Fables

The footnotes have called attention to the many incidents which have their parallels in other districts. Reference to these shows that a large percentage are found in the islands toward the south. While recognizing that similarity of incidents does not necessarily mean identity of origin, we must still give full credit to the effects of borrowing, even over great distances. The easy communication along the coast during the past four hundred years and the contact with Spanish and Christianized officials and traders will readily explain the likeness of the tales in Division III Page 30to those held in distant islands, or even in Europe, but, as just noted, these are now undergoing change. Doubtless a similar inflow had been taking place, although at a slower rate, long before the Spaniards reached the Islands, and Tinguian mythology has grown up as the result of blending of native tales with those of other areas, the whole being worked over and reshaped until it fitted the social setting.