actly as the second in out story. (7) "If you set out with the
Sun and ride with him, you will get around the earth in twenty-four
hours." (8) "The king thinks I'm an abbot, and I'm only a shepherd
(or miller)." With this question and answer compare the last task
in our No. 25. (9) "Only one night, for yesterday I was a shepherd,
and to-day I am an abbot." (10) "A day's journey." (11) "A quarter
(of a pound): if the king doesn't believe it, let him weigh the moon
himself." (12) "A stone's throw."

The method of answering the questions asked in this cycle of
stories, and the obscure origin of the clever substitute, form a
direct connection, I believe, between this group and the "Clever
Lass" cycle. Not only do we find in both the situation of a person
out of favor required to answer difficult riddles, and the task
assumed voluntarily by some one humbler but more clever than he,
but even some of the questions themselves, and the same style of
answers, are found in both cycles. For example, compare questions and
answers 1, 3, 5, 7, above, with tasks 1, 2, 4, in the notes to our
No. 7. In Grimm, No. 152, "The Shepherd Boy," the hero is asked three
questions impossible to answer,--How many drops of water are there
in the sea? How many stars are in the heavens? How many seconds has
eternity? He gets out of his difficulty just as the "Clever Lass"
gets out of hers,--by making equally impossible counter-demands,
or else giving answers that cannot be proved incorrect.

TALE 39

ALBERTO AND THE MONSTERS.

Narrated by Pacita Cordero of Pagsanjan, Laguna. She says, "This
story is common among the Tagalogs. It was told to me by my nurse
when I was a little girl."

Once there was a king in Casiguran named Luis. King Luis had three
beautiful daughters, but the youngest was the fairest of all. One
day the three princesses went to the orchard to amuse themselves. It
happened that on that day the wind blew very hard, and they were swept
away. The king felt very sad over the loss of his daughters; and he
issued proclamations in all parts of his kingdom, saying that any
one who could find his daughters within three days would be allowed
to choose one of the three for his wife.

At that time there was also in the neighboring kingdom of Sinucuan
a king who had a brave son named Alberto. When Alberto heard of the
matter, he went to the king, and said that he would look for his lost
daughters. King Luis accepted his offer. Prin