to do next. He entered their palace, and there he found
everything magnificent. "This is the very place where my master
shall live!" He opened the first room, but there he found nothing
but bones. He closed the door and opened the second, where he found
many prisoners who were waiting to be eaten. He set them all free,
and told them to clean up the palace at once. The prisoners set to
work, not forgetting to thank the monkey for his kindness. Before he
left the palace, he addressed the crowd as follows: "My brothers and
sisters, if any one comes and asks you who your master is, tell him
that he is Don Juan Pusong Tambi-tambi."

Then he left the crowd of people busy cleaning the palace, and went
to the farm, where he found thousands of horses, cows, and sheep. "My
master is indeed rich," he said to himself. He called the shepherd
who was lying under the tree, and said to him, "Tell your other
companions that, if any one comes and asks whose animals these are,
they must answer that they all belong to Don Juan Pusong. Don Juan
is your master now."

After seeing that everything was in order, the monkey hastened to
his master, who was still ploughing, and said, "Throw away your
plough. Let's go to the king's palace, for to-night you will be
married to the princess Dona Elena."

Night came. The palace was splendidly adorned. The princess was
sitting by her father, when Don Juan, dressed in his striped clothes
and accompanied by the monkey, entered the gate of the palace. Soon the
priest came, and the princess was called to the reception-hall. When
she saw her bridegroom, she ran away in despair, and cried to her
father, "Father, how dare you accept as my husband such a base, dirty,
crooked man! Look at him! Why, he is the meanest of the mean."

But the king replied, "He is rich. If you don't marry him, I'll punish
you very severely." The princess had to obey her father; but, before
giving her hand to Juan Pusong, she said, "O God! let me die."

When the marriage ceremony was over, the king called the monkey,
and asked, "Where is the couple going to live?"

"In Don Juan's palace," was the reply of the monkey.

The king immediately ordered carriages to be gotten ready. Then they
started on their journey. Four hours passed, and still no palace
was to be seen. The king became impatient, and said to the monkey,
"Monkey, if what you have said to me is not true, your head shall
answer for your lie." Hardly had he said these words when he beheld
before him a number of men watching a herd of cattle. "I wonder who
owns these, monkey!" said the king.

The monkey made some signs, and soon three shepherds came running up
to them. "Good-evening, king!" they said.

"Good-evening!" replied the king. "Whose cattle are these?"

"They are all owned by Don Juan Pusong," said the shepherds.

The king nodded, and said to himself, "He is truly rich." The palace
was now in sight. The king could hardly express his joy on seeing
such a magnificent building. "Why, it is not a palace; it is heaven
itself," he said.

They were now upstairs. The king, on seeing still more beauties, said,
"I confess, I am not the richest man on earth." Soon he died of joy,
and his body was placed in a golden coffin and buried in the church.

The couple inherited his dominion; but Queen Elena could not endure
her ugly husband, and two weeks later she died broken-hearted. So
Juan was left as sole ruler of two kingdoms. The monkey became his
chief minister.

This story shows that a compassionate man oftentimes gets his reward.

Andres the Trapper.

Narrated by Domingo Perez of San Carlos, Pangasinan, who heard the
story from his grandfather, now dead. The story is popular among
the Pangasinanes.

Once upon a time there lived in a village a poor widow who had an
only son named Andres. They lived in a small hut situated near the
Patacbo forest. When Andres was between twelve and thirteen years old,
his mother died. From now on he lived alone in his mean little hut,
where he had to cook his own food and wash his clothes.

One morning some boys invited Andres to go to the woods with them to
trap. When they got to the forest, his companions set their traps
in the places where the wild chickens used to feed. Then they went
home. In the afternoon they returned to the woods, where they found
that each trap had caught a wild cock. Now Andres became envious of
his companions: so when he reached home, he took his knife and made
two traps of his own. After he had finished them, he ran to the forest
and set them. Early the next morning he went to the woods to see if he
had caught anything. There he found two wild cocks snared. He took them
home, sold one, and ate the other for his dinner. When he had finished
eating, he made many traps, which he set up that afternoon. From now
on he made his living by trapping, often catching as many as fifteen
birds in a day. From the money he earned he was able to feed himself
and buy clothes.

One day, after Andres had been a trapper for many years, he went
to the forest, as usual, to see what he had caught. He found that
his traps had been moved, and that in one of them was a big monkey
caught by the leg. As Andres was about to kill the monkey with a big
stick which he picked up, the animal said to him, "My dear Andres,
don't harm me! and I will be your helper by and by."

Andres was much astonished to hear the monkey talk. He was moved
to pity, and set the animal free. When he started toward his home,
the monkey followed him. From now on they lived together. Soon the
monkey learned how to sell wild chickens in the market.

Now, in that town there lived a very rich man by the name of Toribio,
who had a daughter named Aning. The people considered Aning the most
beautiful lady in the province. However, none of the young men of
the town courted Aning, for they felt unworthy and ashamed to woo
the richest and most beautiful girl. One fine day the monkey went to
town and sold wild chickens, as usual. On his way home he stopped at
Don Toribio's house. Don Toribio asked what he wanted, and the monkey
said that his master had sent him to borrow their money-measure.

