192 Traditions of the Tinguian 



72 



Magsawl, my jar, when it was not yet broken talked softly, but now 

 its lines are broken, and the low tones are insufficient for us to under- 

 stand. The jar was not made where the Chinese are, but belongs to 

 the spirits or Kaboniyan, because my father and grandfather, from 

 whom I inherited it, said that in the first times they (the Tinguian) 

 hunted Magsawl on the mountains and in the wooded hills. My 

 ancestors thought that their dog had brought a deer to bay, which he 

 was catching, and they hurried to assist it. They saw the jar and tried 

 to catch it but were unable; sometimes it disappeared, sometimes it 

 appeared again, and because they could not catch it they went again 

 to the wooded hill on their way to their town. Then they heard a voice 

 speaking words which they understood, but they could see no man. 

 The words it spoke were: "You secure a pig, a sow without young, and 

 take its blood, so that you may catch the jar which your dog pursued." 

 They obeyed and went to secure the blood. The dog again brought to 

 bay the jar which belonged to Kaboniyan. They plainly saw the jar 

 go through a hole in the rock which is a cave, and there it was cornered 

 so that they captured the pretty jar which is Magsawl, which I in- 

 herited. 



(Told by Cabildo, of Patok, the owner of the famous talking jar, Magsawl.) 



73 

 Once then sun and moon fought. The sun said, "You are moon, not 

 so good; if I give you no light, you are no good." The moon answered, 

 " You are sun and very hot. I am moon and am better. The women 

 like me very much, and when I shine they go out doors to spin." Then 

 the sun was very angry and took some sand and threw it on the moon, 

 and that is why there are dark places on the moon now. 



74 



In the old time, a man went with others to get heads. They were 

 gone very, very long, and the man's daughter, who was little when he 

 went away, was grown up and beautiful when he returned. When he 

 got to the gate of the town, his daughter went to hold the ladder for him 

 to come in. 1 The man did not recognize his daughter, and when he 

 saw her holding the ladder for him, he threw his arms around the ladder 

 and seized and kissed her. The girl was very sorrowful because her 

 father had not recognized her and had misunderstood her intentions; so 



1 The old custom was that when a party returned from a head hunt the women 

 went to the gate and held ladders in a A so the men did not pass through the gate; 

 or they laid them on the ground and the men jumped over them. 



