no longer see his rival. But the coling flew
so high, that at last his head touched the sun, and all the feathers
on the top were burned off. The hawk now flew down to the crow, and
said that he had won the race, for the coling had fallen to the ground
dead. But by and by the coling himself came. He showed them the top
of his head as a proof that he had won the race. The crow gave his
decision in favor of the coling, and the hawk flew off disgraced.

From that time all colings have had the tops of their heads bald to
show that they are the descendants of the victorious bird.

Notes.

These three forms of the "flight-contest" incident are all from
southern Luzon,--the provinces of La Laguna and Batangas. The tale
seems to be definitely localized there. I know of its occurrence
nowhere else in the Islands. Nor have I found any Malayan variants.

For other pourquoi stories of why certain birds are bald, see
Daehnhardt, 3 : 11-14. Daehnhardt (ibid., 142) cites a Ceylon tale of
the crow and the drongo, who had a bet as to which could fly the higher
carrying a load. Crow selected tree-cotton for his burden; but Drongo,
noticing the black rain-clouds overhead, carried salt, and thus won;
for his load became constantly lighter, while Crow's became heavier.

With the explanation given in the second tale of this group of why the
crow is black, compare a Pawnee story (JAFL 6 : 126), in which a crow,
which is sent to the sun to get fire, has all his feathers singed.

TALE 72

WHY THE COW'S SKIN IS LOOSE ON THE NECK.

Narrated by Francisco M. Africa.

There was once a poor farmer who possessed a cow and a carabao. These
two animals were his only wealth. Every day he led them to the field
to plough. He worked his animals so hard, that they often complained to
him; but the cruel master would not even listen to their words. One day
the cow, who had grown tired of this kind of life, said to the carabao,
"Let us run away from this evil man! Though we are very dirty, he is
not willing for us even to take a bath. If we remain here with him,
we shall be as ugly and as filthy as pigs. If we run away from him,
however, he will have to do his own work, and then we shall be
revenged. Hurry up! Let us go!"

The spirit of the carabao was aroused: he jumped with a loud roar,
and said, "I too have long been meditating escape, but I hesitated
because I was afraid you might not be willing to join me in flight. We
are so ill-tr