Then, when the girl’s brother and all the other malaki had assembled in the meadow, the Basolo came down from the tree and went home.  When he got into his house, he took off his coat, and became a Malaki T’oluk Waig.  His body shone like the sun (you could hardly look at him), and all his garments were of gold.  He had on nine jackets, one over another, and nine pairs of trousers.  Then he called for his horse, whose name was Kambeng Diluk; [105] and Kambeng neighed into the air, and waited, prancing, before the house.  Soon the Malaki T’oluk Waig mounted his horse, and sitting on a saddle of mirrored glass, he rode toward the meadow.  Then Kambeng Diluk began to run, just like the wind.

When they reached the meadow, there were many people there.  The Malaki’s wife was sitting on the grass, with men grouped around her, and she was laughing with them.  But she did not recognize her husband when he came riding up.  After everybody had arrived, they set fire to the long grass, and burned off the meadow, so as to bring the wild pigs and the deer out of ambush.  Then many men entered the chase and ran their horses; but none could catch the deer or the wild boar, except only the great Malaki, who had been the Basolo:  he alone speared much game.

When the burning of the meadow and the hunt were finished, many men wanted to marry the Malaki T’oluk Waig’s wife, and many of them embraced her.  But the Malaki T’oluk Waig stood up, fierce with passion.  His body was almost like a flame to look at.  And he fought the other malaki, and killed many, until at last all were dead but one, and that was the woman’s brother.

When all was done, the Malaki mounted his horse and rode back to his home.  His house was all of gold, and yet it looked just like a mean little hut nestled under the barayung-tree.  Then the Malaki picked up his coat and put it on:  at once he became a Basolo again.  He then went over to the woman’s house and waited there for her to come back.  By and by she came loitering along, crying all the way, because she was afraid to meet her husband.  But the Basolo staid right along in the house, and lived with the woman and her brother.  Then, after they had tried each other, they were married with Bagobo ceremony.  The Basolo took off his coat, and again became a Malaki T’oluk Waig.  They lived well in their house, and they had a big hacienda of hemp and cocoanuts and banana-plants.

The Mona [106]

When the Mona lived on the earth, there was a certain man who said to his wife, “I want to go out and make some traps.”

So that day he went out and made about thirty traps, of sticks with nooses attached, to snare jungle-fowl.  His work finished, he returned home.  Next day he went out to look at his traps, but found that he had caught, not a wild chicken, but a big lizard (palas [107]) with pretty figured patterns on its back.  The man said to the lizard, “Halloo!”

Then he released the lizard, and gave him his own carrying-bag and work-knife, and told him to go straight to his house.  But the lizard was afraid to go to the man’s house, for he suspected that the man wanted to make a meal of him.  Instead, he ran up a tree, taking with him the knife and the bag.  The tree overhung a clear brook, and the lizard could see his reflection (alung) in the water.