Chapter 4 - Indian Literature in the Philippines

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an archetype of the Jātaka.
If so,
it may well be sugges-
tive of its antiquity.
In the Phil. tale, two distinctly interesting ele-
ments which D. S. Fansler missed in his note (to this tale)
are evident. (He, nevertheless, refers to the Ram. epi-
sode.) The first element is the dilemma of the wife, which
The ingen-
is more or less similar to the Jātaka element.
-
uity of the choice - in the Jataka however, shows the re-
lease of all the three, while in the Phil. tale, it is not
known whether they were released.
The second element in the Phil. tale is the partici-
pation of the listener in the solution of the dilemma, made
apparent by the narrator, and the ingenious reply. This
element shows an apparent parallel with the problems posed
by the Vetäla upon King Vikramasena after every tale and
the ingenious solutions given by the latter. The reply of
the grandson, Antonio, in the Phil. tale reveals the type
of the Vetla tales - a type which can not escape the no-
tice of a student of comparative folk-literature. The
question, therefore, may be asked: "Did the type and style
of the Vetala tales ever migrate outside India?" Perhaps,
the question may be answered in analogy with the genealogy
of the Pañcatantra in the East.
Moreover, although the tale does not have any paral-