even
found in the kitchen the next day. The second night, Manglalabas
visited the house again. He pinched the widow; but when she woke
up, she could not see anything. Manglalabas also emptied all the
water-jars. Accordingly the family decided to abandon the house.
A band of brave men in that town assembled, and went to the house. At
midnight the spirit came again, but the brave men said they were ready
to fight it. Manglalabas made a great deal of noise in the house. He
poured out all the water, kicked the doors, and asked the men who they
were. They answered, "We are fellows who are going to kill you." But
when the spirit approached them, and they saw that it was a ghost,
they fled away. From that time on, nobody was willing to pass a night
in that house.
In a certain barrio [29] of Balubad there lived two queer men. One
was called Bulag, because he was blind; and the other, Cuba, because
he was hunchbacked. One day these two arranged to go to Balubad to
beg. Before they set out, they agreed that the blind man should carry
the hunchback on his shoulder to the town. So they set out. After they
had crossed the Balubad River, Cuba said, "Stop a minute, Bulag! here
is a hatchet." Cuba got down and picked it up. Then they proceeded
again. A second time Cuba got off the blind man's shoulder, for he
saw an old gun by the roadside. He picked this up also, and took it
along with him.
When they reached the town, they begged at many of the houses, and
finally they came to the large abandoned house. They did not know
that this place was haunted by a spirit. Cuba said, "Maybe no one is
living in this house;" and Bulag replied, "I think we had better stay
here for the night."
As they were afraid that somebody might come, they went up into the
ceiling. At midnight they were awakened by Manglalabas making a great
noise and shouting, "I believe that there are some new persons in my
house!" Cuba, frightened, fired the gun. The ghost thought that the
noise of the gun was some one crying. So he said, "If you are truly
a big man, give me some proofs."
Then Cuba took the handle out of the hatchet and threw the head down
at the ghost. Manglalabas thought that this was one of the teeth of
his visitor, and, convinced that the intruder was a powerful person,
he said, "I have a buried treasure near the barn. I wish you to
dig it up. The reason I come here every night is on account of this
treasure. If you will only dig it up, I will
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