Narrated by Elisa Cordero, a Tagalog from Pagsanjan, La Laguna, who heard the story from a Tagalog friend.  
In a certain town there once lived a couple who had never had a child. They had been married for nearly five years, and were very anxious for a son. The name of the wife was Clara; and of the man, Philip.
 
One cloudy night in December, while they were talking by the window of their house, Clara said to her husband that she was going to pray the novena,1 so that Heaven would give them a child. “I would even let my son serve the Devil, if he would but give us a son!” As her husband was willing that she should pray the novena, Clara began the next day her fervent devotions to the Virgin Mary. She went to church every afternoon for nine days. She carried a small prayer-book with her, and prayed until six o’clock every evening. At last she finished her novenario;2 but no child was born to them, and the couple was disappointed.
 
A month had passed, when, to their great happiness, Clara gave birth to a son. The child they nicknamed Idó. Idó was greatly cherished by his parents, for he was their only child; but he did not care much to stay at home. He early began to show a fondness for travelling abroad, and was always to be found in the dense woods on the outskirts of the town.
 
One afternoon, when the family was gathered together around a small table, talking, a knock was heard at the door. “Come in!” said Philip.
 
“No, I just want to talk with your wife,” answered a hoarse voice from without.
 
Clara, trembling, opened the door, and, to her great surprise, she saw standing there a man who looked like a bear. “A devil, a devil!” she exclaimed, but the Devil pacified her, and said, “Clara, I have come here to get your son you promised me a long time ago. Now that the day has come when your son can be of some service to me, will you deny your promise?”
 
[207]Clara could make no reply at first. She merely called her son; and when he came, she said to the Devil, “Here is my son. Take him, since he is yours.” Idó, who was at this time about seventeen years old, was not frightened by the Devil.
 
“Come,” said the Devil, “and be my follower!” At first Idó refused; but he finally consented to go, because of his mother’s promise.
 
The Devil now took Idó to his cave, far away outside the town. He tried in many ways to tempt Idó, but was unable to do so, because Idó was a youth of strong character. Finally the Devil decided to exchange clothes with him. Idó was obliged to put on the bear-like clothes of the Devil and to give him his own soldier-suit. Then the Devil produced a large bag full of money, and said to Idó, “Take this money and go travelling about the world for seven years. If you live to the end of that time, and spend this money only in doing good, I will set you free. If, however, you spend the money extravagantly, you will have to go............