The Cock and the Sparrow-Hawk
Narrated by Dolores Asuncion of Manila. She heard the story from an old Tagalog.
Long ago the sparrow-hawk and the cock were very good friends. Once, when the cocks were going to hold a great fiesta in the neighboring village, a proud young rooster, who wished to get the reputation for being rich and consequently win him a wife, went to the sparrow-hawk, and said, “My friend, please lend me your bracelet! I am going to our fiesta; and I wish to make some young hens there believe that I am rich, in order that they may love me.”
The sparrow-hawk answered, “With much pleasure, my friend.”
So the cock went to the fiesta wearing the borrowed bracelet. While he was dancing, however, he lost the jewel, and could find it nowhere. At last he went back to the sparrow-hawk, and said, “I am very sorry, my friend, but I lost your bracelet while I was dancing, and I can find it nowhere. What do you wish me to give you in payment for it?”
The sparrow-hawk answered, “Since that bracelet was an heirloom, I valued it very highly. You must go back to the place where you think you lost it, and there look for it until you find it. In the mean time I reserve the right to take from your flock a chicken whenever I please.”
So, ever since that time sparrow-hawks are often seen carrying off young chickens, while the cocks have been busy scratching the ground to find the lost bracelet. Hens also scratch the soil, for they hate to lose their chicks, and they want to find the bracelet as soon as possible. They look up into the sky to see if the sparrow-hawk is near; then they scratch the soll vigorously, and cry, “Tac-ta-laoc!” which means, “Come and help me!”
Note
Another Visayan variant of these two stories may be found in the “Journal of American Folk-Lore” (20: 100), whence it has been reprinted by M. C. Cole (p. 212), “The Hawk and the Hen.” An African analogue may be found in Dayrell (No. xv, p. 62).