Abu lies on the bier, and Nuzhat shows his body to
the nurse. When the old woman returns with her contradictory story,
the sultan's servant calls her a black falsifying witch. At last the
sultan and sultana themselves go to see. Both Abu and Nuzhat are found
lying as if dead. The sultan and his wife now argue so violently as
to which of their favorites died first, that the deceitful couple,
fearful of the outcome, kneel before their rulers, confess the trick,
and beg forgiveness. The royal pair laugh at the joke, and give Abu
and his wife enough to support them the rest of their days.

The last part of the Arabian story is substantially as given above,
only Nuzhat goes first to the sultana with the account of Abu's
death, after which Abu visits the sultan and tells him of Nuzhat's
death. Then follows the quarrel between the sultan and his wife over
the contradictory reports brought back by the two messengers. All
four go in person to discover the truth. Both Nuzhat and Abu are
found dead. Sultan: "I would give a thousand pieces of gold to know
which died first." Abu jumps up, says that he died first, and claims
the reward. Ending as above.

This story of Abu is also told as a folk-tale in Simla, northern India
(Dracott, 166-173), where it retains the Arabic title, "Abul Hussain,"
and is almost identical with the "1001 Nights" version. In the Simla
tale, however, the despatching of servants to learn which one is really
dead is lacking. The sultan and his wife together go to Abul's house,
and find both dead. "If we could only find out which died first!" etc.

Our story, the Tagalog folk-tale, is told almost as an anecdote. The
sultan has been transformed into a doctor; the sultana, into the
doctor's sister; Abu, into a poor servant, Pedro; and Nuzhat, into
Marta. The glitter of the Oriental harem has vanished, as indeed has
also the first two-thirds of the story. The descent in setting and
language has been so great, that I am inclined to suspect that this
droll has existed--at least, in one family--for a long time. It could
hardly have been derived from Molteni's poetic version. For the same
sort of relationship between another folk-tale and an "Arabian Nights"
story, see No. 13 and the notes.

TALE 17

THE THREE BROTHERS.

Narrated by Gregorio Frondoso, a Bicol from Tigaon, Camarines. The
narrator says, "This story was told to me by an old man who happened
to stay at our house one night. He was a traveller.