blending of native tales with those of other areas, the whole being
worked over and reshaped until it fitted the social setting.

Previous writers--among them Ratzel and Graebner [77]--have sought
to account for certain resemblances in culture, between Malaysia,
Polynesia, and America, by historical connection. A part of our
material--such as that of the blood-clot child (p. 125), [78] the
rape of the maiden by the vine which carries her to the sky (p. 33),
the magic flight (p. 75), and magic growth (p. 38) [79]--may seem
to lend support to such a theory. These similarities are assuredly
suggestive and interesting, but it appears to the writer that the
material is too scanty and the folklore of intervening lands too
little known to justify us in considering them as convincing proof
of borrowing over such immense distances. [80]

General Results

Our study has brought out certain general results. We have seen
that Tinguian folklore has much in common with that of other tribes
and lands. While a part of this similarity is doubtless due to
borrowing--a process which can still be seen at work--a considerable
portion of the tales is probably of local and fairly recent origin,
while the balance appears to be very old. These older tales are so
intimately interwoven with the ceremonies, beliefs, and culture of this
people that they may safely be considered as having been developed by
them. They are doubtless much influenced by present day conditions,
for each story teller must, even unconsciously, read into them some
of his own experiences and the current beliefs of the tribe. At the
same time these traditional accounts doubtless exercise a potent
influence on the thoughts, beliefs, and actions of the people. In
Tinguian society, where custom still holds undisputed sway, these
well-known tales of past times must tend to cast into the same mould
any new facts or experiences which come to them.

We believe that we are justified when we take the viewpoint of
the Tinguian and consider "the stories of the first times" as
essentially very old. How old it is impossible to state definitely,
but a careful analysis of our material justifies us in believing that
they reflect a time before the people possessed terraced rice fields,
when domestic work animals were still unknown, and the horse had not
yet been introduced into their land. That these are not recent events
is attested by the great part they all now play in the ceremonial