Filipino Popular Tales | Page 6

"Mother, I know what you bought in the market to-day." He then
told her, article by article. This same thing happened so repeatedly, that
his mother began to believe in his skill as a diviner.
One day the ring of the datu's [3] daughter disappeared. All the people
in the locality searched for it, but in vain. The datu called for volunteers
to find the lost ring, and he offered his daughter's hand as a prize to the
one who should succeed. Suan's mother heard of the proclamation. So
she went to the palace and presented Suan to the datu.

"Well, Suan, to-morrow tell me where the ring is," said the datu.
"Yes, my lord, I will tell you, if you will give your soldiers over to me
for to-night," Suan replied.
"You shall have everything you need," said the datu.
That evening Suan ordered the soldiers to stand around him in a
semicircle. When all were ready, Suan pointed at each one of them, and
said, "The ring is here, and nowhere else." It so happened that Suan
fixed his eyes on the guilty soldier, who trembled and became pale. "I
know who has it," said Suan. Then he ordered them to retire.
Late in the night this soldier came to Suan, and said, "I will get the ring
you are in search of, and will give it to you if you will promise me my
safety."
"Give it to me, and you shall be safe," said Suan.
Very early the next morning Suan came to the palace with a turkey in
his arms. "Where is the ring?" the datu demanded. "Why, sir, it is in
this turkey's intestines," Suan replied. The turkey was then killed, and
the ring was found inside it.
"You have done very well, Suan. Now you shall have my daughter's
hand," said the datu. So Suan became the princess's husband.
One day the datu proposed a bet with any one who wished to prove
Suan's skill. Accordingly another datu came. He offered to bet seven
cascos [4] of treasure that Suan could not tell the number of seeds that
were in his orange. Suan did not know what to do. At midnight he went
secretly to the cascos. Here he heard their conversation, and from it he
learned the number of seeds in the orange.
In the morning Suan said boastfully, "I tell you, your orange has nine
seeds." Thus Suan won the whole treasure.
Hoping to recover his loss, the datu came again. This time he had with

him fourteen cascos full of gold. He asked Suan to tell him what was
inside his golden ball. Suan did not know what to say. So in the dead of
night he went out to the cascos, but he could learn nothing there. The
next morning Suan was summoned into the presence of the two datus.
He had no idea whatever as to what was in the ball; so he said
scornfully, "Nonsense!"
"That is right, that is right!" shouted a man. "The ball contains nine
cents." Consequently Suan won the fourteen cascos full of gold. From
now on, nobody doubted Suan's merit.
Suan Eket.
Narrated by Manuel Reyes, a Tagalog from Rizal province. He heard
the story from his grandfather.
Many years ago there lived in the country of Campao a boy named
Suan. While this boy was studying in a private school, it was said that
he could not pronounce the letter x very well--he called it "eket." So his
schoolmates nick-named him "Suan Eket."
Finally Suan left school, because, whenever he went there, the other
pupils always shouted at him, "Eket, eket, eket!" He went home, and
told his mother to buy him a pencil and a pad of paper. "I am the wisest
boy in our town now," said he.
One night Suan stole his father's plough, and hid it in a creek near their
house. The next morning his father could not find his plough.
"What are you looking for?" said Suan.
"My plough," answered his father.
"Come here, father! I will guess where it is." Suan took his pencil and a
piece of paper. On the paper he wrote figures of various shapes. He
then looked up, and said,--
"Ararokes, ararokes, Na na nakawes Ay na s'imburnales,"--

which meant that the plough had been stolen by a neighbor and hidden
in a creek. Suan's father looked for it in the creek near their house, and
found it. In great wonder he said, "My son is truly the wisest boy in the
town." News spread that Suan was a good guesser.
One day as Suan was up in a guava-tree, he saw his uncle Pedro
ploughing. At noon Pedro went home to eat his dinner, leaving the
plough and the carabao [5] in