ace in
folk-tales; a seven-headed man is not so usual. Cabagboc, after both
of his comrades have been given royal wives, journeys alone. He comes
to a river guarded by a seven-headed man who proves invulnerable for
a whole day. Then a mysterious voice tells the hero to strike the
monster in the middle of the forehead, as this is the only place in
which it can be mortally wounded. Cabagboc does so and conquers. (F6)
The hero's wagering his strong men against a king's strong men will
be discussed in the notes to No. 11. The task of Pusong (a) has not
been mentioned yet. After Pusong leaves home, he journeys by himself,
and finally comes to a place where the inhabitants are feverishly
building fortifications against the Moros, who are threatening the
island. By lending his phenomenal strength, Pusong enables the people
to finish their forts in one night. Out of gratitude they later make
him their leader. Months later, when the Moros make their raid, they
are defeated by Pusong, and captured with all their slaves. Among the
wounded slaves are the parents of Pusong. On recognizing their son,
they instantly die of shame for their past cruelty to him. Nor can
the hero bear the shock any better than they: he too falls dead.

ADDITIONAL NOTES.--The three weeks' swim in 3 suggests Beowulf's
swim of a week and his fight with the sea-monsters (Beowulf 535
ff.). The mistaking of a monster fish for an island seems to be an
Oriental notion. It occurs in the "1001 Nights" ("First Voyage of
Sindbad the Sailor;" see Lane's note 8 to this story).

G The denouement. Cabagboc finally reaches home, and spends the
rest of his life with his parents (b); Sandapal (c) is bought by the
king, and amuses the court lords and ladies by his feats of strength;
Sandangcal (d) distributes ten billion pesos among his three helpers,
and lives the rest of his days feasting on carabao-livers; Greedy
Juan (e) comes back home with a magic money-producing goat, which he
leaves to his parents, while he by chance finds a wonderful house in
the forest with plenty to eat, and there he remains; Juan Tapon (f)
joins the king's army to fight a neighboring monarch; Dangandangan
(g) becomes a general in the king's army; Tangarangan (h) performs
marvellous deeds abroad, but never returns home again.

Two other variants remain to be noticed briefly. One of these I have
only in abstract, the other is avowedly a confusion of two stories
by the narrator. Both are Ilocan