72 ANNALS NEW YORK ACADEMY OF SCIENCES 



to a malaki, ]r,i even the metamorphosis of a cat's head into a 

 cocoanut lr> - all these changes are recorded by oral tradition. 



• >ver and over again, does the poor tuglay of the nlit become a 

 great malaki ; while the ill-dressed man called basolo turns into a 

 splendidly-dressed malaki, and again returns to the state of a basolo, 

 and passes through his final metamorphosis into a malaki: a series 

 of transformations that is achieved inside of one day. I53 In the 

 last-named cases, it is always by a change of clothes that the meta- 

 morphosis is effected; Irj4 while the squirrel, too, takes off his little 

 coat, and the kingfisher, her feather dress, when the time is ripe 

 tnr them each to take on human form. Finally, there are stories 

 of babies that become tall in a few days by some magical accel- 

 eration of growth. l55 



In the recitation of romantic epics and legendary songs, from 

 which the above citations are mere gleanings, the emotional life of 

 Bagobo men and women finds glad expression. In the picturesque 

 phraseology of their richly-endowed dialect, they elaborate these 

 scenes of fabulous oriental splendor with a play of fancy ' "' that 

 is the more extraordinary in view of the conditions under which 

 even the better class of Bagobo actually live. In mean little huts, 

 unfurnished, except for the presence of a loom, three fire-stones on 

 a box of earth, and perhaps a stationary bench of bamboo, they 

 sleep on the floor and eat with their fingers, making no attempt 

 t'i add decorative touches to their homes, although they amply pos- 



I •. 3 

 1 t, k 

 I 6 !> 



151 Cf. ibid., p. 55. 



101 Cf. ibid., p. 56. 

 Cf. ibid., pp. 28, 36. 

 Cf. ibid., p. 40. 



Cf. ibid., pp. 34, 54. There are parallel Filipino legends of miraculous growth, 

 e.g. "The new-born child ran to the church." F. Gabdneu, vol. 20, p. 111. 1907. 



Corresponding cases of magical development immediately after birth are recorded in 

 Indian myth. "That girl the moment she was born . . . spoke distinctly and got up 

 and sat down." Somadeva: op. cil., vol. 1, p. 119. 1880. 



10 'For illustrations of this point, sec "Bagobo Myths," Jour. Am. Folk-lore, vol. 26, 

 pp. 24 — 40. 11)13. While the descriptive terms in these stories, referring to the beautiful 

 objects possessed in those ancient days, are exact renderings of the Bagobo words, it is 

 hard to do justice to the charm of the original. Even when a boy tells a story in broken 

 English, he pours out a wealth of descriptive words and phrases in the Bagobo tongue 

 for which he, of course, knows no English equivalents. In making a large collection, 

 however, one soon becomes very familiar with the vocabulary that represents objects of 

 wealth, for the names and the explanations of hundreds of articles, that are constantly 

 ((lining for purchase, are given by Bagobo who know not a word of English. 



