The mother returned with the water to cook supper. She heard a bird crying, “King! king! nik! nik! nik!” When the woman uncovered the basket, Tilin, the little brown ricebird, flew away, calling:
“Good-bye, mother; good-bye, mother; you would not give me mo′-tĭng!”
Origin of kaag, the monkey
The palay was in the milk and maturing rapidly. Many kinds of birds that knew how delicious juicy palay is were on hand to get their share, so the boys were sent to stay all day in the sementeras to frighten these little robbers away.
Every day a father sent out his two boys to watch his palay in a narrow gash in the mountain; and every day they carried their small basket full of cooked rice, white and delicious, but their mother put no meat in the basket.
Finally one of the boys said:
“It is bad not to have meat to eat; every day we have only rice.”
“Yes, it is bad,” said his brother. “We can not keep fat without meat; we are getting poor and thin, and pretty soon we shall die.”
“That is true,” answered the other boy; “pretty soon we shall die. I believe I shall be ka′-ag.”