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“We are going away, Cousin Dagoláyan,” said Kanag. “If that is what you say we must go.” Not long after they went. As soon as they reached the middle of the way they agreed upon their destination. “Where are we going?” they asked. “We are going to the place Ginayod of Binglayan,” said Kanag. “Why are we going there?” said his cousin Dagoláyan. “We are going because Ginayod of Binglayan has a pretty girl who never goes outdoors, and we are going to see her,” said Kanag.
Not long after they arrived where the young girls spun at night. “Stay here, Cousin Dagoláyan, and I will meet you here. I am going to see the daughter of Ginayod, who is Asimbáyan of Ilang.” “If that is what you say it is all right,” said Dagoláyan. Not long after Kanag reached the place where the girl was, and he talked with her. The girl who never goes outdoors said to him, “If you will get the perfume of Baliwán I will believe all you say.” “If you will agree to my mission I will go and get whatever you want,” said Kanag. “Ala, if you do not believe me, you take my arm beads from my left arm, for you are kind to go for me.” So she gave him her arm beads, and Kanag started to go at once. As soon as he arrived at the place where the young girls spun and had joined his companion, his cousin asked, “What did she say?” “She told me that if I will secure the perfume of Baliwán she will do everything I ask of her. Let us both go.” “No, I do not wish Page 135to go with you, for you will not go with me where I wish to go.” “Please come with me and another time I will go with you,” said Kanag.
Not long after they went and they met the doldoli[183] in the way. “Where are you going, rich young men?” it said to them. “Where are you going,' you say, and we are going to get the perfume of Baliwán, for though we are far from it still we can smell it now.” “Ala, young men, you cannot go there, for when anyone goes there, only his name goes back to his town.” But the boys replied, “We are going anyway. That is the reason we are already far from home, and it is the thing the pretty girl wants.” “If you say that you are going anyway, you will repent when you reach there.” “It is the thing which will make the girls love us.” So they left the jar and walked on. When they reached the middle of the jungle they met a big frog, and it said, “Where are you going, young men?” “‘Where are we going,’ you say, and we are going to get the perfume of Baliwán, for that is what Asimbáyan of Ilang desires.” “No, do not go there, for everyone who has gone there has died.” “We will go on anyway, for we are already far from our town and we cannot return without the perfume.” So they left the frog and walked on. Not long after they approached the place where the perfume was, and while they were still a long way off they could smell its odor. “What a fine odor it has. That is why the young girl who never goes outdoors desires it so much.” They walked on and in a short time they reached the place below the perfume. When they were there Dagoláyan said to Kanag, “Take some from the lower branches.” “No, it is better for me to climb and get some from the top, for I think they are better above than below.” So Kanag climbed and as soon as he broke off the stem which held the perfume his legs became like part of a snake. Dagoláyan looked up and he saw that the legs of his companion had changed to part of a snake. He said, “Now, my Cousin Kanag, I am going to leave you, for you are no longer a man, but you are a serpent.” “Do not leave me even if I do become a serpent. I will not injure you. Do not be afraid.” In a short time all his body had become a real serpent, and Dagoláyan ran and went home, and the big serpent followed him.
Not long after Dagoláyan arrived in Kadalayapan, and Aponītolau and Aponībolinayen asked where Kanag was. “Kanag has become a big serpent. As soon as he broke off the perfume of Baliwán which the young girl desired he became a serpent.” Aponītolau and Aponībolinayen went around the town and told the people that they must accompany them, for they were going to see if Kanag had really Page 136become a serpent. When Aponītolau and Aponībolinayen had killed many animals and given much food to the searchers and they did not find him, they stopped searching.
Not long after Kanag thought he would go to the river where the people took their baths. So he went. Not long after Langa-ayan was anxious to wash her hair, so she went to the river and washed it, and Do-ansowan washed his hair first and Langa-ayan helped him, for he was her husband. As soon as she had washed his hair, he said to her, “I am going to the town.” So he went and left Langa-ayan alone by the river washing her hair. When she had washed her hair she washed her arm beads. While she was washing her upper arm beads she heard a great commotion in the river, and soon after a big serpent appeared on the other bank. Langa-ayan saw that it was a big serpent and she was so frightened that she started to run, but the serpent said to her, “Do not run, my aunt, I am not a real serpent, for I was a young boy before.” So Langa-ayan stopped and asked him why he had become a great serpent. “Because I went to Ilang to see the pretty girl, and she told me that if I could get the perfume of Baliwán she would do whatever I asked, so I went. I did not want to go, for I was not sure that she told the truth, but she gave me her left bracelet, so I went. When I was still far away from Baliwán I could smell the perfume, and when I reached the tree I climbed it and I tried to break the stem which held the perfume, and my companion saw that I was changing to a serpent and he ran away. I truly became a serpent and now I have come here and have met you. If you do not believe that I was truly a boy, I will show you the arm beads.” So he lifted his head and Langa-ayan truly saw the arm beads around his neck. “My aunt, will you find out how I may become a man again?” She said, “If what you have said is true you follow me.” So they went up to the town.
