Agta tree giant

Some Agta people in Palanan, Isabela, are said to tell of a giant that lives in trees. Lowland storytellers know a very similar being, the kapre. The two beliefs seem to overlap. No detailed written account of the Agta version is known. What the Palanan stories include is unknown. The link between the names is documented, though. Writers note that "agta" appears as another name for the kapre in lowland speech. The word kapre itself likely comes from Spanish cafre, a term for a non-believer, which colonial writers also used for dark-skinned Negrito groups. Some scholars therefore think the lowland kapre grew partly out of how outsiders spoke about the Agta. This is a theory about the word, not proof about the Agta belief. In lowland stories, a kapre is a tall, hairy tree dweller who smokes and plays tricks on travelers. Whether Agta storytellers describe the same traits is not known.