Bolte lists over a hundred and fifty stories containing one or more
incidents of this cycle. The discovery of the ring inside a domestic
fowl (sometimes animal) is found in most of the European versions,
as is likewise the "ejaculation guess" (our C3 and G).

These two details, however, are also found in Oriental forms of
the story, which, as a whole, have some peculiarly distinctive
traits. These (see Bolte-Polivka, 2 : 407) are (1) the role of the
wife, (2) the collapsing of the room, (3) the burning of the magic
book. The appearance in the Philippine versions of two of these motifs
(one in modified form), together with a third (the betting-contest
between the two kings, which is undoubtedly Eastern in origin),
leads us to believe that our story of "Juan the Guesser" is in large
measure descended directly from Oriental tradition, though it may
owe something to Occidental influence.

In two of our variants it is the mother who in her fond pride places
her son in jeopardy of losing his head. As the hero is a young
bachelor when the story opens, the exploitation of his prowess would
naturally devolve upon his mother. The burning of the magic book
is found in version c, though the incident of the collapsing of the
room or house is lacking in all our variants. The most characteristic
episode, however, in the Philippine members of this cycle, is the
betting-contest between the two kings. It is introduced five times
into the four tales. Its only other occurrence that I know of in this
cycle is in an Arabian story cited by Cosquin (2 : 192), which follows.


One day, when the king was boasting of his conjurer before some other
kings, they said to him, "We too have some diviners. Let us compare