A Magic Tale from Cuenca, Batangas by Agripino R. Cuevas, 1925

This page contains the complete transcription of the 1925 ethnographic paper written by one Agripino R. Cuevas from .jpeg scans of the originals made available by the National Library of the Philippines Digital Collections. Corrections for grammar had been made in certain parts but no attempt was made to rewrite the original paper. Original pagination is indicated for citation purposes.

[Cover page.]

Manila
January 16, 1925

[p. 1]

Once, there were three brothers who were sent by their father to wander throughout the whole country to work for their own living. Each of them had taken a separate way, but agree, however, to meet at a certain place after seven years to tell each other his own adventure and to compare between themselves what each of them had found. At the end of that time, they met (each other) in a far-off city, each carrying a wonderful gift with him. The oldest brother exhibited a book where inquiry made. The second eldest took from his pocket a big handkerchief which according to his owner can take any man from one place to another in a very short time. The youngest in his turn drew also from his pocket a bottle of medicine whose curing effect was such that it could even revive a dead person. Anxious to verify whether their respective findings worked as was told by each and every one of them, they proposed to begin first, by consulting from the book this simple question: “Who and where is now living the most beautiful princess?” The book’s answer was that such princess referred to had recently died in the city of Talisay. They then wanted to try the power of the magic handkerchief whether it could really take them all to the city where the dead princess was found. So, they spread the handkerchief and stepped on it, and suddenly they

[p. 2]

were transported to the city of Talisay. There, they found the body of the princess exposed in the most magnificent hall of the King’s Palace. Now, it was the turn of the youngest brother to show the miraculous power of his medicine by bringing again the dead princess into life. So, he dropped several drops of medicine into the mouth of the dead and soon the princess opened her eyes and began to rise from the coffin as if she had only woken up from a sound sleep.

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Transcribed from “A Magic Tale from Cuenca, Batangas,” by Agripino R. Cuevas, 1925, online at the Henry Otley-Beyer Collection of the National Library of the Philippines Digital Collections.