Filipino Popular Tales Part 50

THE WICKED WOMAN'S REWARD.

Narrated by Gregorio Frondoso, a Bicol from Camarines. The story was told by a father to one of his sons.

Once there lived a certain king. He had concubines, five in number. Two of them he loved more than the others, for they were to bear him children. He said that the one who should give birth to a male baby he would marry. Soon one of them bore a child, but it was a girl, and shortly afterward the other bore a handsome boy. The one which had given birth to the baby girl was restless: she wished that she might have the boy. In order to satisfy her wish, she thought of an ingenious plan whereby she might get possession of the boy.

One midnight, when all were sound asleep, she killed her own baby and secretly buried it. Then she quietly crept to her rival's bed and stole her boy, putting in his place a newborn cat. Early in the morning the king went to the room of his concubine who had borne the boy, and was surprised to find a cat by her side instead of a human child. He was so enraged, that he immediately ordered her to be drowned in the river. His order was at once executed. Then he went into the room of the wicked woman. The moment he saw the boy baby, he was filled with great joy, and he smothered the child with kisses. As he had promised, he married the woman. After the marriage the king sent away all his other concubines, and he harbored a deep love for his deceitful wife.

Soon afterwards there was a great confusion throughout the kingdom. Everybody wondered why it was that the river smelled so fragrant, and the people were very anxious to find out the cause of the sweet odor. It was not many days before the townspeople along the river-bank found the corpse of the drowned woman floating in the water; and this was the source of the sweetness that was causing their restlessness. It was full of many different kinds of flowers which had been gathered by the birds. When the people attempted to remove the corpse from the water, the birds pecked them, and would not let the body be taken away.

At last the news of the miracle was brought to the ears of the king. He himself went to the river to see the wonderful corpse. As soon as he saw the figure of the drowned woman, he was tortured with remorse. Then, to his great surprise and fear, the corpse suddenly stood up out of the water, and said to him in sorrowful tones, "O king! as you see, my body has been floating on the water. The birds would have buried me, but I wanted you to know that you ordered me to be killed without any investigation of my fault. Your wife stole my boy, and, as you saw, she put a cat by my side." The ghost vanished, and the king saw the body float away again down the river. The king at once ordered the body of his favorite to be taken out of the water and brought to the palace; and he himself was driven back to the town, violent with rage and remorse. There he seized his treacherous wife and hurled her out of the window of the palace, and he even ordered her body to be hanged.

Having gotten rid of this evil woman, the king ordered the body of the innocent woman to be buried among the n.o.ble dead. The corpse was placed in a magnificent tomb, and was borne in a procession with pompous funeral ceremonies. He himself dressed entirely in black as a sign of his genuine grief for her; yet, in spite of his sorrow for his true wife, he took comfort in her son, who grew to be a handsome boy. As time went on, the prince developed into a brave youth, who was able to perform the duties of his father the king: so, as his father became old, no longer able to bear the responsibilities of regal power, the prince succeeded to the throne, and ruled the kingdom well. He proved himself to be the son of the good woman by his wise and just rule over his subjects.

Note.

I know of no other versions of this story. The incident of the animal subst.i.tution for child is a commonplace in folk-tales, though it is usually ascribed to an envious step-mother rather than an envious co-wife. For abstracts of Filipino stories containing this incident see JAFL 29 : 226 et seq., 228, 229; 19 : 265-272.

TALE 44

THE MAGIC RING ("ANG SINGSING NGA TANTANAN").

Narrated by Encarnacion Gonzaga, a Visayan from Jaro, Iloilo. The story, she says, is very popular among the Visayans.

In the town of X, not far from the kingdom of Don Fernando, there lived an old religious woman named Carmen. She had a son named Carlos. She had been a widow since Carlos was nine months old. She was poor--poor even to raggedness. One day she said to her son, "I have named you Carlos because I love you. For me, no name is prettier than yours. Every letter in it means something." Carlos asked his mother to tell him the meaning of his name; but she said to him, "I'll tell it to you later. First go to the king's palace, and there beg something for us to eat. O my son! if you only knew the miseries I have had to endure to bring you up, you would not refuse this request of your poor mother," she said, weeping.

Carlos pitied his mother very much, so he ran towards the king's palace to beg some food; but when he reached the gate, he hesitated to enter. He was ashamed to beg, so he went and stood silently under the orange-tree which was not far from the princess's window. "If I should obey my mother's request," he said to himself, "what would the princess say? She would probably say to me, 'You are too young to beg.' What a disgrace then would it be for me!" As Carlos was looking at the declining sun with tears in his eyes, the princess raised her window and unintentionally spit on his head. Carlos's eyes flashed. He looked at the princess sternly, and said, "If the G.o.ddess of the Sea, who has a star on her forehead [92] and a moon on her throat, does not dare to spit on me, how can you--you who are but the shadow of her power and beauty?"

At these harsh words the princess fainted. When she came to herself, she cried. Her tears were like drops of dew falling from the leaves in the morning. Her father entered her room, and found her in her sorrow. "Why do you weep, Florentina?" asked Don Fernando.

"O Father!" answered Florentina, "my heart is broken. I have been disgraced."

"Why should you say so?" replied her father. "Who broke your heart, and who disgraced you?"

"There's a man under the orange-tree," answered the princess, "who said to me these words"--and she repeated what Carlos had said to her.

The king instantly ordered Carlos to be seized and brought into his presence. Carlos stood fearless before him, and answered all his questions. Don Fernando at last said, "If within a week you cannot show me that what you said to my daughter is true, you'll be hanged without mercy."

