“No,” replied the rock; “for, if I should help you, the Buso would break me off and throw me away.”

Then the man ran on; and the Buso came nearer and nearer, searching behind every rock as he rushed along, and spying up into every tree, to see if, perchance, the man were concealed there.

At last the man came to the lemon-tree called kabayawa, that has long, sharp thorns on its branches.  And the man cried out to the lemon-tree, “Could you protect me, if I were to hide among your leaves and flowers?”

Instantly the lemon-tree answered, “Come right up, if you want to.”  Then the man climbed the tree, and concealed himself in the branches, among the flowers.  Very soon the Buso came under the lemon-tree, and shouted to it, “I smell a man here.  You are hiding him.”

The Kabayawa said, “Sure enough, here’s a man!  You just climb up and get him.”

Then the Buso began to scramble up the tree; but as he climbed, the thorns stuck their sharp points into him.  The higher he climbed, the longer and sharper grew the thorns of the tree, piercing and tearing, until they killed the Buso.

It is because the monkey sometimes turns into a Buso that many Bagobo refuse to eat monkey.  But some of the mountain Bagobo eat monkey to keep off sores.

How the Moon Tricks the Buso [119]

The Moon is a great liar.  One night long ago, the Buso looked over the earth and could not discover any people, because everybody was asleep.  Then Buso went to the Moon, and asked her where all the people were to be found.

“Oh, you will not find a living person on the earth!” replied the Moon.  “Everybody in the world is dead.”

“Good!” thought Buso.  “To-morrow I shall have a fine meal of them.”

Buso never eats living flesh, only dead bodies.

Next morning, Buso started for the graveyard; but on the way he met the Sun, and stopped to speak to him.

“How about the men on earth?” he questioned.

“They’re all right,” said the Sun.  “All the people are working and playing and cooking rice.”

The Buso was furious to find himself tricked.  That night he went again to the Moon and asked for the men, and, as before, the Moon assured him that everybody was dead.  But the next morning the Sun showed him all the people going about their work as usual.  Thus the Buso has been fooled over and over again.  The Moon tells him every night the same story.

The Buso and the Cat

The cat is the best animal.  She keeps us from the Buso.  One night the Buso came into the house, and said to the cat, “I should like to eat your mistress.”

“I will let you do it,” replied the cat; “but first you must count all the hairs of my coat.”

So the Buso began to count.  But while he was counting, the cat kept wriggling her tail, and sticking up her back.  That made her fur stand up on end, so that the Buso kept losing count, and never knew where he left off.  And while the Buso was still trying to count the cat’s hairs, daylight came.