lways go secretly to one
of the neighboring cocoanut-groves, where they would spend their time
drinking tuba [25] or eating young cocoanuts.

One evening a severe typhoon [26] struck the little village, and most
of the cocoanut-trees were broken off at the top. The next afternoon
the joyous party went to the cocoanut-grove to steal fruits. As soon
as they arrived there, seven of them climbed trees. Juan, the youngest
of all, was ordered to remain below so as to count and gather in the
cocoanuts his friends threw down to him. While his companions were
climbing the trees, Juan was singing,--

"Eight friends, good friends,
One fruit each eats;
Good Juan here bends,
Young nuts he takes."

He had no sooner repeated his verse three times than he heard a fall.

"One," he counted; and he began to sing the second verse:--

"Believe me, that everything
Which man can use he must bring,
No matter at all of what it's made;
So, friends, a counter you need."

Crrapup! he heard another fall, which was followed by three in close
succession. "Good!" he said, "five in all. Three more, friends,"
and he raised his head as if he could see his companions. After a
few minutes he heard two more falls.

"Six, seven--well, only seven," he said, as he began searching for
the cocoanuts on the ground. "One more for me, friends--one more,
and every one is satisfied." But it was his friends who had fallen;
for, as the trees were only stumps, the climbers fell off when they
reached the tops.

Juan, however, did not guess what had happened until he found one
of the dead bodies. Then he ran away as fast as he could. At last he
struck Justo, a lame man. After hearing Juan's story, Justo advised
Juan not to return to his village, lest he be accused of murder by
the relatives of the other men.

After a long talk, the two agreed to travel together and seek a
place of refuge, for the blind man's proposal seemed a good one to
the lame man:--

"Blind man, strong legs;
Lame man, good eyes;
Four-footed are pigs;
Four-handed are monkeys.
But we'll walk on two,
And we'll see with two."

So when morning dawned, they started on their journey.

They had not travelled far when Justo saw a horn in the road, and
told Juan about it. Juan said,--

"Believe me, that everything
Which man can use he must bring,