Next morning, the woman hastened to gather the peppers, and get a lemon, and with happy face she ran to the shrine under the big tree.  There she made a fire, and burned the lemon and the red peppers, as the dream had told her.  And, as soon as she had done this, her son appeared from under the great tree.  Then his mother caught him in her arms, and held him close, and cried for joy.

When you lose your things, you may be sure that the S’iring has hidden them.  What you have to do is to burn some red peppers with beeswax (tadu ka petiukan [123]), and observe carefully the direction in which the smoke goes.  The way the smoke goes points out where your things are hidden, because the S’iring is afraid of the wax of bees.  He is afraid, too, of red peppers and of lemons.

How Iro Met the S’iring

Not long ago, a young man named Iro went out, about two o’clock in the afternoon, to get some tobacco from one of the neighbors.  Not far from his house, he saw his friend Atun coming along; and Atun said to him, “I’ve got some tobacco hidden away in a place in the woods.  Let us go and get it.”

So they went along together.  When they reached the forest, Atun disappeared, and Iro could not see which way he had gone.  Then he concluded that it was not Atun, but a S’iring, whom he had met.  He started for home, and reached there about eight o’clock in the evening.  To his astonishment, he saw Atun sitting there in the house.  Confused and wondering, he asked Atun, “Did you carry me away?”

But his friend Atun laughed, and said, “Where should I carry you?  I have not been anywhere.”

Then Iro was convinced that a S’iring had tried to lure him into the forest.

When you have a companion, the S’iring cannot hurt you.

CHAPTER IV

Animal Stories:  Metamorphosis, Explanatory Tales, Etc.

The Kingfisher and the Malaki

There came a day when the kingfisher (kobug [124]) had nothing to drink, and was thirsty for water.  Then she walked along the bed of the brook, searching for a drink; but the waters of the brook were all dried up.

Now, on that very day, the Maganud went up the mountain to get some agsam [125] to make leglets for himself.  And when he came near to where the bulla grows, he stopped to urinate, and the urine sprinkled one of the great bulla-leaves.  Then he went on up the mountain.  Just then, the kingfisher came along, still looking for a mountain-stream.  Quickly she caught sight of the leaf of the bulla-tree all sprinkled with water; but the man had gone away.  Then the kingfisher gladly drank a few drops of the water, and washed her feathers.  But no sooner had she quenched her thirst, and taken a bath, than her head began to pain her.  Then she went home to her little house in the ground.