“The strength of a person,” said the culeto, nettled, “is not to be judged by his size. Don’t you know that it is the smallest pepper that is the hottest?”
“Well, then,” replied the crow, “if you wish to race me now at your own risk, let us begin!”
“One, two, three!” counted the culeto, and up they flew. During their flight the two birds became separated from each other by a dense cloud. The culeto flew at full speed so high upward, that he knocked his head very hard against the door of the sky,—so hard, in fact, that a large piece of skin was scraped from his scalp. The crow, having lost his way, flew so near the sun, that his feathers were burned black.
It is on account of this bet between the culeto and the crow that all the descendants of the former have been bald-headed, while all the descendants of the crow have black feathers to-day.
The Hawk and the Coling.
Narrated by Agapito Gaa of Taal, Batangas. He says that this Tagalog story is well known in every town in Batangas province. He heard the story from his grandfather.
Early one morning a hawk sallied forth from his nest to find something to eat. He flew so high that he could hardly be seen from the earth. He looked down; but as he could not see anything, he flew lower and lower, until he came to the top of a tree. On one of the branches he saw sitting quietly a coling. The hawk despised the little bird, and at once made up his mind to challenge him to a flight upward.
So the hawk said to the coling, “Do you wish to fly up into the sky with me to see which of us can fly the faster and the higher?”
The coling did not answer at once, but he thought of the matter for a while. Then he said to the hawk, “When do you want to have the race?”
“That is for you to decide,” said the hawk. “If you wish to have it now, well and good.”