seeing a large caldron of hot water on the fire,
he threw the baby into it and went back.

"Did the baby eat well?" asked the Alan.

"Very well," said the man.

Then she put most of the meat into her basket and started home. As
soon as she had gone, the man told his companion what he had done,
and they were so frightened that they ran to hide.

When the Alan reached home and found the baby dead in the hot water,
she was very angry and started back immediately to find the men, who,
in the meantime, had climbed a high tree that stood near the water.

The Alan looked down into the water, and seeing the reflection of
the men, she reached in her long hand with the fingers that pointed
backward, but when she could not touch them, she looked up and saw
them in the tall tree.

"How did you get up there?" she cried angrily.

"We climbed up feet first," called down the men.

The Alan, determined to get them, caught hold of a vine and started
up the tree feet first, but before she quite reached them, they cut
the vine and she fell to the ground and was killed. [84]

Then the men came down and went to the Alan's house, where they found
a jar full of beads and another of gold, and these they brought with
them when they returned home.

Man and the Alan

_Tinguian_

A Tinguian was once walking along a trail in the wood when he heard a
strange sound in a large tree near him, and looking up he was startled
to see that it was the home of the Alan--spirits who live in the wood.

He stopped and gazed for a moment at the horrible creatures, large
as people, hanging from the limbs of the tree with their heads down
like bats. They had wings to fly, and their toes were at the back
of their feet, while their long fingers, which pointed backward,
were fastened at the wrist.

"Surely," thought the man, "these terrible beings will eat me if
they can catch me. I will run away as fast as I can while they are
asleep." He tried to run but he was too frightened, and after a few
steps he fell face down on the ground.

At this the Alan began to wail loudly, for they saw him fall and
believed him dead And they came down out of the tree with gold and
beads which they laid on him.

After a while the man gathered courage and, jumping up, he cried as
loudly as he could, "Go away!"

The Alan did not move, but they looked at him and said: "Give us the
one bead _nagaba_ [a peculiar bead of double effect], and you may
have the rest."