The Mount Holly news. [volume] (Mount Holly, Burlington Co., N.J.) 1891-1942, 1901-10-01

several months passed, anu the Bunu-
mer was upon the land. One hot day
when the men and women were inside
| their houses and the children were at
play the voice of the bankiva was heard.
| The grown people laughed and said,
''They tired of the forest and have come
back" and the little ones clapped their
hands with joy and fastened to play with
their old friends. The day passed, and
in the cool Of the afternoon the mothers
went out to call the children. Look
swhere they would they found none. Soon
every man and every woman was search
| ing the fields and rivers. When daylight
died, torches were lighted, and through
the night the search continued, but all
they ever discovered was a line of little
footmarks that ran across the fields and
then lost itself In the jungle and the
marsh. When they had made count,
! they found that one-third of the children
had gone away with the bankivas. One
mother went mad and cried that she had
/ seen many pieces of black coal along the
| line of the footmarkS.
The summer passed, and there was no
Joy in the land. Sorrow was in the sui
tan's palace because his oldest son, a
handsome boy of 8, had gone away with
came, and nearly every one staid within
doors. One day the rains ceased and the
skies cleared, but the wind sang more
loudly than ever. Long afterward people
said that it sounded the same as the
strong voice of the old man when he rose
into the air. The children, who had
grown weary of the storms dashed out
Of doors and played merrily in the sun.
~, ho ne tho uoiaoc of
bankivas were heard. They were harsh
er than ever before and alarmed both
mothers and fathers, who ran out to pre-
vent their little ones from accompanying
the bankivas, but it was too late. Not
child was to be seen. They had caught
sight of the wonderful plumage and had
wandered away with the fascinating
birds.
The people searched as before during
the evening and night, and all that they
could find was line Of little footmarks
across the fields into the jungle and the
marsh. The mad woman who had lost
son declared that there were heaps of
gray ashes along the path Again they
made a count, and again they found that
one-third of all the children had gone
away with the bankivas. He who suf-
fered most of all was the sultan. Again
son had been taken away, but this time
1t left him childless.
There was an old woman, well nigh
helpless with rheumatism, who lived be-
tween the village and the deep forest.
On this day she had crawled out of the
house and got into a hammock slung in
the shadow of a molave tree. Once there
she was too weak to leave it in the after
noon and so remained to rest. She said
that while half asleep she was aroused
by happy laughter and beautiful music
Looking from her hammock she saw an
army of bankivas, some walking and 9th
ers dancing, some leaping and others fly
ing. All were singing the sweetest songs,
and on all the plumage shone like bur-
nished metal set with brilliant gems. Be-
hind came the children, laughing, singing
and dancing, as If to keep time with the
birds. A cool breeze rustled the leaves
and flowers and played about the birds
and the little ones. The old woman
laughed at the pretty picture and waved
her hands to the procession although
they did not notice her. Not until they
had gone beyond her sight and hearing
did she think of danger Then, and not
before, she recalled how the first throng
Of children had been led away by the
bankivas, and she wept, heartbroken.
The little Chinese birds sang, but there
was sorrow throughout the land. Women
whispered together, and men met in soil
tary places and held council. One morn
ing there was wailing in the sultan's pal
ace because the monarch was dead. When
they came to carry his body to the bury
ing ground, they found on the breast a
bunch Of bankiva plumes. which had not
been there when the mourners laid it on
the bier.
All this happened many years ago. The
bankiva still lives in the heart of the for
est and the jungle and never is seen near
human habitations Nevertheless, when
careless mothers forget to watch over
their little ones and permit them to play
or wander at will unattended the relent-
less bankiva, who sees them from afar,
flies and aIights before them. He spreads
his bright wings and ruffles his cleaning
feathers until he seems made of living
jewels He dances and sings, ever NOV
ing backward, while his victims follow
him laughingly until they have been
swallowed up in the black forest or the
deadly marsh.
Sometimes the bankiva takes the soul
and leaves the body. To every house the
bankiva may come, and to many it has
come. The curse Of the Lord of Winds
will never die so long as the bird lives in
the forests of Luzon.-New York Even
ing Post.