Do-ansowan said to his wife, “How long you have staid at the river, my wife.” “I was there a long time, for I met a big serpent. If you wish to see it, it is in the yard. He says he was a young boy and he showed me the arm beads of a young girl, which he has about his neck. I believe that he is a young boy who has become a serpent. When he broke the stem of the perfume which the girl wanted he became a serpent. He wants to know how he can again become a boy.” “Ala, if that is what he wants, you go and take him to my Uncle Ma-obagan.” So they went and when they arrived where Ma-obagan lived she said, “Good morning, uncle.” “Good morning,” he answered. “The reason I came is because a young boy who became a big snake is here. Will you please put him in your magic well which changes everything which goes in it and make him a young boy again?” “If he will go into Page 137the water, even if it feels bad, you call him and let him go in.” So they went and when they arrived at the well the serpent went into the water, and the serpent's skin began to crack and fall off and he became a boy again.
Not long after they went back to the house of Langa-ayan. As soon as they arrived there the boy went to the balaua and did not follow Langa-ayan to the house. Do-ansowan saw that he was a handsome young boy. As soon as Langa-ayan had finished cooking they called him to come and eat and he said to them, “I do not wish to eat if there are no girls to eat with me.” “We are afraid if you do not eat, for you did not eat for a long time, while you were a serpent.” The boy said, “Even though I did not eat while I was a serpent I will follow my custom, for I do not eat unless a pretty young girl who never goes outdoors eats with me.” When they could not persuade him Do-ansowan said to his wife, “Go and call our daughter Amau.” Not long after she went to call her. When she arrived where they had put her she said, “Come and eat with the rich young man.” “How can I go? I do not know how to walk.” “Take the big gold basket and hold on to it while you walk.” Not long after she arrived where the food was, and Langa-ayan and Do-ansowan said to the boy who was still in the balaua, “Come and eat now, nephew, with our daughter who never goes outdoors.” So the boy went quickly, and when he reached the place where the girl was, they ate. When they had finished eating he said that he was sick, but he was not. So they went to fix a place for him to lie and he said, “Perhaps I am sick because of the spirit of the young girl.” So they went to call their daughter, for Kanag wanted her to touch him, and he wanted to see her. The girl went to touch his body and he was all right, for he wished her to touch him, and he said, “Now, my uncle and aunt, if you wish me for a son-in-law I wish to marry Amau. I will not go any further to find a wife.” The father and mother of the girl agreed to what Kanag said, for the girl wanted to marry him, so they were married.
“Now, Kanag, we are going to make Sayang and invite your mother and father so that they can see that you are a young man again,” said his father-in-law and mother-in-law. They made Sayang and they sent someone to invite their relatives, and someone went to Asimbáyan of Ilang and told her that Kanag Kabagbagowan, who lived in Kalaskigan, and his wife Amau were making Sayang. Some of the betel-nuts which they sent arrived in Kadalayapan where Aponītolau and Aponībolinayen lived and they said, “Good morning,” to Aponītolau who was lying down in the balaua. He felt badly because Kanag was a serpent and he said to the betel-nut, “Good morning. Come to Kalaskigan, Page 138for Kanag and Amau are making Sayang and they want you to come.” So Aponītolau got up quickly and told Aponībolinayen who was lying down in the house that Kanag and his wife were making Sayang, and they were happy because Kanag was a boy again. They told all the people to prepare to go to the Sayang of Kanag and his wife. So they went, and when they arrived they saw that Kanag was handsomer than before, and Asimbáyan went also, for they had invited her. Asimbáyan saw that Kanag was the boy who had taken her bracelet and had gone to get the perfume for her, and while she was watching him Kanag went to talk with her. He told her what had happened when he went to get the perfume for her, and he told her how he had become a snake and his mother-in-law had met him by the river and had taken him to the old man who changed him again to a boy, and he had married the daughter of Do-ansowan and Langa-ayan. Kanag said, “Now, I cannot marry you, so I will give back your bracelet.” So he gave it back.
Not long after Aponītolau and Aponībolinayen asked how much they must pay for the wife of Kanag, and Langa-ayan and Do-ansowan said, “Fill our balaua nine times with valuable things.” When they had paid all, they said, “Now we are going to take them to Kadalayapan, for we have paid all you asked.” “No, do not take them. They are going to stay here,” said Do-ansowan and Langa-ayan. “They will come there bye and bye.” “Ala, if that is what you say they must come and visit us, even if they stay here.” Not long after Kanag and his wife went to Kadalayapan to visit his father and they staid there three months. Then Do-ansowan and his wife were anxious for them to return. When Kanag and his wife returned to Kalaskigan they said, “Why did you stay so long? We thought you were going to live in Kadalayapan and we intended to follow you.” “We staid a long time, for my father and mother would not let us return when we wished,” said Kanag.
(Told by Angtan of Lagangilang.)