Philippine Folk Tales | Page 9

to eat, the fruit made her sick
and she threw it away.
"What is the matter?" called Aponitolau as he heard her drop the fruit.
"I merely dropped one," she replied, and returned to her mat.
After a while Aponibolinayen again said:
"Oh, I wish I had some of the oranges of Gawigawen of Adasen," and
Aponitolau, who heard her from the spirit house, inquired:
"What is that you say?"
"I wish I had some fish eggs," answered his wife; for she did not want
him to know the truth.
Then Aponitolau took his net and went to the river, determined to
please his wife if possible. When he had caught a nice fish he opened it
with his knife and took out the eggs. Then he spat on the place he had
cut, and it was healed and the fish swam away. [31]
Pleased that he was able to gratify his wife's wishes, he hastened home
with the eggs; and while his wife was roasting them over the fire, he
returned to the spirit house. She tried to eat, but the eggs did not taste
good to her, and she threw them down under the house to the dogs.
"What is the matter?" called Aponitolau. "Why are the dogs barking?"

"I dropped some of the eggs," replied his wife, and she went back to
her mat.
By and by she again said:
"I wish I had some of the oranges of Gawigawen of Adasen."
But when her husband asked what she wished, she replied:
"I want a deer's liver to eat"
So Aponitolau took his dogs to the mountains, where they hunted until
they caught a deer, and when he had cut out its liver he spat on the
wound, and it was healed so that the deer ran away.
But Aponibolinayen could not eat the liver any more than she could the
fruit or the fish eggs; and when Aponitolau heard the dogs barking, he
knew that she had thrown it away. Then he grew suspicious and,
changing himself into a centipede, [32] hid in a crack in the floor. And
when his wife again wished for some of the oranges, he overheard her.
"Why did you not tell me the truth, Aponibolinayen?" he asked.
"Because," she replied, "no one Who has gone to Adasen has ever
come back, and I did not want you to risk your life."
Nevertheless Aponitolau determined to go for the oranges, and he
commanded his wife to bring him rice straw. After he had burned it he
put the ashes in the water with which he washed his hair. [33] Then she
brought cocoanut oil and rubbed his hair, and fetched a dark clout, a
fancy belt, and a head-band, and she baked cakes for him to take on the
journey. Aponitolau cut a vine [34] which he planted by the stove, [35]
and told his wife that if the leaves wilted she would know that he was
dead. Then he took his spear and head-ax [36] and started on the long
journey.
When Aponitolau arrived at the well of a giantess, all the betel-nut trees
bowed. Then the giantess shouted and all the world trembled. "How

strange," thought Aponitolau, "that all the world shakes when that
woman shouts." But he continued on his way without stopping.
As he passed the place of the old woman, Alokotan, she sent out her
little dog and it bit his leg.
"Do not proceed," said the old woman, "for ill luck awaits you. If you
go on, you will never return to your home."
But Aponitolau paid no attention to the old woman, and by and by he
came to the home of the lightning.
"Where are you going?" asked the lightning.
"I am going to get some oranges of Gawigawen of Adasen," replied
Aponitolau.
"Go stand on that high rock that I may see what your sign is,"
commanded the lightning.
So he stood on the high rock, but when the lightning flashed
Aponitolau dodged.
"Do not go," said the lightning, "for you have a bad sign, and you will
never come back."
Still Aponitolau did not heed.
Soon he arrived at the place of Silit (loud thunder), [37] who also asked
him:
"Where are you going, Aponitolau?"
"I am going to get oranges of Gawigawen of Adasen," he replied.
Then the thunder commanded:
"Stand on that high stone so that I can see if you have a good sign."

He stood on the high stone, and when the thunder made a loud noise he
jumped. Whereupon Silit also advised him not to go on.
In spite of all the warnings, Aponitolau continued his journey, and
upon coming to the ocean he used magical power, so that when he
stepped on his head-ax it sailed away, carrying