her patroness.

One day the goddess said to the girl, "Take this cotton, clean it,
and make out of it a dress for yourself." Now, the girl knew nothing
about making cloth and weaving it: so she said to the goddess,
"When the cotton is cleaned, is it ready for use?"

"No," answered her guardian; "after it is cleaned, it must be
beaten." "Well, after it is beaten, is it ready for use?" said the
lazy girl.

The goddess said that before it could be used, it would have to
be spun.

"Well, after it is spun," persisted the saucy maiden, "is it ready
for use?"

"No; it must next be woven into cloth, cut, and sewed," answered the
patient goddess.

"Oh!" said the girl, "it will take a long time and much hard work to
make clothes that way. This leather hide, which you have given me to
beat the cotton on, will make me better clothing, because it will
wear longer." So she covered herself with the leather. The goddess
was so angry at the girl for her laziness, that she determined that
the leather should not only be her dress, but also become her very
skin. Then the goddess took the stick for beating the cotton, and,
thrusting it between the maiden's buttocks, said to her, "This
stick will become a part of your body, and you will use it for
climbing-purposes. As a penalty for your laziness, henceforth you
shall live in trees in the forest, and there you will find your food."

Thus originated the first monkey with a coat of leather and a tail.

Obviously connected with this Ilocano story are three Tinguian myths
recorded by Cole, who abstracts them thus:--

(No. 65.) A lazy man, who is planting corn, constantly leans on his
planting-stick. It becomes a tail, and he turns into a monkey.

(No. 66.) A boy is too lazy to strip sugarcane for himself. His mother,
in anger, tells him to stick it up his anus. He does so, and becomes
a monkey.

(No. 67.) A lazy girl pretends she does not know how to spin. Her
companions, in disgust, tell her to stick the spinning-stick up her
anus. She does so, and at once changes into a monkey.

Compare also a Bagobo story collected by Miss Benedict (JAFL 26 :
21), where a ladle becomes a monkey's tail; also an African saga in
Daehnhardt (3 : 488).

The Filipinos have other explanatory myths which credit Lucifer with
the creation of monkeys and snakes.

TALE 74

THE LOST NECKLACE.

Narrated by Facundo Esquivel, a Tagalog, who heard the story from a
friend from Cebu. The story i