Filipino Popular Tales | Page 6

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 the field. Suan got down from the tree and climbed up on the carabao's back. He guided it to a very secret place in the mountains and hid it there. When Pedro came back, he could not find his carabao. A man who was passing by said, "Pedro, what are you looking for?"
"I am looking for my carabao. Somebody must have stolen it." "Go to Suan, your nephew," said the man. "He can tell you who stole your carabao." So Pedro went to Suan's house, and told him to guess who had taken his carabao.
Suan took his pencil and a piece of paper. On the paper he wrote some round figures. He then looked up, and said,
"Carabaues, carabaues, Na nanakawes Ay na sa bundokes,"--
which meant that the carabao was stolen by a neighbor and was hidden in the mountain. For many days Pedro looked for it in the mountain. At last he found it in a very secret place. He then went to Suan's house, and told him that the carabao was truly in the mountain.