led out: "Where's Ca
Boo-Ug? Where's Ca Boo-Ug?"
Ca Boo-Ug was so tickled when he heard the monkey ask where he was that
he giggled. The monkeys heard him, and looked all around for him, but
could not find him. Then they called out: "Where's Ca Boo-Ug? Where's
Ca Boo-Ug?" This time Ca Boo-Ug laughed out loud, and the monkeys
found him. Then they began to plan how they should punish him.
"Let's put him into a rice mortar and pound him to death," said
one. "Aha!" said Ca Boo-Ug, "that's nothing! My mother beat me so
much when I was little that now my back is so strong that nothing
can break it."
When the monkeys found out that Ca Boo-Ug was not afraid of being
pounded in a rice mortar, they determined to try something else.
"Let's make a fire on his back and burn him up," suggested
another. "Oh, ho!" laughed Ca Boo-Ug, "that's nothing. I should think
that you could tell by the color of my shell that I have had a fire
lighted on my back many times. In fact, I like it, as I am always
so cold."
So the monkeys decided that they would punish Ca Boo-Ug by throwing
him into the pond and drowning him.
"Boo-hoo!" cried Ca Boo-Ug, "don't do that! You will surely kill
me. Please don't do that! Boo-hoo! Boo-hoo!"
Of course when the monkeys found that Ca Boo-Ug did not wish to be
thrown into the pond, they thought they had found just the way to kill
him. So, in spite of his struggles, they picked him up and threw him
far out into the pond.
To their surprise and chagrin, Ca Boo-Ug stuck his head out of the
water and laughed at them, and then turned around and swam off.
When the monkeys saw how they had been deceived, they were very
much disappointed, and began to plan how they could catch Ca Boo-Ug
again. So they called to a big fish, named Botete, that lived in
the pond:
"Botete! Drink all you can of the water in the pond and help us
find the bag of gold that we hid in it. If you will help us find it,
you shall have half of the gold."
So Botete began to drink the water, and in a little time the pond
was nearly dry. Then the monkeys determined to go down into the pond
and look for Ca Boo-Ug. When he saw them coming, Ca Boo-Ug called
to Salacsacan, the kingfisher, who was sitting on a branch of a tree
which hung over the water:--
"Salacsacan! Salacsacan! Botete has drunk all the water in the pond,
and if there is no water there will be no fish for you to catch. Fly
down now and peck a hole in Botete, and let
|