guard who had brought the slipper said, "Let her try. It is the
prince's order that all shall try." So he gave it to Maria. Then
Maria put it on, and it fitted her foot exactly. She then drew the
other slipper from underneath her dress, and put it on her other
foot. When the two sisters saw the two slippers on Maria's feet,
they almost fainted with astonishment.

So Maria became the wife of the prince, and from that time on she
was very dear to her sisters and aunt.

Abadeja.

This is a Visayan story from Leyte. Unfortunately I have no record
of the name of the narrator.

Once upon a time there lived in the town of Baybay a man whose name was
Abac. The name of his wife was Abadesa. They had a beautiful daughter
named Abadeja. The mother died when her daughter was about thirteen
years old; and in a year her father married again, a widow who had
three daughters. The second wife envied her step-daughter because
Abadeja was much more beautiful than her own children: consequently
she treated the poor girl very badly, and made her do all the hard
work. When Abadeja could not do the work, her step-mother punished
her severely.

One evening the step-mother said to Abadeja, "Take these two
handkerchiefs to the river and wash them. The white one must be black,
and the black one white, when you bring them back to me. If they are
not, I shall beat you." Abadeja went to the river, where she sat down
on a rock and began to cry. In a little while she heard a noise that
made her look up. There in front of her stood a beautiful woman. The
woman asked Abadeja why she was crying. Abadeja replied, "I am crying
because my step-mother has commanded me to do the impossible. She told
me that I must change this white handkerchief into black, and the black
one into white." The woman took the handkerchiefs, and in an instant
they were transformed. Then she gave them back to Abadeja, and invited
the girl to come see her any time she needed help. After she had spoken
thus, she disappeared. Abadeja went home and gave the handkerchiefs
to her cruel step-mother, who now had no excuse to punish her.

The next morning Abadeja was ordered to put some rice on a mat in the
sun to dry. While she was in the house doing other work, a pig came,
ate up the rice, and tore the mat to pieces. When the step-mother knew
what had happened, she whipped Abadeja severely for having lost the
rice, and told her that she would have to repair the mat so that it
w