carabao's, is pulled off by the
hero. And there is this addition: while travelling to the king's court,
Piro hears cries for help coming from the woods. He rushes to the spot,
and sees a young lady fighting a swarm of bees. Piro helps kill the
bees with his stick, but, in doing so, injures the woman somewhat
severely. Her father, angered, joins the accusers, and requests the
king that he order Piro to cure his daughter. The king rules that if
Piro is to do this, and if the young woman is to get the best care,
she must become Piro's wife. For relinquishing his right to the girl,
Piro receives a hundred alfonsos from the father.

All in all, the close agreement between our stories and the three
Eastern versions cited above makes it reasonably certain that the
"Wonderful Decisions" group in the Philippines derives directly
from India.

TALE 6

THE FOUR BLIND BROTHERS.

Narrated by Eutiqiano Garcia, a Pampangan, who said he heard the
story from a boy from Misamis, Mindanao.

There was once a man who had eight sons. Four of them were blind. He
thought of sending the children away, simply because he could not
afford to keep them in the house any longer. Accordingly one night
he called his eight children together, and said, "He who does not
provide for the future shall want in the present. You are big enough
and are able to support yourselves. To-morrow I shall send you away
to seek your fortunes."

When morning came, the boys bade their father good-by. The blind sons
went together in one party, and the rest in another. Now begins the
pathetic story of the four blind brothers.

They groped along the road, each holding the hand of the other. After
a day of continuous walking, the four brothers were very far away
from their town. They had not tasted food during all that time. In
the evening they came to a cocoanut-grove.

"Here are some cocoanut-trees," said one of them. "Let us get a bunch
of cocoanuts and have something to eat!"

So the eldest brother took off his camisa china [22] and climbed up
one of the trees. When he reached the top, the tree broke.

"Bung!" Down came the poor fellow. "One!" cried the youngest
brother. "Three more!" shouted the rest.

"Don't come down until you have dropped four!" they all cried at
once. Who would answer them? Their brother lay dead on the ground.

While they were waiting for the second "Bung!" the second brother
climbed up the same tree. What had happened to the f