prodigies of valor, the
Moor is converted and baptized, and the wedding follows. The case
is not so easy when a Christian prince loves a Moorish lady. Since
he can never forsake his religion his tribulations are many. He is
imprisoned, and his princess aids in his attempt to escape, which
sometimes costs him his life; or if the scene is laid in war time
either the princess is converted and escapes to the Christian army,
or the prince dies a tragic death. The hero is usually provided with
a Christ, or other image or relic, given him by his dying mother,
which extricates him from his many plights. He meets lions and bears,
and highwaymen attack him; but from all he escapes by a miracle. If,
however, some principal personage is not taken off by a tragic end,
the Indians find the play insipid. During the intermission one or
two clowns come out and raise a laugh by jests that are frigid enough
"to freeze hot water in the tropics." After the play is over a clown
appears again and criticizes the play and makes satirical comments on
the village officials. These plays usually lasted three days. [137]
Le Gentil attended one of them and says that he does not believe any
one in the world was ever so bored as he was. [138] Yet the Indians
were passionately fond of these performances. [139]

If one may judge from Retana's catalogue of his Philippine collection
arranged in chronological order, the sketch we have given of the
literature accessible to Filipinos who could not read Spanish in
the eighteenth century would serve not unfairly for much of the
nineteenth. The first example of secular prose fiction I have noted
in his lists is Friar Bustamente's pastoral novel depicting the quiet
charms of country life as compared with the anxieties and tribulations
of life in Manila. [140] His collection did not contain so far as I
noticed a single secular historical narrative in Tagal or anything
in natural science.

Sufficient familiarity with Spanish to compensate for this lack of
books of secular knowledge was enjoyed by very few Indians in the
country districts and these had learned it mainly while servants of
the curate. It was the common opinion of the Spanish authorities that
the Friars purposely neglected instructing the Indians in Spanish,
in order to perpetuate their hold upon them; but Zuniga repels this
charge as unjust and untrue. [141]

It is obvious that it was impracticable for the Indians to learn
Spanish under the missi