“Ala! my soldiers who are many, catch my horse which is a pinto, which paces, which walks fast, which goes, which gallops, which has sore sides.”  “It is here already, the horse which is a pinto, the saddle is already placed.”

“Ala! now my wife Iwanen, I am going to leave you here.  Keep your honor as a person of wealth.  Perhaps some one will entice you and we two will be ashamed before the people of our town.”

After that he went and started—­Tolagan who went toward the south.  He whipped the pinto, he ran, he walked.

When he was in the town of Kaodanan his body was thirsty.  “I go to the place of betel-nuts, where I shall drink the water which is white like coconut oil.”  He arrived at the place of the betel-nuts.  He met a maiden who was like the place of a large fire.  There was no other such maiden.

“Good morning, maiden who takes water in the shady place of the leaves which grow, which are stripped off in the middle of the place of betel-nuts, which bear fruit which anyone gathers.  I come to drink with you the water which looks like oil,” said Tolagan.  “If you are the old raider cut me only once so that I have less to heal,” (she said).  “No, I am not the old raider, for I live in Baliwanan and I go to the south to Pangasinan.”  “Do not continue the journey, for you have a bad sign.  The birds skimmed past in front of you, also in the rear and the sides. [300] Go back to Baliwanan.”  “If that is what you say pretty one, I shall turn back because of this sign.”

He arrived at Baliwanan, but his wife was not there, for she had run away with Kaboniyan [301] to the town of the sky.

There was not a place he did not search for her.  He went to the head man.  “Ala, presidente of our town, I come to ask for companions while I search for my wife, who vanished last night.”  He gave (the searchers), but when they did not find her, he went to another town.  He went to the place of Baingan in the town of the north.  “Good morning, I came to ask companions to search for her who was absent last night.”  “If that is still your trouble” said Baingan, “you go and see my sister, who is Imbangonan, whom you shall take for wife, who cannot belt herself unless there are nine belts.  She is in the middle of the place of the betel-nuts.”

“Good morning, Imbangonan,” said Tolagan.  “I came to see you, for your brother told me we are to marry if you like me.”

“If you like me, we will chew green betel-nut and see what is your fortune.”  When they finished chewing, the two quids went into a line.  “Ala! we will marry if you agree to pay 100 gumtang and 50 ginalman”. [302]

31

There were two girls who went to take a walk and a rich man met them, and he asked, “Where are you going, you two girls?” “We are going to walk around the town.”  The rich man said, “Come and walk with me.”  When they reached their house he gave them some work to do and he treated them just the same as his daughters.  The rich man was a king, and he put the girls in a room and the princesses Mary and Bintolada were in the other room.  The king and the queen gave dresses to the girls but they did not give them any bracelets and rings.