Filipino corrido
need not have got the conception from Europe: it is Malayan. In a list
of the Jelebu regalia occurs this item: "The royal drums (gendang
naubat); said to be 'headed' with the skins of lice (kulit tuma)"
(see Skeat 2, 27).

We have already met with the extraordinary companions (No. 3;
see especially variant d, "Sandangcal," which relates a contest
between the hero's runner and the king's messenger). For the formula,
see Bolte-Polivka's notes to Grimm, No. 71. Benfey (Ausland, 1858,
pp. 1038 et seq., 1067 et seq.) believes the "Skilful Companions"
cycle as represented by Grimm, Nos. 71 and 134; Basile, Nos. 28 and
36; Straparola, 4 : 1, etc.--to be a kind of humorous derivative
of the cycle we shall call the "Rival Brothers" (q.v., No. 12 of
this collection), and which he shows to have spread into Europe
from India. There are significant differences, however, between
these two groups; and Benfey's treatment of them together causes
confusion. In the "Skilful Companions" cycle, the extraordinary men
are in reality servants of the hero, who sets out and wins the hand
of a princess. They are picked up by chance. In the "Rival Brothers"
cycle, on the other hand, the three (or four) brothers set out to learn
trades and to win their fortunes, often wonderful objects of magic;
the brothers meet later by appointment, combine their skill to succor
a princess, and then quarrel as to which deserves her most. In stories
of the "Strong Hans" type (e.g., Grimm, No. 166) or "John the Bear"
(Cosquin, No. 1), where the extraordinary companions also appear,
they turn out to be rascals, who faithlessly desert the hero. In
our stories, however, the specially-endowed men are supplied by a
grateful supernatural being, to help the kind-hearted hero win in his
contests with the stubborn king. (Compare Gonzenbach's Sicilian story,
No. 74, which includes a thankful saint, with characteristics of the
"Grateful Dead," a "Land-and-water Ship," and "Skilful Companions.")

The names of the companions in "King Palmarin" and "Juan and his
Six Friends" are clearly derived from the Spanish. In Caballero's
story of "Lucifer's Ear" we find these names: Carguin ("carrier"),
Oidin ("hearer"), Soplin ("sigher or blower"). All three occur in
"Juan and his Six Friends." In the three Filipino tales the total
number of different strong men is only seven,--Know-All, Blower,
Farsight, Runner, Hunter, Carrier, Sharp-Ear. This close conformity,
when