Two children went out into the field to tend their rice-plants. They
said these words to keep the little birds away from the grain:--
"One, one, maya-bird, [111]
Yonder in the north;
Keep off from eating it,
This my rice."
Just then they heard the sound of a voice, calling from the great
pananag-tree, [112] "Wait a minute, children, until I make a basket
for you."
"What is that?" said the boy to his sister.
"Oh, nothing!" answered the little girl. "It's the sound of something."
Then the children called to their father and mother; but only from
the pananag-tree the answer came, "Just wait till I finish this basket
to hold you in."
Down, then, from the tree came the great Buso, with a big, deep basket
(such as women carry bananas and camotes [113] in) hanging from his
shoulders. The frightened children did not dare to run away; and Buso
sat down near by in the little hut where the rice was kept. Soon he
said to the children, "Please comb out my nice hair."
But, when they tried to comb his hair, they found it swarming with
big lice and worms.
"Well, let's go on now," said the Buso. Then he stuffed the children
into his deep burden-basket, and swung the basket upon his back.
On the instant the little girl screamed out, "Wait a minute, Buso! I've
dropped my comb. Let me down to pick it up."
So the Buso sat down on the ground, and let the girl climb out of
the basket. He sat waiting for her to find her comb; but all the time
she was picking up big stones, and putting them into the basket. Her
brother got out of the basket too, and then both girl and boy climbed
up into a tall betel-nut tree, [114] leaving Buso with a basket full
of stones on his back.
Up to his house in the pananag-tree went Buso with the heavy
basket. When his wife saw him, she laughed and shouted very loud. She
was glad, because she thought there was a man in the basket, all ready
to eat. But, when Buso slipped the basket down from his shoulders,
there was no human flesh in it, but only big stones.
Then the angry Buso hurried back to look for the two children. At last
he caught sight of them far up in the betel-nut tree, and wondered how
he could get them. Now, at the foot of the tree there was a growth
of the wild plant called "bagkang;" and Buso said words to make the
bagkang grow faster and taller:--
"Tubu, tubu, bagkang,
Grow, grow, bagkang,
Baba, baba mamaa'n." [115]
Handle, handle, betel-nut.
But the children, in their turn, said:--
"Tubu, tubu, mamaa'n,
Grow, grow, betel-nut,
Baba, baba bagkang."
Handle, handle, bagkang.
By and by, when the bagkang-stems had grown so tall as almost to reach
the clusters of betel-nuts at the top of the trunk, the boy and girl
said to each other. "Let us pick betel-nuts, and throw them down on
the bagkang."
And as soon as they began to pick, the betel-nuts became so big and
heavy that the bagkang-plants fell down when the betel-nuts dropped
on them.