of the magic, superstitions, and weird customs of the Filipinos,
and to feel the charm of their wonder-world as it is pictured by
these dark-skinned inhabitants of our Island possessions.
In company with my husband, who was engaged in ethnological work for
the Field Museum of Natural History, it was my good fortune to spend
four years among the wild tribes of the Philippines, During this
time we frequently heard these stories, either related by the people
in their homes and around the camp fires or chanted by the pagan
priests in communion with the spirits. The tales are now published
in this little volume, with the addition of a few folk-legends
that have appeared in the _Journal of American Folk-Lore_ and in
scientific publications, here retold with some additions made by
native story-tellers.
I have endeavored to select typical tales from tribes widely separated
and varying in culture from savagery to a rather high degree of
development. The stories are therefore divided into five groups,
as follows: Tinguian, Igorot, the Wild Tribes of Mindanao, Moro,
and Christian,
The first two groups, Tinguian and Igorot, are from natives who
inhabit the rugged mountain region of northwestern Luzon. From time
immemorial they have been zealous head-hunters, and the stories teem
with references to customs and superstitions connected with their
savage practices. By far the largest number belong to the Tinguian
group. In order to appreciate these tales to the fullest extent,
we must understand the point of view of the Tinguian. To him they
embody all the known traditions of "the first times"--of the people
who inhabited the earth before the present race appeared, of the
ancient heroes and their powers and achievements. In them he finds
an explanation of and reason for many of his present laws and customs.
A careful study of the whole body of Tinguian mythology points to
the conclusion that the chief characters of these tales are not
celestial beings but typical, generalized heroes of former ages,
whose deeds have been magnified in the telling by many generations
of their descendants. These people of "the first times" practiced
magic. They talked with jars, created human beings out of betel-nuts,
raised the dead, and had the power of changing themselves into other
forms. This, however, does not seem strange or impossible to the
Tinguian of today, for even now they talk with jars, perform certain
rites to bring sickness and death to their foes, and are warned by
omens received through the medium of birds, thunder and lightning,
or the condition of the liver of a slaughtered animal. They still
converse freely with certain spirits who during religious ceremonies
are believed to use the bodies of men or women as mediums for the
purpose of advising and instructing the people.
Several of the characters appear in story after story. Sometimes they
go under different names, but in the minds of the story-tellers their
personality and relationships are definitely established. Thus Ini-init
of the first tale becomes Kadayadawan in the second, Aponitolau in
the third, fourth, fifth, and sixth, and Ligi in the seventh. Kanag,
the son of Aponitolau and Aponibolinayen, in the fifth tale is called
Dumalawi.
These heroes had most unusual relations with the heavenly bodies,
all of which seem to have been regarded as animate beings. In the