The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1901-05-19
THE TIGER PRAHU

Post.
Long before the Tagals came to Luzon,
the Land of the Pesole, they lived in a
country which is many days south of the
Land of the Moros, which is again south
of the Land of the VIsayGs The country
was fair to look uGor and aooundel with
game and tame animals. The surrounding
sea was full of fish, ami the lakes an I
rivers provided food to whoever desired it.
The forests were palms and frGit trees.
In the plain country tha vans were ever
growing, and the we meadows yielded
two crops Of rice every year. But the
people were not haoEy. because over
them was always the shadow of a great
fear. From time immemorIal the land
had been haraSsed by the lori Of the
jungle. the tiger.
There are tigers in the land of tea
and silk which are large and bloodthirs-
ty. There are tigers beautiful ana terri
bile in the home land of the Panditas,
but neither the one nor the other is as
terrible as was the great tiger OF Java.
This eXcelled ala other creatures in WIS.,
dom. At times he seemed more cum
ming than man himself When the
brown men of Java tried to kill him VITA
the poison he refused the bait no matter
how tempting it might be- When they
set tigerbows in the Iunaways of the
jungle and the forest he gravel the
bowstrings or broke the bows. When
they built cages or dug traps he made
new paths around the danger places, and
even went so far to drive tame ca
tie into the pitfalls Intended for him
self
Nevertheless, the Taga's WIRE brave and
fought the cruel beasts uncea siagly.
When all other devices failed, they en-
plOyed fire as a wea~on, and no viii
animals viii ever stand against the torch
md the flame. In bands of a hundred
they invaded the wilderness where the
tigers lived and burned out their airs.
They set fire to forest and underbu j
in dry weather, and so by deg:e in
creased the open country and drove Their
cruel enemies further back into the
woods and mountains
1t was very slow work and took many
years. 1t did not do much gooF, because
while the tigers diminished In numbers,
they increased in cruelty and cunning.
Year after year the people murmural, es-
pecially those who had lost their wives
and children, and at last took counsel to-
gether One said, why should we al
ways live here in the fear of death when
there are countries where there are no
tigers?" Another one said How does
it profit us to kill five foolish tigers and
the next season find their places filled by
three crafty Ones?'' And a woman said,
and she had lost a little child, Have tho
gods made countries where there are no
tigers for no purpose?"
They went to an old man who was a
magician and lived in a cave In a noun
tain not far from the sea. He had lived
there longer than any man knew, and
the Oldest remembered that he was an old
man when they were children. He was
very wise, but he sold his wisdom for
gold and silver, for food and for grass
cloth The people told him their story,
and he told them to bring him presents
and their prayer would be answered
ont a.rlr 10 h.af,- o,,I
turned with treasure, each man and each
woman with a gift. T. csc were la d
down in front of the cave for the ma
gician to look upon but when he hal
seen them he became enraged, and said:
"This is not enough. Return and bring
me more treasure. Each man three gifts,
each woman two gifts, and each child
one gift, and among the gifts let there
be spices and goats, br~s and woods,
and grasscloth and weapons"
Again they went to the homes and
when they returned they brought the
gifts as the magician had demanded. He
looked upon the treasures and his wrath
passed away. Then he built strange
fires, out of which there rose White
smoke and yellow, red smoke and black.
until the heavens were awful to look
upon, From one of the fires he drew a
charm, and from the second fire a
charm, until from each fire he had taken
a charm. These he placed in a bag
of tiger-skin and gave them to the Oldest
man among the people. He pronounced
a spell in a strange tongIe ana then
spoke.
Ten days to the north is country
Of small islands, and FIVE days to the
north of that country is a land of large
islands, and five days still to the north
is the Land of the Pestle. 1t is full of
buffaloes and cows of birds and four
footed creatures that live N trees Of
spices and yams of cocOanu s and bam-
boOs. 1t has many rivers and lakes, and
in all the country there is no tiger; and
so long as these charms are preserved
no tiger will ever land upon its shores.
The Lord of the Winds will protect you
by reason of the charms and will give
you a happy voyage from this country
to the Land of the Pes lie, and there you
shall live forever. All things shall be
yours from the tree-cat to the buffalo,
and all the birds in the heavens, all but
the bankiva, which is the sacred bird of
the Lord of the Winds. This bird you
shall not hurt. nor its eggs nor its
fedglings for in the day that you hurt
1t the Lord of the Winds will avenge
the wrong done to his own
The people We're overjoyed, and, going
to their homes, made preparations for
the journey. But there were many who
would not go upon the voyage. Some
were brave men who loved the fierce
joy of tiger-hunting; some were rich
men to whom their treasures were dear
er than safety, and some were fathers
and mothers who had lost their children
and would not leave the homes where
those children had once lived
Thus it came about that one-half Of
the people remained in Java, and the
other half embarked in fleet of prahus
we'll provisioned and armed, and set sail
for the Land of the Pestle. The half
that stayed fought the tiger, and after
many generations killed the last of his
race. And when they had killed this
one they built a great building in honor
of the victory. This building is still
standing, although 1t is nearly ruin,
upon the side of Tidar, the great noun
tain known as the Spike 'of. the Earth,
and is still called the Tiger-Temple
The otner half of the people sailed to
the north, and the Lord of the Winds
gave them fair voyage, as the ma
gician had promised. They passed by
the Land Of the Dyaks and of the NToros
and by the beautiful islands of the
Nisayas, and here some of the prahus
stopped, and found the country so fair
that the people on board made 1t their
home and settled for good. But the rest
went on to the Land of the Pestle, and
there disembarked. There were no
tigers in the country, but there were
men-Igorrotes on the shore and Aetas
"Saved Hundreds in Doctors BiIIs..
RAILWAY q 90 NEW VOpK'' lew