hurried down to the river. When she reached there, she stood with
her bare feet in the stream, and dipped the bucket into the stream,
and took it out full of water. But, just as she turned to climb up
the river-bank, an enormous fish jumped out of the river, seized her,
dragged her down, and devoured her.

At home, Alelu'k was watching for his wife to come back bringing the
water. Day after day he waited for her, and all day long he was crying
from sorrow.

The man (Alelu'k) symbolizes a big black ant that makes its nest in
a hollow tree. The woman (Alebu'tud) is a little worm that lives
in the palma brava tree. The fish is another man who carried off
Alelu'k's wife.

New York.

NOTES

[1] In these legends, in a few instances, the exact phrases of the
narrators have been retained for the sake of their quaintness.

[2] Obtained from Jose Teodoro, Bay, Laguna, P.I.

[3] Obtained from Fabian de la Paz, San Fernando, Pompanga, P. I.,
who says it was "handed down from old time."

[4] Obtained from Camilo Osias, Balayan, Luzon, P. I.

[5] The word here translated "king" is hardly satisfactory, but
perhaps nothing better can be substituted. Of course the idea "king"
has crept in since the Spanish conquest. "Datto" or "chief" might be
more satisfactory. What is really meant, however, is nothing exactly
imaged by these words, but rather a sort of "head-man," a man more
prominent and powerful than others.

[6] See "Tar-Baby" in Uncle Remus, his Songs and Sayings, p. 7. Also
"Puss in Boots" in Lang's Cinderella, p. 36.

[7] See "Uncle Remus" on "Tortoise and the Rabbit," p. 87. Also AEsop's
Fables, p. 162.

[8] The incident of Ca Boo-Ug pretending that he did not wish to be
thrown into the water is similar to an incident in the "Tar Baby"
story (see Uncle Remus, his Songs and Sayings, p. 16).

[9] Juan Puson, or "Jack Paunch," as he would be called in English,
is a favorite character in Tagalog folk-lore. His adventures are
considered to be the height of humor, and a recital of these never
fails to be repaid with peals of appreciative laughter. The character
is merely a conventional one, to which all sorts of stories, no matter
how inconsistent with each of the others, may be attached. Some of
the accounts, which deal with the death of Juan and various members
of his family by burning, the writer has suppressed as too coarse
for Western ideas.

[10] Anac, child.

[11] Anac hang gabi, young root of