w unhappy I am!" While he was lying there,
he saw a ripe guava above his head. He exclaimed, "Delicious fruit,
you are very fortunate! If I were alive, I would eat you." He wished
to get the fruit, but he dared not do so. After a while, when he
could no longer smell the stink, he got up and went home, and told
his mother his story.

[As the rest of the story is not droll, and is in no way connected
with our present tale, it may be given in abstract.]

One day Ricardo learned from his mother how his father had been
killed by a giant who had afterwards carried away his sister. The
boy set out in search of the giant. An old man along the way, whom he
treated kindly, gave him two bottles of magic water,--one that would
make invulnerable the man who should drink it, another that would take
away all the strength of him on whose head it should be poured. Later
a leprous old woman to whom he gave some food presented him with
a magic saddle that would carry him through the air. So equipped,
he soon arrived at the cave of the giant. He succeeded in killing
that seven-headed monster and in freeing his sister and many other
prisoners. Ten barrels of money were found in the cave. Of these,
Ricardo took two; the rest he gave to the prisoners he had freed. Later
Ricardo married a beautiful woman named Lucia.

(2) Destruction of the singing rice-pot. Another Tagalog form of this
incident, likewise connected with Juan's experiences while cook for a
band of robbers, was collected from Singalong, Manila. It was related
by Crisanto H. Aragon, and runs as follows:--

Juan and the Robbers.

Once there was a young man named Juan, who left his parents to seek
his fortune. While he was wandering in the mountains, he reached
the cave of some robbers. Juan decided to be a robber, and asked the
chief to admit him. The chief accepted Juan.

One night Juan was left alone in the cave, for his companions had gone
to town to make a raid. Before leaving, the chief said, "Juan, you
will stay here and take care of our property. If you hear a noise, take
your bolo and kill whoever makes that noise, for he is our enemy. Cook
some rice, so that when we return we may have something to eat."

While Juan was cooking the rice, to his great surprise he heard a
noise. Faithful to the command that had been laid upon him, Juan
took his bolo and walked around the cave to see where the noise came
from. When he reached the kitchen, he noticed that the noise