rs. When the old
man was about to breathe his last, he called his son to give him his
final benediction; but the ungrateful boy, instead of going to his
dying father, ran away into the woods, and the old man passed away
without anybody to care for him.

But God punished the unfilial son; he cursed him; and the boy lost
his power of speech, and was condemned to live in the forests ever
after as a monkey. Thus, although monkeys cannot talk, they are wise
because they are descended from a human being.

Notes.

I know of no analogues of this story, but will cite two other Filipino
myths accounting for the origin of monkeys. The first was narrated
by Antonio Maceda, a Tagalog from Pagsanjan, who heard it from his
grandfather. The story follows.

Origin of the Monkey.

A long time ago the world, which was divided into earth and heaven,
was very lonesome, for Bathala was the only living being in it. He
lived in heaven. One day Bathala felt so lonely, that the thought of
creating some living beings for his companions came into his mind. He
had never thought of this before, although with his infinite power he
could do anything he pleased. So he came down to earth to get some
clay; but he found the ground very dry, for there was no such thing
as rain on the earth. Immediately he said, "Let there be rain!" and
the rain fell down. Then, with a large load of slippery clay, Bathala
returned to heaven and began the work of creation. He created men,
birds, plants, mountains, and rivers (sic!). While he was in the act
of creating men, however, an accident occurred. As he was moulding
a piece of clay into the shape of a man, the mould slipped from his
left hand. Bathala was quick enough to grasp the back of this lifeless
mass of clay; but the clay was so soft that it stretched out into a
long rope, and the mould fell into a tree. In his anger, Bathala said,
"I curse thee! Thou shalt have life, but thou shalt inhabit trees. The
part of thy body that has been stretched out into a rope shall become
thy tail."

The lifeless mould was at once changed into a monkey, the
great-grandfather of all the monkeys.

The following story was written down by Sotero Albano, an Ilocano
from Dingras, Ilocos Norte:--

The First Monkey.

Long years ago there lived in a thick forest a young girl under the
care of the goddess of weaving. Here she lived happily and without
care, for everything that she wanted to eat was provided for her by