, 8 Traditions of the Tingtjian 



Pindayan. I nearly did not come, because the alzados 1 closed the way, 

 and I escaped while they slept." 



Not long after they went up to the town, and not long after they went 

 to wash their hair and bathe in the river, and when they had finished 

 washing their hair they went home. 2 



Ebang said, "Ala! husband Pagatipanan, let us make balaua and 

 invite our relatives who are sorrowing for Aponlbolinayen," and Pagati- 

 panan said, "We shall make balaua when next month comes, but now 

 Aponlbolinayen feels ill, perhaps she is tired. Not long after that 

 Aponlbolinayen commanded them to prick her little finger which 

 itched; and when her mother pricked it out popped a pretty baby. Her 

 mother asked, "Where did you get this baby, Aponlbolinayen?'' But 

 Aponlbolinayen did not tell. "I do not know where I got it, and I did 

 not feel," she said. When they could not compel her to tell where she 

 secured the baby, "Ala, we make balaua to-morrow," said the father and 



mother. , . .. , 



They made balaua, and not long after Ebang used magic, so that 

 many people went to pound rice for them, and when they had finished 

 to pound rice they built balaua, and they went to get the betel-nut 

 which is covered with gold for chewing. When these arrived, Ebang 

 oiled them when it began to get dark. "You betel-nuts go to all the 

 people in the whole world and invite them. If any of them do not 

 come, you grow on their knees," said Ebang. And those betel-nuts went 

 to invite all the people in the whole world. Every time they bathed the 

 child they used magic, so that it grew as often as they washed it, until it 

 walked The betel-nuts arrived in the towns where they went to invite. 

 The one that went to Nagbotobotan - the place where lived the old 

 woman Alokotan - said, "Good morning, I do not tarry, the reason of 

 mv coming is that Ebang and Pagatipanan commanded me because 

 Aponlbolinayen is there." "Yes, you go first, I will come I will follow 

 you I go first to wash my hair and bathe," she said. The betel-nut 

 which is covered with gold said, " I wait for you, for if you do not come, 

 I shall grow on your knee." The old woman Alokotan started when 

 she finished washing her hair and bathing. The betel-nut which was 

 covered with gold, took her, and not long after they arrived, and they 

 met those whom the other betel-nuts went to summon in the other 

 towns. No one wanted the baby to go to them, 4 and when none wished it 



1 See p. 10, note i. 



2 See p. 9. 



3 See p. 1 8, note 2, for similar incidents. 



* This would have been a sign that the child wished to go to its father. 



