to a crowd of eager listeners. They are not learned word for word, as
are the diams, but their content is constant and they are thoroughly
believed.

That they exert a great influence on the beliefs and conduct of
both old and young is undoubted. The evil which befalls a person who
molests the guardian stones is thus made known even to the children who
generally keep at a distance from the grove in which they stand. Again,
these tales give sharp warning as to what befalls a person who even
ignorantly breaks the taboos following a death; but at the same time
advance means of thwarting the wrath of the enraged or evil spirits.

Myths 55 to 62 at first glance to not appear to be explanatory
at all, but seem rather to be a series of stories dealing with the
relations between certain persons and the natural spirits or those of
the dead. However, it is the intent and use rather than the form of
these stories which has caused them to be included in this division,
for they give the people authority for certain beliefs and conceptions
which they hold. Tale 56 gives us a glimpse of the prevalent idea of
the abode of the dead, where the spirits lead much the same sort of
life as they did while alive, but we secure quite a different picture
of this realm from the Baluga [69] tale, in which the home of the
deceased is said to be in the ground while the "life" of the dead
woman is kept in a bamboo cup. This last account was heard in Manabo,
a town near to the Igorot settlements of the Upit river, and may be
influenced by the beliefs held in that section. [70]

Certain individuals appear to have intimate dealings with the natural
spirits, in some instances even being joined to them in marriage. The
afterbirth child, Sayen, is believed to have lived "not very long