Introduction 17 



bathes in a magic well (p. 1 3 7) . These and other mysterious happenings, 

 many of which are not explained as being due to their own volition, 

 befall them; thus Ingiwan, while walking, is confronted by an impassable 

 hill and is compelled to cross the ocean, where he finds his future wife, 

 but upon his return the hill has vanished (p. 86). In other instances 

 the finger rings of people meeting for the first time exchange them- 

 selves (p. 92). The headband of Ligl flies away without his knowledge 

 and alights on the skirt of a girl who is bathing in the river. As a result 

 she becomes pregnant, and when the facts become known Ligl is recog- 

 nized as the child's father (p. 144). It seems probable that the superior 

 powers are responsible for these occurrences, for in at least one instance 

 the great spirit Kaboniyan steals a maiden and turns her into a flock of 

 birds, who talk with and assist the owner of a rice field (p. 151). 



While they thus appear to be to a certain extent under the control of 

 the spirits and to be surrounded by animals and inanimate things with 

 human intelligence and speech, the people of these "first times" possess 

 great power over nature: Time and space are annihilated, for at their 

 will daylight comes at once (p. 150), or they are transported to a place 

 in an instant (p. 92). At their command people appear: Kanag creates 

 betel-nut trees, then cuts the fruit into bits, which he sows on the 

 ground. From these come many people who are his neighbors, and one 

 of whom he marries (p. 121). The course of nature is changed: A field 

 is planted in an instant; the crops mature in a few days, and the grain 

 and fruits take themselves to the store-house (p. 150). A strike-a-light 

 turns into a hill which impedes pursuers 1 (p. 75), while a belt or head- 

 axe serves as a ferry across a body of water (p. 84). A storm is called 

 upon to carry a person or a building to a distance (p. 121), and a spring 

 is created by killing an old man (p. 60) . 2 Prepared food appears at a 

 word; a stick when cooked becomes a fish, and though it is repeatedly 

 broken and served it always appears ready for service at meal time 

 (p- 33) ; a small jar containing a single grain of rice supplies an abun- 

 dance of food; another jar no larger than a fist furnishes drink for a 

 company and still remains a third full; while a single earring fills a pot 

 with gold 8 (pp. 47, 119, 123). 



1 The magic flight has been encountered in the most widely separated parts of 

 the globe, as, for instance, India and America. See Tawney, Katha Sarit Sagara, 

 pp. 361, 367 ff. and notes, (Calcutta, 1880); Waterman, Jour.Hmerican Folklore, 

 Vol. XXVII, 1914, p. 46; Reinhold Kohler, Kleinere Schriften, Vol. I, pp. 171, 388. 



1 In the Dayak legend of Limbang, a tree springs from the head of a dead giant; 

 its flowers turn to beads; its leaves to cloth; the ripe fruit to jars. See H. Ling 

 Roth, The Natives of Sarawak and British North Borneo, Vol. I, p. 372. 



* Similar incidents are to be found among the Ilocano and Igorot; in Borneo; 

 in Java and India. See Reyes, Folklore Filipino, p. 34, (Manila, 1889); Jenks, 

 The Bontoc Igorot, p. 202, (Manila, 1905) ; Seidenadel, The Language of the Bontoc 



