Philippine Folklore Stories | Page 2

in the air, leaving an immense hole from which poured fire
and smoke.
The people fled and did not stop until they were far away.
Harisaboqued had kept his word.
Many years have come and gone, but the mountain is bare and the
smoke still rolls out of the mountain top. Villages have sprung up along
the sides, but no tobacco is grown on the mountain. The people
remember the tales of the former great crops and turn longing eyes to
the heights above them, but they will have to wait. Harisaboqued is still
smoking his tobacco.

The Pericos
Throughout the Visayan islands almost every family owns a pericos,
kept as American children keep canary birds. The pericos is about the
size and color of a Crow, but has a hard white hood that entirely covers
its head. The people teach it but one phrase, which it repeats
continually, parrot fashion. The words are, "Comusta pari? Pericos
tao." (How are you, father? Parrot-man.) "Pari" means padre or priest.
The people address the pericos as "pari" because its white head, devoid
of feathers, seems to resemble the shaven crowns of the friars and
native priests.
I
In his small wooden box That hangs on the wall Sits a queer-looking
bird That in words sounds his call. From daybreak to twilight His cry
he repeats, Resting only whenever He drinks or he eats. He never
grows weary,-- Hear! There he goes now! "Comusta pari? Pericos tao."

II
And all the day long You can hear this strange cry: "How are you,
father? A parrot-man I." He sits on his perch, In his little white cap,
And pecks at your hand If the cage door you tap. Now give him some
seeds, Hear him say with a bow, "Comusta pari? Pericos tao."

III
Poor little birdie! How hard it must be To sit there in prison And never
be free! I'll give you a mango, And teach you to say "Thank you," and
"Yes, sir," And also "Good day." You'll find English as easy As what
you say now, "Comusta pari? Pericos tao."

IV
I'll teach you "Good morning" And "How do you do?" Or "I am well,
thank you," And "How are you too?" "Polly is hungry" or "It's a fine
day." These and much more I am sure you could say. But now I must
go, So say with your bow, "Comusta pari? Pericos tao."

Quicoy and the Ongloc

This story is known generally in the southern Islands. The Ongloc is
feared by the children just as some little boys and girls fear the Bogy
Man. The tale is a favorite one among the children and they believe
firmly in the fate of Quicoy.
Little Quicoy's name was Francisco, but every one called him Quicoy,
which, in Visayan, is the pet name for Francisco. He was a good little
boy and helped his mother grind the corn and pound the rice in the big
wooden bowl, but one night he was very careless. While playing in the
corner with the cat he upset the jar of lubi lana, and all the oil ran down
between the bamboo strips in the floor and was lost. There was none
left to put in the glass and light, so the whole family had to go to bed in
the dark.
Quicoy's mother was angry. She whipped him with her chinela and then
opened the window and cried:
"Ongloc of the mountains! Fly in through the door. Catch Quicoy and
eat him, He is mine no more."
Quicoy was badly frightened when he heard this, for the Ongloc is a
big black man with terrible long teeth, who all night goes searching for
the bad boys and girls that he may change them into little cocoanuts
and put them on a shelf in his rock house in the mountains to eat when
he is hungry.
So when Quicoy went to his bed in the corner he pulled the matting
over his head and was so afraid that he did not go to sleep for a long
time.
The next morning he rose very early and went down to the spring
where the boys get the water to put in the bamboo poles and carry
home. Some boys were already there, and he told them what had taken
place the night before. They were all sorry that his mother had called
the Ongloc, but they told him not to be afraid for they would tell him
how he could be forever safe from that terrible man.
It was very easy. All he had to do was to go at dusk to the cocoanut
grove by the river and dig holes under two trees. Then he was to climb
a tree, get the cocoanut that