some Latin words.

The melon was cut, and was found to contain five seeds. The king
shouted, "We are right!"

Mayabong then held up another melon, and said, "How many does this
one contain?"

Seeing that it was the yellow melon, Suan said, "It contains six."

When the melon was cut, it was found that Suan was right again. So
he won the contest.

Now, Mayabong wanted to win his money back again. So he took a bottle
and filled it with dung, and covered it tightly. He challenged the
king again to a contest. But when Suan refused this time, because he
had no idea as to what was in the bottle, the king said, "I let you
marry my daughter, because I thought that you were a good guesser. Now
you must prove that you are. If you refuse, you will lose your life."

When Mayabong asked what the bottle contained, Suan, filled with rage,
picked it up and hurled it down on the floor, saying, "I consider
that you are all waste to me." [7] When the bottle was broken, it
was found to contain waste, or dung. In great joy the king crowned
Suan to succeed him. Thus Suan lived happily the rest of his life
with his wife the princess.

Notes.

Two other printed variants are--

(c) "Juan the Guesser" (in H. E. Fansler's Types of Prose Narratives
[Chicago, 1911], pp. 73-77).

(d) "Juan Pusong" (JAFL 19 : 107-108).

This story seems to be fairly widespread among the Filipinos: there
is no doubt of its popularity. The distinguishing incidents of the
type are as follows:--

A1 Lazy son decides that he will go to school no longer, and (A2)
with his ABC book or a pencil and pad of paper, he has no trouble in
making his parents think him wise. (A3) He tells his mother that he has
learned to be a prophet and can discover hidden things. (A4) He spies
on his mother, and then "guesses" what she has prepared for supper.

B He hides his father's plough (cattle), and then finds it for
him. (B1) Plays similar trick on his uncle, thereby establishing his
reputation as a diviner.

C King's daughter loses ring, and the king sends for Juan to find it
under penalty of death if he fails, or (C1) his mother volunteers
her son's services. (C2) He accidentally discovers the thief by an
ejaculation of sorrow, or (C3) shrewdly picks out the guilty one from
among the soldiers.

In either case he causes the ring to be hid in a secret place or
swallowed by a goose (turkey), in whose body it is found the next day.

D Juan marries the princess.

E