"Who is your master?" said Don Toribio.

"Don't you know? Don Andres, a very rich, handsome young gentleman
who lives in the valley of Obong," said the monkey.

Don Toribio at once lent the ganta-measure to the monkey, who
thanked him and hurried home. Before he returned it to the owner
the next morning, he put a peso, a fifty-centavo piece, a peseta,
and a media-peseta in the cracks of the measure.

When the monkey handed the ganta back to Don Toribio, the man said,
"Why do you return it? Has your master finished measuring his money?"

"No, sir!" said the monkey, "we have not finished; but this box is
too small, and it takes us too long to measure with it."

"Well," said Don Toribio, "we have a bigger one than that; do you
want to borrow it?"

"Yes, I do, if you will let me keep it till to-morrow," said the
monkey.

Don Toribio then brought a cavan, which equals about twenty-five
gantas. When the monkey reached home carrying the large measure,
Andres said to him, "Where did you get that box?" The monkey said
that it had been lent to him by the richest man in the town.

"What did you tell the man that you were going to do with it?" said
Andres.

"I told him that you wanted to count your money," said the monkey.

"Ah, me!" said Andres, "what money are you going to count? Don't you
know that we are very poor?"

"Let me manage things, Andres," said the monkey, "and I promise you
that you shall marry the beautiful daughter of the rich man."

The following day Andres caught many wild chickens. When the monkey
had sold them all in the market, he went back to their hut, and took
the cavan which he had borrowed. Before returning it to Don Toribio,
he stuck money in the cracks, as he had done to the first measure.

"Good-morning, Don Toribio!" said the monkey. Don Toribio was sitting
in a chair by the door of his house.

"Good-morning, monkey! How do you do?" replied the rich man. "Have
you come to return the box?"

"Yes, sir!" said the monkey, "we have finished. My master sends his
thanks to you." When Don Toribio took the box and saw the money inside,
he told the monkey about it; but the monkey said, "Never mind! we
have plenty more in our house."

"I am the richest man in town, yet I cannot throw money away like the
master of this fellow," said Don Toribio to himself. "Perhaps he is
even richer than I am." When the monkey was about to take his leave,
the rich man told him to tell his master to come there on the third
day. The monkey said that he would, and thanked Don Toribio for
the invitation.

On his way home, the monkey stopped at the market to buy a pair of
shoes, some ready-made clothes, and a hat for Andres. He took these
things home to his master, and in three days had taught Andres how to
walk easily with shoes on, how to speak elegantly, how to eat with a
spoon and fork and knife, and how to tell Don Toribio that he wanted
to marry his daughter.

When the time came, Andres and the monkey set out for the town. They
were welcomed by Don Toribio and his daughter Aning. After a short
talk, Andres spoke of his purpose in coming there. He said that he
wanted to marry Don Toribio's daughter. Don Toribio gladly accepted the
offer, and said that the wedding would be held the next morning. Hasty
preparations were made for the ceremony. In the morning a priest
came, and Andres and Aning were married. Many guests were present,
and everybody had a good time.

A few years later Don Toribio died, and Andres inherited all his
wealth. He then became a very rich man.

Notes.

Two other Philippine variants of the "Puss in Boots" cycle have been
printed,--one Visayan, "Masoy and the Ape" (JAFL 20 : 311-314);
and the other Tagalog, "Juan and the Monkey" (ibid., 108-109). It
would thus appear, not only from the fact of its wide distribution,
but also from the testimony of the recorders of the stories, that
the tale is fairly well known and popular throughout the Archipelago.

The most complete bibliography of this cycle is Bolte-Polivka's notes
on Grimm, No. 33 (a), "Puss in Boots" (Anmerkungen, I : 325-334). See
also Koehler's notes to Gonzenbach, No. 65, "Vom Conte Piro" (2 :
242 f.); Macculloch, ch. VIII (p. 225 f.); W. R. S. Ralston in the
"Nineteenth Century" (13 [1883] : 88-104). The oldest known version
of the story is Straparola's (XI, i), which is translated in full by
Crane (pp. 348-350). The second oldest is also Italian, by Basile (2 :
iv); the third, French, Perrault's "Le Chat Botte." In all three the
helpful animai is a cat, as it is without exception in the German,
Scandinavian, English, and French forms. In the Italian the animal is
usually a cat, though the fox takes its place in a number of Sicilian
tales. In the Greek, Roumanian, Bulgarian, Serbian, Russian, and in
general all East European forms, the helpful animal is regularly the
fox, as it is also in the examples collected from Siberia, Kurdestan,
Daghestan, and Mongolia. In the four Indian variants known, the animal
is a jackal; in the four from the Philippines, a monkey. In a Swahili
tale (Steere, p. 13) it is a gazelle. It is not hard to see how,
through a process of transmission, jackal, fox, and cat might become
interchanged; but where the Philippine monkey, consistently used in
all versions, came from, is more difficult to explain; so the Swahili
gazelle. I have, however, attempted an explanation below.