Fables 201 



his horses and went to tell his mother to go and ask to buy the good 

 house from the rich man. "How can you buy?" said the rich man, 

 "when you have no money?" Then his mother went home and the 

 man went to get two sacks of money to send to the rich man. When the 

 rich man saw so much money, he said, "Yes," for the money was in 

 sacks and was not counted. Then Dogidog went to live in the good 

 house and the rich man still had no house, so he had no where to go when 

 the rain came. 



90 



A wood-chopper went to the woods. When he passed where the 

 brook ran, " Go away, go away," he said to Banbantay, the spirit of the 

 brook. He heard a voice in the thicket. The voice said, "I should 

 think he would see me." The man answered, "Yes, I see you." The 

 spirit said, "Where am I now?" The man answered, "You are in the 

 thicket." The spirit came down and said, "Put my poncho on you." 

 When he has it on, no one can see him. 1 "See if I really can see you in 

 my poncho." The man took the poncho and put it on, then the spirit 

 could not see him any more, because the cloth made him invisible. 

 Then the man went home. When he reached there, he said to his wife, 

 "Wife, where am I now?" She cried because she thought him dead. 

 He said, "Do not cry, for I am not dead, but I have received a poncho 

 which makes me invisible." The man took off his poncho and embraced 

 his wife, which made his wife laugh at him, for she knew then that her 

 husband was powerful. 



91 



A fisherman went to catch fish with his throw net. While he was 

 fishing, a big bird, Banog, saw him. It seized the man, put him on its 

 back and flew away. It lighted on a very big tree in the forest. In the 

 thicket there was a nest with two small Banog in it. 



After the bird had put the man near the nest, it flew away again, and 

 the nestlings wished to eat the man, but he defended himself so they 

 could not eat him. He took one in each hand and jumped from the 

 tree, and the young birds broke his fall so that he was not hurt. The 

 man was much frightened by the things which had happened to him, 

 and he ran to his home. When he arrived home, he told with tears 

 what had happened to him. His family were very happy over his re- 

 turn, and made him promise not to go alone again to fish. 



1 Same idea is held by the Ilocano. See Reyes, El Folklore Filipino, p. 34. 

 Manila, 1889. See also p. 29, note 7. 