These words frightened Carlos. With tears in his eyes and with his thoughts devoted to G.o.d, who alone could give him consolation, he walked down the sh.o.r.e of the Golden River. He sat down to rest under a pagatpat-tree [93]. An eagle which had a nest at the very top of the tree saw him crying, and said to him, "Why do you weep, Carlos?"

"O Eagle, queen of the birds! I'd be very thankful to you if you'd only tell me where the home of the G.o.ddess of the Sea is," said Carlos.

"Why do you want her house?" asked the eagle. "Don't you know that no human being is able to see her?"

"I didn't know that; but if I cannot see her, my life is lost,"

said Carlos sadly.

The eagle pitied Carlos very much: so she said, "Come, Carlos, come! and I'll lead you to the right path." Carlos followed her until they came to the mouth of the river. There they stopped. The eagle shouted, "O king of the fishes! come and help me, for I am in great need of a.s.sistance." The king of the fishes appeared, and asked what the eagle needed. The eagle told him the story of Carlos, and asked him if he could take Carlos to the home of the G.o.ddess of the Sea. As the fish could not refuse the request of the queen of the birds, he said to Carlos, "Carlos, lie on my back and close your eyes: within five minutes you'll be in the home of the G.o.ddess."

Carlos obeyed the fish. When he opened his eyes, he found that he was in a very beautiful house. He was lying on a golden bed, and beside him was standing a beautiful woman with a star on her forehead and a moon on her throat. Carlos could not believe that the vision was true. By and by he heard a sweet voice saying, "What has brought you to this place?"

Carlos trembled, and answered, "I have come here to ask for your help."

"What help do you desire?" asked the G.o.ddess. Carlos related his story. The G.o.ddess could not refuse help to one who had spoken so well of her beauty, so she took her diamond ring off her finger and gave it to Carlos, saying, "Take this ring with you. Whenever you want or need my help, touch the ring thrice, and say, 'O G.o.d, help me!' If the king wants my presence, touch the ring six times, and I'll appear before you."

Carlos received the ring, and, humbly kneeling before the G.o.ddess, said, "I can find no words in which to express to you my grat.i.tude. I thank you with all my heart."

The G.o.ddess then called to the king of the fishes, and ordered him to take Carlos back to land. When Carlos arrived at the sh.o.r.e of the river, he met the eagle, who showed him the way to the king's palace.

The king Don Fernando, on seeing Carlos once more before him, said, "You wretch! one day more is all you have to live."

"To-morrow," replied Carlos, "I'll come before your Highness, and I'll show to you that what I said to the princess is true." When morning came the next day, Carlos was ordered into the king's presence. All the lords and n.o.bles of the kingdom were in the palace, anxious to see the G.o.ddess of the Sea. It was already eight o'clock, and the G.o.ddess had not yet appeared. The king asked, "Where is she, Carlos?"

"She cannot come," replied Carlos; "but, if your Highness wants me to, I'll give you a trunk filled with gold in exchange for my life."

"No," said the king angrily: "what we want is the G.o.ddess of the Sea. If you cannot show her to us, prepare to be hanged."

Carlos touched the ring six times, and the beautiful G.o.ddess of the Sea appeared. All were amazed to see a woman with curly hair, a star on her forehead, a moon on her throat, and wearing a white dress glistening with diamonds. "Carlos is an enchanter!" cried the king, and he ran to embrace the G.o.ddess. In five minutes she disappeared, and Carlos's life was saved.

Don Fernando now proposed to marry his daughter Florentina to Carlos. At first the princess hesitated to say yes, but at last she consented. Carlos was glad to marry the beautiful princess; but, before the marriage took place, he went to get his poor mother, who was anxiously awaiting his return home.

Carlos with his diamond ring could now have everything he needed. In fact, he made the chapel in which he was married all of gold. The wedding-dress of the princess was adorned with diamonds. Immediately after the wedding, poor Carmen died of happiness. Carlos continued to live in the palace with his wife Florentina, but he never came to know the meaning of his name.

Note.

I know of no variants of this story. The detail of the helpful animals is common in Filipino Marchen; here, however, the kindness of the eagle and the fish lack the usual motivation.

TALE 45

MARIA AND THE GOLDEN SLIPPER.

Narrated by Dolores Zafra, a Tagalog from Pagsanjan, Laguna. She says that this is a Tagalog story, and was told to her when she was a little girl.

Once there lived a couple who had an only daughter, Maria. When Maria was a little girl, her mother died. A few years later Maria's father fell in love with a widow named Juana, who had two daughters. The elder of these daughters was Rosa, and the younger was Damiana. When Maria was grown to be a young woman, her father married the woman Juana. Maria continued to live with her father and step-mother. But Juana and her two daughters treated Maria as a servant. She had to do all the work in the house,--cook the food, wash the clothes, clean the floors. The only clothes she herself had to wear were ragged and dirty.

One day Prince Malecadel wanted to get married: so he gave a ball, to which he invited all the ladies in his kingdom. He said that the most beautiful of all was to be his wife. When Damiana and Rosa knew that all the ladies were invited, they began to discuss what clothes they would wear to the ball; but poor Maria was in the river, was.h.i.+ng the clothes. Maria was very sad and was weeping, for she had no clothes at all in which she could appear at the prince's fete. While she was was.h.i.+ng, a crab approached her, and said, "Why are you crying, Maria? Tell me the reason, for I am your mother."