red pointed sticks,
and set them all around the base of the tree. Then he cried out to the
monkey, saying, "The hunters are coming! The hunters are coming!" The
monkey was very much frightened, so he jumped down in the hope of
escaping; but he was pierced by the sharp sticks, and in a few hours
he died. Thus the turtle got his revenge on the selfish monkey.

When the monkey was dead, the turtle skinned him, dried his meat, and
sold it to the other monkeys in the neighborhood. But, in taking off
the skin, the turtle was very careless: he left here and there parts
of the fur sticking to the meat; and from this fact the monkeys which
had bought the meat judged the turtle guilty of murder of one of their
brethren. So they took the turtle before their chief, and he was tried.

When the turtle's guilt had been established, the monkey-chief ordered
him to be burned.

"Fire does not do me any harm," said the turtle. "Don't you see the
red part on my back? My father has burned me many times."

"Well, if fire doesn't harm him, cut him to pieces," said the
monkey-chief angrily.

"Neither will this punishment have any effect on me," continued the
wise turtle. "My back is full of scars. My father used to cut me over
and over again."

"What can we do with him?" said the foolish monkeys. At last the
brightest fellow in the group said, "We will drown him in the lake."

As soon as the turtle heard this, he felt happy, for he knew that
he would not die in the water, However, he pretended to be very
much afraid, and he implored the monkeys not to throw him into the
lake. But he said to himself, "I have deceived all these foolish
monkeys." Without delay the monkeys took him to the lake and threw
him in. The turtle dived; and then he stuck his head above the surface
of the water, laughing very loud at them.

Thus the turtle's life was saved, because he had used his brains in
devising a means of escape.

The Monkey and the Turtle.

Narrated by Bienvenido Gonzales of Pampanga. He heard the story from
his younger brother, who heard it in turn from a farmer. It is common
in Pampanga.

Once there lived two friends,--a monkey and a turtle. One day they saw
a banana-plant floating on the water. The turtle swam out and brought
it to land. Since it was but a single plant and they had to divide it,
they cut it across the middle.

"I will have the part with the leaves on," said the monkey, thinking
that the top was best. The turtle a