A Study in Tinguian Folk-Lore by Fay-Cooper Cole
page 22 of 93 (23%)
page 22 of 93 (23%)
![]() | ![]() |
|
of the girl's people (p. 133). Even when the agreed sum has been
delivered we often find the girl's mother herself practicing magic, to secure additional payment, and by raising her elbows or eyebrows causing a part of the jars to vanish (pp. 133, 143). Despite their great gifts we find that these people are not all-powerful and that they deem it wise to consult the omens before starting on a task or a journey. The gall sack and liver of a pig are eagerly examined, [44] while the calls of birds, actions of animals, or signs received from the thunder and lightning regulate their conduct. In cases where these warnings are disregarded misfortune or death always overtakes the individual (pp. 48, 49, 100 ff). Death comes to them, but apparently is only a temporary state. The deceased are often revived by some magical process (p. 152), but if not the corpse is placed on a raft and is set adrift on the river. [45] The streams and rivers, we are told, all flow past Nagbotobotan before they empty into the hole where all streams go. In this place lives the old woman Alokotan, who is related to the people of Kadalayapan and Kaodanan. Her duty it is to watch for dead relatives, to secure them, and make them alive again (p. 132). She is the owner of a magic pool, the waters of which revive the dead and renew youth. Comparison of the Reconstructed Culture with Present Day Conditions.--Before passing to a consideration of the tales in the last two divisions of our material, it may be well to compare the life and beliefs of these "people of the first times" with those of the living Tinguian. Kadalayapan and Kaodanan appear, in a vague way, to have been located in Abra, for we learn that the Ilocano, Don Carlos, went up the river from Baygan (Vigan) [46] to Kadalayapan; that the alzados [47] |
|