Once a small boat containing one
commandant, a captain and six sailors landed on the island of Capiz. They
sought refuge in a house owned by a widow and her three lovely daughters. These
women were very accommodating, and during their meals there was much gay talk
and laughter. The meals themselves were of the highest quality. Never had the
sailors been extended such hospitality!
And then one of the sailors
noticed that his fork was shaped like a human hand. This observation prompted
the mariners to quickly be done with the meal. The mariners began to form
suspicions as to the true nature of the women in the house with them. They
decided to watch out for strange happenings during their stay in Capiz.
The more curious three of the
sailors investigated the lower rooms of the house they were staying in. There,
they found the three lower halves of the bodies of women. The upper halves had
simply broken away and disappeared. The sailors gave way to temptation and fear
and smeared ashes on the top parts of these lower halves and changed their
positions, to prevent the upper and lower halves from coming together again.
Later in the night the three
upper halves returned and found the rest of their bodies defiled. The captain
of the mariners heard their despaired weeping and hastened downstairs. He found
the three daughters of the widow who owned the house he slept in – in the form
of flying night-creatures, or aswangs. The asuangs begged for him to wash the
ashes from the lower halves of their bodies, and so moved was the captain by
their pleas that he himself washed the ashes off with a piece of cloth and
water. The asuangs were able to reunite with their lower halves before
daylight, when, they said, they would die a horrible death. They thanked the
captain profusely, but were angry at the sailors who had done them wrong.
The captain tried to confront the
three sailors who had played the trick on the asuangs, but they had run away.
The asuangs pursued them, threatening to kill them unless they atoned for their
crime by marriage. At last the three sailors had to submit to fate and return
to Capiz as spouses to asuangs.
Anyway, the asuangs made them good
wives. The three sailors who were never mean to the asuangs settled with women
from Capiz and became happy. The captain and the commandant stayed in Capiz for
a long while.
And then one of the sailors noticed that his fork was shaped like a human hand. This observation prompted the mariners to quickly be done with the meal. The mariners began to form suspicions as to the true nature of the women in the house with them. They decided to watch out for strange happenings during their stay in Capiz.
The more curious three of the sailors investigated the lower rooms of the house they were staying in. There, they found the three lower halves of the bodies of women. The upper halves had simply broken away and disappeared. The sailors gave way to temptation and fear and smeared ashes on the top parts of these lower halves and changed their positions, to prevent the upper and lower halves from coming together again.
Later in the night the three upper halves returned and found the rest of their bodies defiled. The captain of the mariners heard their despaired weeping and hastened downstairs. He found the three daughters of the widow who owned the house he slept in – in the form of flying night-creatures, or aswangs. The asuangs begged for him to wash the ashes from the lower halves of their bodies, and so moved was the captain by their pleas that he himself washed the ashes off with a piece of cloth and water. The asuangs were able to reunite with their lower halves before daylight, when, they said, they would die a horrible death. They thanked the captain profusely, but were angry at the sailors who had done them wrong.
The captain tried to confront the three sailors who had played the trick on the asuangs, but they had run away. The asuangs pursued them, threatening to kill them unless they atoned for their crime by marriage. At last the three sailors had to submit to fate and return to Capiz as spouses to asuangs.
Anyway, the asuangs made them good wives. The three sailors who were never mean to the asuangs settled with women from Capiz and became happy. The captain and the commandant stayed in Capiz for a long while.
