CHAPTER 7

Juan Pusong.

The Visayans tell many stories which have as their hero Juan Pusong, or Tricky John.  As the name implies, he is represented as being deceitful and dishonest, sometimes very cunning, and, in some of the stories told of him, endowed with miraculous power.  The stories are very simple and of not very great excellence.  The few which follow will serve as samples of the narratives told of this popular hero.

I. Juan Pusong was a lazy boy.  Neither punishment nor the offer of a reward could induce him to go to school, but in school-time he was always to be found on the plaza, playing with the other boys.

His mother, however, believed him to be in school, and each day prepared some dainty for him to eat upon his return home.  Juan was not satisfied with deceiving his mother in this way, but used to play tricks on her.

“Mother,” he said, one day, “I have already learned to be a seer and to discover what is hidden.  This afternoon when I come home from school I will foretell what you have prepared for me.”

“Will you?” said his mother joyfully, for she believed all he said, “I will try to prepare something new and you will not be able to guess it.”

“I shall, mother, I shall, let it be whatever it may,” answered Juan.  When it was time to go to school, Juan pretended to set out, but instead he climbed a tree which stood near the kitchen, and hiding himself among the leaves, watched through the window all that his mother did.

His mother baked a bibingca, or cake made of rice and sweet potato, and hid it in a jar.  “I will bet anything,” she said, “that my son will not guess what it is.”  Juan laughed at his mother’s self-conceit.  When it was time for school to close he got down, and with a book in his hand, as though he had really come from school, appeared before his mother and said:  “Mother, I know what you are keeping for me.”

“What is it?” asked his mother.

“The prophecy that I have just learned at school says that there is a bibingca hidden in the olla.”  The mother became motionless with surprise.  “Is it possible?” she asked herself, “my son is indeed a seer.  I am going to spread it abroad.  My son is a seer.”

The news was spread far and wide and many people came to make trial of Pusong’s powers.  In these he was always successful, thanks to his ability to cheat.

II.  One day a ship was anchored in the harbor.  She had come from a distant island.  Her captain had heard of Pusong’s power and wished to try him.  The trial consisted in foretelling how many seeds the oranges with which his vessel was loaded contained.  He promised to give Juan a great quantity of money if he could do this.

Pusong asked for a day’s time.  That night he swam out to the vessel, and, hidden in the water under the ship’s stern, listened to the conversation of the crew.  Luckily they were talking about this very matter of the oranges, and one of them inquired of the captain what kind of oranges he had.