was
louder. After a careful observation, he concluded that it was coming
from the rice-pot. "The enemies must be here," said Juan, pointing
to the rice-pot; and, without a moment's hesitation or fear, Juan
smashed the pot into a thousand pieces. The noise stopped at once,
and Juan was satisfied.

When the robbers came home and asked Juan for rice, he told them what
had happened. The chief realized that the fault was his, so he only
laughed at Juan; but, from that time on, Juan was never allowed to
stay alone in the cave.

One night the robbers decided to rob the captain of the Municipal
Police in a town near by. When they reached the captain's house, they
saw that it was empty: so they took everything they could find. Juan
entered the captain's bedroom, but, instead of searching for valuables,
he took the captain's uniform and put it on. Then Juan went out to
join his companions. But as soon as the robbers saw the uniformed man,
they thought it was the captain, and ran away as fast as their legs
would carry them. Juan ran too, for he thought that the captain must
be after them. The robbers were so frightened, that they separated;
but Juan decided to follow the chief. Finally the chief became so
tired, that he made up his mind to stop and fight his pursuer; but
when Juan came up, the chief recognized him, and it was only then
that both of them felt that they had gotten rid of the real captain.

For a Santal story of a stupid hero joining a band of thieves, see
A. Campbell, "Jhorea and Jhore," pp. 11-12; Bompas, p. 19.

(3) Adventure with the crabs. Compare "The Adventures of Juan" (JAFL
20 : 106), in which Juan's mother sends her foolish son to town to
buy meat to eat with the boiled rice. He buys a live crab, which he
sets down in the road and tells to go to his mother to be cooked for
dinner. The crab promises, but, as soon as Juan's back is turned,
runs in another direction. Clearly our version of the incident is
superior to this.

(4) Juan as a thief. With this incident may be compared another
Tagalog story, narrated by Adolfo Scheerer. It is entitled--

The Adventure of two Robbers.

There were once two robbers, who, hearing of the trip that a certain
family was about to make, decided to rob them during the night. They
were encouraged in their purpose by the thought that everything in
the house would be in a state of great confusion. During the night
the two thieves climbed a tree which grew close by a