Philippine Folk-Tales — John Stuart Mill — John Shaqi
Philippine Folk-Tales
John Stuart Mill · en
When Pusong and his companion returned to the palace they were asked by
the king how many acres they had cleared. They replied that they had
cleared and planted about one thousand acres. The king was satisfied
with their answer, and, at Amo-Mongo's request, gave orders for a
large quantity of rice to be carried from the storehouse to the spot
in the forest where his son-in-law had promised the monkeys that they
should find it.
On the other hand, Singalong during the day did nothing, and as the
king never saw him at work he disliked his third son-in-law very
much. Yet every morning there were great piles of fish and vegetables
in the palace kitchen. Amo-Mongo, knowing that his brother-in-law
usually went out at night in order to bring something home, contrived
to get up early and see what there was in the kitchen, so as to present
it to the king as the result of his own labors. In this way, Amo-Mongo
became each day dearer and dearer to the king, while Singalong became
more and more disliked. Maria knew that her husband procured their
food in some way, for every morning he said to her: "All that you
see here I have brought." However, the king knew nothing of all this.
When the early harvest time came, the king commanded Amo-Mongo to
bring rice to make pilipig. (Rice pounded into flakes and toasted,
a dish of which Filipinos are very fond.) Amo-Mongo did not know
where he could find it, but set out in the direction from which he
had seen Singalong coming each morning, and soon came to an extensive
rice-field bearing an abundant crop. He took a goodly portion of it
and, returning to the palace, had the pilipig prepared and set before
the king and his household. Every one ate of it, except Singalong,
who was the real owner, and his wife, who had been secretly notified
by him of the truth of the matter.
Maria was greatly perplexed by what her husband had told her, so she
determined one night to watch him. She discovered that, as soon as
the other people were asleep, her husband became transformed into
a handsome prince and left the palace, leaving behind him his cat's
dress. As soon as he had gone, Maria took the cast-off clothing of
her husband and cast it into the fire. Singalong smelt it burning and
returned to the palace, where he found his wife and begged her to
return to him his cat's dress. This she was unable to do, since it
was entirely consumed. As a result, Singalong was obliged to retain
the form of a prince, but he was afraid to appear before the king in
this guise, and so hid himself.