narrated by gregorio frondoso, a bicol, who heard the story from another bicol student. the latter said that the story was traditional among the bicols, and that he had heard it from his grandfather.
in ancient times, in the age of foolishness and nonsense, there lived a poor gambler. he was all alone in the world: he had no parents, relatives, wife, or children. what little money he had he spent on cards or cock-fighting. every time he played, he lost. so he would often pass whole days without eating. he would then go around the town begging like a tramp. at last he determined to leave the village to find his fortune.
one day, without a single cent in his pockets, he set out on his journey. as he was lazily wandering along the road, he found a centavo, and picked it up. when he came to the next village, he bought with his coin a small native cake. he ate only a part of the cake; the rest he wrapped in a piece of paper and put in his pocket. then he took a walk around the village; but, soon becoming tired, he sat down by a little shop to rest. while resting, he fell asleep. as he was lying on the bench asleep, a chicken came along, and, seeing the cake projecting from his pocket, the chicken pecked at it and ate it up. tickled by the bird’s beak, the tramp woke up and immediately seized the poor creature. the owner claimed the chicken; but juan would not give it up, on the ground that it had eaten his cake. indeed, he argued so well, that he was allowed to walk away, taking the chicken with him.
scarcely had he gone a mile when he came to another village. there he took a rest in a barber-shop. he fell asleep again, and soon a dog came in and began to devour his chicken. awakened by the poor bird’s squawking, juan jumped up and caught the dog still munching its prey. in spite of the barber’s protest and his refusal to give up his dog, juan seized it and carried it away with him. he proceeded on his journey until he came to another village. as he was passing by a small house, he felt thirsty: so he decided to go in and ask for a drink. he tied his dog to the gate and went in. when he came out again, he found his dog lying dead, the iron gate on top of him. evidently, in its struggles to get loose, the animal had pulled the gate over. without a word juan pulled off one of the iron bars from the gate and took it away with him. when the owner shouted after him, juan said, “the bar belongs to me, for your gate killed my dog.”
[263]when juan came to a wide river, he sat down on the bank to rest. while he was sitting there, he began to play with his iron bar, tossing it up into the air, and catching it as it fell. once he missed, and the bar fell into the river and was lost. “now, river,” said juan, “since you have taken my iron bar, you belong to me. you will have to pay for it.” so he sat there all day, watching for people to come along and bathe.
it happened by chance that not long after, the princess came to take her bath. when she came out of the water, juan approached her, and said, “princess, don’t you know that this river is mine? and, since you have touched the water, i have the right to claim you.”
“how does it happen that you own this river?” said the astonished princess.
“well, princess, it would tire you out to hear the story of how i acquired this river; but i insist that you are mine.”
juan persisted so strongly, that at last the princess said that she was willing to leave the matter to her father’s decision. on hearing juan’s story, and after having asked him question after question, the king was greatly impressed with his wonderful reasoning and wit; and, as he was unable to offer any refutation for juan’s argument, he willingly married his daughter to juan.
