PART II

Visayan Folk-Tales.


Introduction.

These stories are intended to bring before the American public a
few of the tales related by Visayan parents to their children, or by
the public story-teller in the market, as the people gather to buy
the material for the evening meal. It was only toward the close of a
three years' stay in the Islands, in one province, and in neighboring
places, and after a fair acquaintance with Spanish and a little
knowledge of the native dialect had enabled us to obtain a closer
insight into the home life of our pupils than would otherwise have
been possible, that we ventured upon the collection of these tales,
hoping that they might prove of interest to people at home. Many of
the stories were written by our boys and girls as part of their work
in English composition. Others were prepared by the native teachers,
some of whom had been well educated by the Spaniards and had already
learned to write very fair English. Indeed, a few were able, at about
the time that these stories were written, to pass the civil service
examination for appointment as insular teachers. The articles on the
superstitious beliefs of the people were prepared by one of these
teachers, so that they might be as nearly correct as possible.

As might be expected, the stories are often very crude and simple,
presenting no difficult situations nor intricate plots. Sometimes