ers, he said,
"You are very crazy," and he cut them loose.

82 [383]

Carabao met _loson_ [384] in the river. "You are very slow," said the
carabao. "No, I can beat you in a race," said _loson_. "Let us try,"
said the carabao. So they started to run. When the carabao reached a
long distance, he called, "Shell," and another shell lying by the river
answered, "Yes." He ran again and again, and every time he stopped to
call, another shell answered. At least the carabao ran until he died.

83

A crab and _kool_ [385] went to the forest to get wood for fuel. The
crab cut his wood and the shell went to cut his. "Tie very good your
wood which you get," said _kool_ to the crab. The crab pulled the ropes
so tightly that he broke his big legs and died. When the shell went to
see where the crab was, he found him dead, and he begun to cry until
he belched; then his meat came out of his shell and he was dead also.

84 [386]

A mosquito came to bite a man. The man said, "You are very little and
can do nothing to me." The mosquito answered, "If you had no ears,
I would eat you."

85

A boy's parents sent a man to carry gifts to the girl's house, and
see if they would agree to a marriage. When he got to the door of the
house, the people were all eating _kool_, and when they sucked the
meat out of the shell, they nodded their heads. The man saw them nod,
so did not state his errand, but returned and said that the people in
the house all desired the union. Then the boy's people got ready the
things for _pakalon_ [387] and went to the girl's house. The girl's
parents were very much surprised.

86

A man went to the other town. When he got there, the people were eating
_labon_. [388] He asked them what they ate, and they said _pangaldanen_
(the bamboo ladder is called "_aldan_".) He went home and had nothing
to eat but rice, so he cut his ladder into small pieces and cooked all
day, but the bamboo was still very hard. He could not wait longer,
so called his friends and asked why he could not make it like the
people had in the other town. Then his friends laughed and told him
his mistake.

87

A man went to get coconuts and loaded his horse heavily. He met a boy
and asked how long to his house. "If you go slowly, very soon; if you
go fast, all day," said the boy. The man did not believe, so hurried
his horse and the coconuts fell off, so he had to stop and pick them
up. He did this many times and it