This is one reason why we must not kill the cat.  If a Bagobo should kill a cat, it would make him very sick.  He would get skinny, and die.  Some Bagobo have been known to kill the cat; but they always got sick afterwards.

How a Dog Scared the Buso

The Tigbanua’ are the worst of all the Buso; they want to be eating human flesh all the time.  They live in great forests,—­in the pananag-tree, in the magbo-tree, in the baliti-tree, and in the liwaan-tree.

One day a man went out to hunt, and he took his dog with him.  On his way to the woods, he speared a very little pig.  By the time he reached the great forest, night had come.  He made a little shelter, and kindled a fire.  Then he cleaned the pig and cut it into pieces, and tied three sticks of wood together, and placed them on two upright pieces of wood stuck in the ground.  On this paga he laid the pig-meat to broil over the flames.

By and by he got very sleepy, and thought he would go under the shelter and take a nap.  But just then he heard voices up in the big trees.  He listened, and heard the Tigbanua’ talking to one another.

The Tigbanua’ that lives in the liwaan-tree called out to the Tigbanua’ that lives in the pananag-tree, “The mighty chief of all the Tigbanua’, who lives in the sigmit-tree, gives this command to his people:  ’Don’t make fun of the man, because he has been here many times before.’ "

And right there, under the trees, the man, standing by his dog, was listening to the talk of the Buso.  The dog was sleeping near the fire, and he was as big as the calf of a carabao.  Very quietly his master spread his own sleeping-tunic (kisi) over the dog, and crept away, leaving him asleep in the warm place.  The man hid in the shelter, and waited.

Presently many of the Tigbanua’ began coming down from the trees, for some of them did not give obedience (paminug) to their Datu.  They gathered around the fire, and sat down.  By and by, as they sat near the fire, the penis (tapo) of every one of the Tigbanua’ began to grow bigger and bigger (lanag-lanag).  All at once, the Tigbanua’ caught sight of the tunic spread out, and showing the form of a huge head and body under it.  They all thought it was the man; and they rushed up to it, and hugged it.  But the dog woke up, jumped out from under the tunic, and bit the Tigbanua’.  Then they all ran.  One of them climbed up the tree to his own house, the dog holding on to his leg, and biting him all the time.  But when they were halfway up the tree, the dog fell down and got hurt.  And the Tigbanua’ called down to the dog, “Swell up, swell up!” ("Pigsa, pigsa!”)

All the other Tigbanua’ were afraid of the big dog, and ran away.  So the man slept well all night, because the Buso could not hurt him now.

Story of Duling and the Tagamaling