Why Dogs Wag Their Tails

( Visayas )

There was once a rich man who owned an old toothless dog and a cat. They were intelligent creatures, who
could carry out almost any task that the rich man would give them. And they worshipped their master, and
feared him, so great was his majesty.

The rich man had a daughter studying in a convent far away from his home. Every week, he would send her
little gifts by carriage. But once, he had something very valuable to give her, and he could trust no one with
its keeping save for his faithful cat and dog.

He turned to the cat first. "Keep this ring," he commanded. "It is magic. You are cunning as well as careful,
and I trust you will not lose it." Then he turned to the dog. "Guard the cat and the magic ring well," he
instructed. "You are strong and swift. Be watchful." This being said, he sent the creatures away.

Now it so happened that a swift-flowing stream barred the way of the cat and the old dog. The two servants
had no alternative but to swim across it. The dog agreed to have the cat stay on his back while he would
swim to the opposite bank. It was then that the dog urged the cat to entrust the ring to him.

"You are not a very good swimmer. I am," said the dog. "And the ring must get to the masters daughter. Even
if you fall off my back as I swim, the ring will be safe with me."

The cat protested. "But the master had said that I should keep the ring, not you."

The dog was angered by the cats stubbornness, and he threatened to kill the cat if he would not give him the
ring. The cat surrendered, and gave the ring to the dog.

But the dog was toothless and the ring had nothing to cling on to in his jaws. It got swept away by the current
as the dog and the cat were in the middle of the stream.

"Look at what happened!" the cat snapped. "Now we shall have to return to the master and tell him we had
lost the ring."

The dog swam back to the bank they had left, and deposited the cat on solid ground. Just then the cat
noticed that the dog looked very frightened. "Go on ahead to the master," the dog said to the cat. "I am too
ashamed and afraid to face him." The dog swam to the opposite bank alone, and ran off. The cat tried to
come after him by swimming across, but the water was too swift for him, and if he had not been able to swim
back to shore he would have drowned.

The cat started his long, lonely trek back to the house of his wealthy master. He was the one who had to
explain the sad situation. The master became angry with the dog, and he sent scouts all over the world to
hunt for an old, toothless dog and to cut off his tail once he was found. The scouts looked and looked, but
they could find no such dog.

To this day, when one dog meets another, he asks "Are you the toothless cur who had lost a magic ring? If
you are, then your tail must be cut off." And the interrogated dog would bare his teeth to show that he had
them, and wag his tail to say no, I had lost no magic ring.

To this day, also, dogs and cats fight, or at the very least mistrust each other. And, after one of them having
almost drowned, cats could not stand the touch of water.

The Legend of the Pineapple Fruit

There was a pretty little girl called Pina who was pampered by her mother as an only child. Everything that
Pina asked for, Pina got. Everything that Pina scoffed at was taken away. No one in her village was ever so
spoiled as Pina. No one was ever such a snobbish child. She was so lazy, and she had never stirred a finger
to work in her life.

Pinas mother was perfectly happy that way, for Pina remained dependent on her as a spoiled child. But one
day, Pinas mother fell ill and there was no one to take care of Pina. She resolved that she would get well
immediately for Pinas sake but she knew she would need help.
"Pina, Pina," she called weakly, from her cot. "Come here a moment. I have something to ask of you."

Pina had never been asked to do anything in her life, and she was quite prepared to refuse, but she said
anyway, "What is it, Mother?"

"Pina," said the doting mother, "I am too sick to make you anything to eat. I am too sick to eat anything solid.
I need you to cook lugaw for me, Pina. It is very easy: just put some rice in a pot, pour some water in with it,
add a pinch of sugar, and leave the mixture to boil for a while."

"Oh, thats too hard! I wont do it," Pina said firmly.

"You have to, Pina!" her mother pleaded. "What will your poor Nanay eat?"

But Pina was immovable. At length her mother resorted to shouting if only to catch her attention. Moping,
Pina dragged her heavy feet down the stairs to gather the things she needed to make lugaw. She managed
to find the rice, the water, the bowl, the sugar but she could not find the ladle anywhere. How was she
supposed to cook lugaw without a ladle?

"Nanay, where is the ladle?" Pina shouted.

"It is beside the other kitchen utensils, Pina, you know where I keep them," her mother weakly shouted back.

But the ladle was not anywhere near the other kitchen utensils, and Pina was too lazy to look for it
elsewhere. "I cant find the ladle, mother," she complained. "I guess I wont be cooking without the ladle."

"Oh, you lazy child," Pinas mother wept. "You wont even look! I hope you grow a thousand eyes so youll be
able to find it!" After saying these words, Pinas mother noticed that the house had fallen silent. Pina was no
longer griping downstairs! That was a marvel. Perhaps she was already cooking. Pinas mother would be
happy if the child would cook her anything, even if it were burnt.

But a long time had passed, and still the house was silent, and still Pinas mother could not smell the cooking
coals burning. She began to get worried. With all her meager strength she called out for Pina. Pina did not
come, but the neighbors heard her pitiful cries, and they decided to drop by to see what was wrong. They
took care of Pinas mother in the childs place.

"Where is Pina?" Pinas mother asked at once. "Where is my child?"

"Oh, you know that girl," they assured her, "she must be in some friends house, having a good time. She
hates responsibility. She may only be a little angry at you because you had asked her to work. It will pass,
and she will come home."

Pinas mother rested easily with that thought, and she recovered quickly. But she was up and about and
asking all around town for her precious little child, and still Pina had not returned.

One sunny day, while Pinas mother was cleaning their back yard, she saw a strange yellow fruit about as
large as the head of a child that had sprung up from the ground. "How curious!" she thought, and bent to
examine it. The strange, spiny yellow fruit, she saw, had a thousand black eyes.

"A thousand eyes...!" she gasped, remembering a mothers curse carelessly let out. "My Pina!"

But there was nothing to be done. Imagine a thousand black eyes and not one of them seeing, and not one
of them being able to shed a tear. Pinas mother, who still loved the child more than anything in the world,
decided to honor her memory by taking the seeds of the strange yellow fruit and planting them. When after a
while there was more of the fruit, Pinas mother gave her harvest away to everyone she knew. Thus Pina, in
another form, became generous to others.

To this day the Filipinos call the yellow fruit pinya, after the pretty spoiled child.