nd began to play it. No sooner had he touched the
strings than his fellow-prisoners and the guards began to dance. As he
played his guitar louder and louder, the inmates of the palace heard
it, and they too began to dance. He kept on playing throughout the
night; and the king, princess, and all got no rest whatsoever. By
morning most of them were tired to death. At last the king ordered
the guards to open the prison doors and let the prisoners go free;
but Cochinango would not stop playing until the king consented to
give him the princess in marriage. The princess also at last had to
agree to accept Cochinango as her husband, so he stopped playing. The
next day they were married with great pomp and ceremony.

Thus the poor, foolish boy was married to a princess. More than once
he saved the kingdom from the raiding Moros by playing his guitar;
for all his enemies were obliged to dance when they heard the music,
and thus they were easily captured or killed. When the king died,
Cochinango became his successor, and he and the princess ruled happily
for many years.

Notes.

I know of no parallel to this story as a whole; the separate incidents
found in it, however, are widespread.

The first part of the story--the prophecy concerning the hero recalls
the opening of many Maerchen; but our narrative is so condensed,
that it is impossible to say just what material was drawn on to
furnish this section. The riddle-contest for the hand of a princess
forms a separate cycle, to which we have already referred (notes to
No. 25); but the turn the motive takes here is altogether different
from the norm. Our hero, provided with his magic buyo, has really
won the wager before the contest is begun. As for the magic objects,
the last three--cane, purse, guitar--we have met with before, with
properties either identical with or analogous to those attributed in
this story. The method of the hero's acquiring them, too, is not new
(cf. No. 27). The magic buyo, however, is unusual: it is very likely
native Ilocano belief, or else a detail borrowed from the Ilocanos'
near neighbors, the Tinguian (see Cole, 18-19, Introduction, for
betel-nuts with magic powers). In No. 25, it will be recalled, the
hero's magic ring furnishes the answer to the king's question, just
as the buyo does in this tale. Indeed, there may be some association
of idea between a buyo and a ring suggested here. The last part of
the story--the imprisonment of the hero, and