stolen the tortoise and had hidden it
in the gutter. "Very well," said the diviner, "I will spare you; I
will say nothing; reassure yourselves." When he reached the palace,
he went through some magical performances, found the tortoise, and
was overwhelmed by the king with rewards and honors.--COSQUIN, 2 : 192.
It is entirely possible that this story and our two stories containing
the same situation are connected. Trading between Manila and Indo-China
has been going on for centuries.
The history of the Philippine story has probably been something like
this: To an early narrative about a wager between two neighboring
kings or datus, in which the winner was aided by the shrewdness of
an advisor (originally having a considerable amount of real ability),
were added other adventures showing how the advisor came to have his
post of honor. The germ of this story doubtless came from India via
the Malay migrations; the additional details possibly belong to a
much later period.
It is, moreover, not impossible that this whole cycle of the lucky
"anti-hero" grew up as a conscious antithesis to the earlier cycle
of the genuinely "Clever Lass" (see No. 7 in this collection).
In conclusion I might call attention to Benfey's treatment of this
droll in "Orient und Occident" (1 : 371 et seq.). Benfey traces the
story from the Orient, but considers that its fullest form is that
given in Schleicher's Lithuanian legends. The tale is also found in
"Somadeva," Chapter XXX (Tawney, 1 : 272-274).
TALE 2
THE CHARCOAL-MAKER WHO BECAME KING.
Narrated by Jose R. Perez, a Tagalog living in Manila, who heard the
story when a boy from his nurse.
Once upon a time there lived a king who had one beautiful
daughter. When she was old enough to be married, her father, as was
the custom in ancient times, made a proclamation throughout his kingdom
thus: "Whosoever shall be able to bring me ten car-loads of money for
ten successive days shall have the hand of my beautiful daughter and
also my crown. If, however, any one undertakes and fails, he shall
be put to death."
A boy, the only son of a poor charcoal-maker, heard this announcement
in his little town. He hurried home to his mother, and said that
he wanted to marry the beautiful princess and to be king of their
country. The mother, however, paid no attention to what her foolish
son had said, for she well knew that they had very little money.
The next day the boy, as usual,
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