One morning the woman asked her son to read his lesson. The boy opened his Catechism and croaked very loudly. His mother was glad when she heard that her son could croak so well, because she thought that that was the way to read the book.
As Ricardo was playing with his schoolmates one day, he saw a dead cat. It smelled very bad, so he left the pond and went home. He said, “Mother, I saw a cat lying near our school. It had a very bad odor.” The mother said, “My son, remember this: whenever a body smells bad, you may be sure that it is dead.” Ricardo repeated the words of his mother many times to himself, and learned them by heart.
One day, when he was on his way to the pond, Ricardo smelled something bad. He looked in every direction, but he could not find anybody. So he said, “Since I cannot find any dead body here, I must be the one who is dead.” He lay down on the ground, and said, “Ricardo is dead! I cannot eat any more. O how unhappy I am!” While he was lying there, he saw a ripe guava above his head. He exclaimed, “Delicious fruit, you are very fortunate! If I were alive, I would eat you.” He wished to get the fruit, but he dared not do so. After a while, when he could no longer smell the stink, he got up and went home, and told his mother his story.
[As the rest of the story is not droll, and is in no way connected with our present tale, it may be given in abstract.]
One day Ricardo learned from his mother how his father had been killed by a giant who had afterwards carried away his sister. The boy set out in search of the giant. An old man along the way, whom he treated kindly, gave him two bottles of magic water,—one that would make invulnerable the man who should drink it, another that would take away all the strength of him on whose head it should be poured. Later a leprous old woman to whom he gave some food presented him with a magic saddle that would carry him through the air. So equipped, he soon arrived at the cave of the giant. He succeeded in killing that seven-headed monster and in freeing his sister and many other prisoners. Ten barrels of money were found in the cave. Of these, Ricardo took two; the rest he gave to the prisoners he had freed. Later Ricardo married a beautiful woman named Lucia.
(2) Destruction of the singing rice-pot. Another Tagalog form of this incident, likewise connected with Juan’s experiences while cook for a band of robbers, was collected from Singalong, Manila. It was related by Crisanto H. Aragon, and runs as follows:—
Juan and the Robbers.
Once there was a young man named Juan, who left his parents to seek his fortune. While he was wandering in the mountains, he reached the cave of some robbers. Juan decided to be a robber, and asked the chief to admit him. The chief accepted Juan.
One night Juan was left alone in the cave, for his companions had gone to town to make a raid. Before leaving, the chief said, “Juan, you will stay here and take care of our property. If you hear a noise, take your bolo and kill whoever makes that noise, for he is our enemy. Cook some rice, so that when we return we may have something to eat.”
While Juan was cooking the rice, to his great surprise he heard a noise. Faithful to the command that had been laid upon him, Juan took his bolo and walked around the cave to see where the noise came from. When he reached the kitchen, he noticed that the noise was louder. After a careful observation, he concluded that it was coming from the rice-pot. “The enemies must be here,” said Juan, pointing to the rice-pot; and, without a moment’s hesitation or fear, Juan smashed the pot into a thousand pieces. The noise stopped at once, and Juan was satisfied.