nish.

I have another Visayan story, however, relating a war between the
land and the air creatures, which may possibly have come from the
Occident. It was narrated by Jose R. Cuadra, and runs thus:--

The Battle between the Birds and the Beasts.

A great discussion once took place between the lion, king of the
land-animals, and the bat, king of the air-animals, over the relative
strength of each. The lion claimed to be more powerful than the bat,
while the bat claimed to be more powerful than the lion. The final
outcome was a declaration of war. The lion then called a general
meeting of all his subjects. Among them were tigers, leopards,
elephants, carabaos, wolves, and other fierce land-animals. The carabao
was appointed leader of the army. Each animal in turn made a speech to
the king, promising a sure victory for him. At the same time the bat
also called a general meeting of his subjects. There were present all
kinds of birds and insects. The leadership of the army was given to the
bees and the wasps. Early in the morning the two opposing armies were
assembled on the battle-field. At a given signal the battle began. The
land-animals tried to chase the air-animals, but in vain, for they
could not leave the ground. The bees and wasps were busy stinging
the eyes and bodies of their enemy. At last the land-animals retired
defeated, because they could not endure longer their severe punishment.

TALE 58

THE MONKEY, THE TURTLE, AND THE CROCODILE.

Narrated by Vicente Hilario, a Tagalog from Batangas. He heard the
story from his father, who said that it is common among the country
people around Batangas town.

There was once a monkey who used to deceive everybody whom he met. As
is the case with most deceivers, he had many enemies who tried to
kill him.

One day, while he was walking in the streets of his native town, he
met in a by-lane a turtle and a crocodile. They were so tired that they
could hardly breathe. "I'll try to deceive these slow creatures of the
earth," said the monkey to himself. So said, so done. He approached
the crocodile and turtle, and said to them, "My dear sirs, you are
so tired that you can hardly move! Where did you come from?"

The two travellers were so much affected by the kind words of the
monkey, that they told him all about themselves with the greatest
candor imaginable. They said, "We are strangers who have just made
a long journey from our native town. We don't know wh