The surprise of the girl’s people knew no bounds when they saw all this coming to their house, for they had not even thought of Siagon marrying their daughter. [87]

The Boy who Became a Stone

Tinguian

One day a little boy named Elonen sat out in the yard making a bird snare, and as he worked, a little bird called to him:  “Tik-tik-lo-den” (come and catch me).

“I am making a snare for you,” said the boy; but the bird continued to call until the snare was finished.

Then Elonen ran and threw the snare over the bird and caught it, and he put it in a jar in his house while he went with the other boys to swim.

While he was away, his grandmother grew hungry, so she ate the bird, and when Elonen returned and found that his bird was gone, he was so sad that he wished he might go away and never come back.  He went out into the forest and walked a long distance, until finally he came to a big stone and said:  “Stone, open your mouth and eat me.”  And the stone opened its mouth and swallowed the boy.

When his grandmother missed the boy, she went out and looked everywhere, hoping to find him.  Finally she passed near the stone and it cried out, “Here he is.”  Then the old woman tried to open the stone but she could not, so she called the horses to come and help her.  They came and kicked it, but it would not break.  Then she called the carabao and they hooked it, but they only broke their horns.  She called the chickens, which pecked it, and the thunder, which shook it, but nothing could open it, and she had to go home without the boy.

The Turtle and the Lizard

Tinguian

A turtle and a big lizard once went to the field of Gotgotapa to steal ginger, [88] When they reached the place the turtle said to the lizard: 

“We must be very still or the man will hear us and come out.”

But as soon as the lizard tasted the ginger he was so pleased that he said: 

“The ginger of Gotgotapa is very good.”

“Be still,” said the turtle; but the lizard paid no attention to the warning, and called louder than ever: 

“The ginger of Gotgotapa is very good.”

Again and again he cried out, until finally the man heard him and came out of the house to catch the robbers.

The turtle could not run fast, so he lay very still, and the man did not see him.  But the lizard ran and the man chased him.  When they were out of sight, the turtle went into the house and hid under a cocoanut shell upon which the man used to sit. [89]

The man ran after the lizard for a long distance, but he could not catch him.  After a while he came back to the house and sat down on the shell.

By and by, the turtle called, “Kook.”  The man jumped up and looked all around.  Unable to tell where the noise came from, he sat down again,