back.

On the instant the little girl screamed out, "Wait a minute, Buso! I've
dropped my comb. Let me down to pick it up."

So the Buso sat down on the ground, and let the girl climb out of
the basket. He sat waiting for her to find her comb; but all the time
she was picking up big stones, and putting them into the basket. Her
brother got out of the basket too, and then both girl and boy climbed
up into a tall betel-nut tree, [114] leaving Buso with a basket full
of stones on his back.

Up to his house in the pananag-tree went Buso with the heavy
basket. When his wife saw him, she laughed and shouted very loud. She
was glad, because she thought there was a man in the basket, all ready
to eat. But, when Buso slipped the basket down from his shoulders,
there was no human flesh in it, but only big stones.

Then the angry Buso hurried back to look for the two children. At last
he caught sight of them far up in the betel-nut tree, and wondered how
he could get them. Now, at the foot of the tree there was a growth
of the wild plant called "bagkang;" and Buso said words to make the
bagkang grow faster and taller:--

"Tubu, tubu, bagkang,
Grow, grow, bagkang,
Baba, baba mamaa'n." [115]
Handle, handle, betel-nut.

But the children, in their turn, said:--

"Tubu, tubu, mamaa'n,
Grow, grow, betel-nut,
Baba, baba bagkang."
Handle, handle, bagkang.

By and by, when the bagkang-stems had grown so tall as almost to reach
the clusters of betel-nuts at the top of the trunk, the boy and girl
said to each other. "Let us pick betel-nuts, and throw them down on
the bagkang."

And as soon as they began to pick, the betel-nuts became so big and
heavy that the bagkang-plants fell down when the betel-nuts dropped
on them.

Then the Buso went away; and the children climbed down in haste,
ran home, and told their mother and father how the Buso had tried to
carry them off.

The Buso-Child

Datu Ayo was a great man among the Bagobo, well known throughout the
mountain-country for his bravery and his riches. He had gathered in
his house many products of Bagobo workmanship in textiles and brass and
fine weapons. At his death, human sacrifices of slaves were offered up
for him. It was not many years ago that he went down to the great city
of the dead, and many of his children and grandchildren are living
now. His sons like to think about their father's renown; and, as a
reminder, the eldest son,