with her, and she went back alone. „Mother, where my girl?" Gálegide asked her. „No got him," she answered, „Two fellow no like." Gálegíde wanted to send her back at once, and after she had eaten she went. That time the elder girl gave way and went with her. The younger sister stayed behind to look after their garden and two pigs. The old woman brought the girl to Gálegíde, but he said, „No, first time I no been look that woman. I been see good (goodlooking) woman, I think you been leave him good woman, my woman. I think you take him back." The mother took the elder sister back and said to the young girl, „Behind girl, he like you, I think you go." Then the girl went with her, asking her sister to look after her garden and pig, and she wept, for she did not care for a man like Gálegíde. She was brought to him, and she and the old woman prepared a great kaikai. Gálegíde's mother said to him, „You get up, kaikai.“ „I no can get up, I fast," he answered, „no good you push me." The next day the two women went to work in the gardens but Gálegíde remained at home, as he could not get up, and in the evening they came back. The elder sister who remained alone wept night and day, and she could neither sleep nor work in her garden. Gálegíde's wife too cried for her sister whom she had left behind and she thought, „What name (what shall) I do? I think I kill him that man." The next morning she pretended to be ill, so her mother-in-law went alone to the garden. While working there the latter suddenly felt drowsy in a sort of presentiment and thought to herself, „What's the matter my boy, I think he sick." When the girl was left alone with Gálegíde she got up, seized a stick and hit his yam scrotum, breaking it altogether. Gálegíde was dead, and his wife ran away to her sister telling her that she had killed him. „Come on, you kill him two pig belong me quick," the elder girl said, „by-and-by that woman he come, kill me two." They killed their pigs eating some of the flesh and keeping the rest. Then they ran away and built a house in a large tree far away. 23 They stayed there. When the old woman came home, she saw that the yam-leaves were withering, and cried out, „What's the matter my boy? Oh, somebody he humbug my boy, somebody kill my boy." And she cried all night. The next morning she set out to kill the two girls. But they were beyond reach in the large tree, and there they still remain. The old woman still lives at Gálegíde. (Gúi, Dírimo). THE MAN WHO HAD NO MOUTH OR ANUS. When 368. At Gúruru there lived a man named İregíde who had no mouth or anus. he was hungry he skinned a banana and smelled at it, and this appeased his hunger, and the same was the case when he smelled at some fish which he had caught and cooked. He used to keep the fruit and fish till he had inhaled their smell, and then he threw them away. At Úgri not far from Búravi there lived a man named Wóboiáme. His first wife had died leaving him a little girl named Múrke. („My god, that's long story, I savy now," interpolated the interpteter used by me). His other wife whose name was Ábu gave Múrke nothing but excrements to eat, but her own daughter used to share her food with Múrke, and Wóbóiáme also at times gave her some food. Once when Wóboiárne went away to hunt, Múrke starved, and when her father came home, she said to him, „Oh, father, me hungry, poor altogether. My belly he got nothing, I hungry altogether, close up me die now." All she had eaten were some scraps which her half-sister had given her. Wóboiáme let her have some food and scolded his wife,. Another time when Wóboiáme went away Múrke thought to herself, „Oh, what name (what) I kaikai?" She collected some wild yams in a basket and provided herself with some bamboo shoots and a fire-stick and then went away. An old woman working in her garden asked her, „What place you go, small girl?“ „Oh, old woman," said Múrke who wanted to keep her plan secret, „me fellow go make gammon (play) garden there, some girl he stop there.“ She proceeded on her way and on arriving at Úbuwále lighted a fire and cooked some food, and before leaving she planted one wild yam and one of the bamboo shoots there. Then she went on and came to Gálepúpu creek between Búrave and Tsée, and there again she planted a yam and a bamboo. A narrow log of wood formed a bridge over the creek and she was very afraid of falling or of being taken by a crocodile, and on reaching the other bank she cried out, „I man now, I life, no more dead!" At every place where she rested she planted a yam and a bamboo, for she wanted to enable her father to follow her track: „Father, me there been walk about." Thus she passed Dúmegíde and came to the large swamp called Bádemópe where there were many crocodiles. She prepared a meal before crossing the swamp, for otherwise the crocodiles would have caught her. But she was very frightened and cried to herself, „Oh, alligator catch me along that big swamp. What's way (how) I go other side?" In the meantime Íregíde brought home food with which he nourished himself, smelling at it. Múrke swam across the swamp carrying her basket on her head, and cried all the while with fear. At length she reached the other side, and called out, „My god, I come now, alligator no more get me, I all right now!" At the edge of the swamp Múrke found some refuse of the fish which Íregíde had caught, and in the distance she saw the smoke rising from his house. There she planted her last yam and bamboo. She hesitated whether she should venture to go near the house. There was much food which Íregíde had thrown away after smelling at it. Seeing that the inhabitant of the place was a man, Múrke said to herself, „I think he go marry me. I think he all right; one thing he got no mouth. He got whiskers, one thing where hole?" At length fregíde noticed her, and she began to tremble. Íregíde wondered what people she could belong to, „I never been see all same, I think she come other place." He could not speak and only muttered, „Hm." He motioned her to sit, and she did so, and he placed some bananas close to her and signed to her to eat. When he was moving about Múrke noticed that he was without an anus. Íregíde said to her by gestures, „You stop here, you no go back. Plenty garden here, you kaikai. You pickaninny belong me, I got no pickaninny." Múrke collected all sorts of sweet-scented herbs and mashed them in a dish into a „medicine", and she also brought home a number of gay croton branches. In the night when Íregíde was asleep she cut up his mouth and anus, and a great quantity of white matter looking like the discharge of a boil poured out, filling three basins. Íregíde's belly had been very large before, but as it was gradually emptied it slackened down. While the man was still asleep Múrke rubbed him with the sweet medicine, painted him, and decorated him with the croton branches. Then she threw away all the rubbish, and just when the birds began to call at daybreak she lay down to sleep. After a while Íregíde woke up. He felt a great lightness of body and looked round in bewilderment, „Uä, uä, ua!" being the only sound he uttered. Then he found that he could speak, „My god, I got mouth now! My god, I got yarn (faculty of speech) now, from mouth yarn he come! My god, I got hole now! Plenty nice thing (ornaments) somebody been put along me!" Múrke feigned sleep but heard how he kept on talking to himself, „Uä, uä! I man now, my word, I man now! My god, I savy kaikai now! What thing I kaikai? kaikai banana, kaikai taro what? No, I kaikai fish." It was broad daylight, and still he went on calling out, „Lópe, Jángedúu (and many other peoples), I man now! I got no mouth before, you hear my talk now! That my name Íregíde, that my name big man İregíde. I kaikai now! That's my girl he been make good for me! That name belong that girl now Ábapli, no more Múrke." In the morning he went and shot some fish, and the girl baked them for him, and he ate. „My god," he exclaimed, „I kaikai any kind now, very glad inside!" دو When Wóboiáme, Múrke's father, returned home he found his girl missing and asked his wife, „You been kill him Múrke? All time I been hear you want kill him," and he struck her. An old woman said, „No, you no fight him, I been see him go, he been carry kaikai and bamboo." Woboiáme immediately set out to follow Múrke, chewing a gámoda root to make himself strong. At Nógopáte creek he found the first wild yam and bamboo which Múrke had planted; „Oh, him he there been walk about, track there been go other side along creek." It grew dark, and he returned home for the night, but he could not eat anything, only drank gámoda. Before dawn he started again and passed over the creek, and then he followed her track from place to place where she had planted the yams and bamboo or lighted a fire, from Tsée to Írelúale, and thence to Dúmegíde and Ágedóro, at last arriving at the large swamp, and there he shot some fish. He saw Íregíde on the other side of the swamp and called out, „Who you?“ „Me Íregíde. Who you?" „Me there Wóboiáme. I follow pickaninny, track there." „I no been see him," Íregíde gammoned, „I think alligator been catch him." Wóboiáme constructed a raft of bamboo and ferried himself over. On seeing the girl he called out, „My God, pána (friend), that my pickaninny. Pána, I look face, that Múrke!" Íregíde had forbidden her to listen to that name, for he wanted her to be his daughter and named her Ábapli. But Wóboiáme insisted that she belonged to him and said, "You look my face, you look that pickaninny there, he got my face. Múrke, my pickaninny, that you! You been plant him that bamboo every place." Then Múrke signed to him that she recognized him, but Íregíde asked him angrily not to speak any more to the girl. „All right, pána," Wódoiáme then said, „belong you pickaninny. I been give name Múrke, that my name, that my face, you been give name Ábapli. I go one man (alone), no more take back pickaninny, belong you that pickaninny.“ „All right now, belong me now," said fregíde, „I been find him pickaninny, no more belong you.“ „You look after that pickaninny good," said Wóboiáme. „Along my place I got fat pig, by-and-by I give.“ Íregíde said, "I got plenty fish belong you me (us)," and he gave him all sorts of fish and garden produce. „That pickaninny he open him mouth belong me," he went on. „I no savy people, all same étengena (mythical beings in the bush, cf. Introduction to. no. 102) I stop. I no kaikai. That girl he make me good, that's why I speak pickaninny belong me." When Wóboiáme was about to leave, his friend said to him, „All time I walk about that swamp, that's all gammon I speak he got alligator." Wóboiame returned home to Ügri and told his people that Múrke remained with Íregíde. He went frequently to visit the two. Once the Úgri people prepared a great dance and invited their friends to come and take part in it, the Wóbie, Sóreasáre, and Góreva peoples. The guests arrived in different groups, and the men drew their bows and ran round the men's house before they sat down. Íregíde and Múrke arrived last, everybody admired the girl, and Woboiame told the people that she was his daughter. The dance lasted all night, and when Múrke was dancing İregíde held a burning torch over her to show her off. 45 In the morning all the people went home, Íregíde and Múrke among the rest. (Gágere, Másingára). eat. A. A certain Táti man named Úme had no mouth or anus. The name of his daughter was Múruke. She cooked food for him, but he gesticulated that he did not want any, for he could not One day she determined to cut him a mouth and asked him to lie down with his head in her lap, saying that she wanted to clean his hair from lice. After a while he fell asleep, 22 and in order to make sure she called out, „Father, me finish look out louse; come on, you me (we) kaikai!" 52 But he did not stir, and then she cut open his mouth and anus, and a white matter poured out. On waking up Úme he was very glad and kissed her. Another day he went and invited many people to a dance, and a great feast was held. Everybody admired Múruke. Úme asked a man named Béne to shoot his tame pig for the people, and subsequently Béne married Múruke. (Gibuma, Mawáta). B. A certain girl in a place on the Búdji side was very badly treated by her step-mother. She was left to watch her little brother, and her step-mother told her to eat his excrements when she was hungry. The girl lied to her mother saying that she had eaten them, but the excrements which had the faculty of speech called out, „Kóno kiawo kóno késáwo. Me fellow here, he no kaikai me." And the step-mother compelled her to eat the excrements. One day the girl tied up the little boy so that he could not leave the house, and ran away herself to another place. She found a man without a mouth, and he nourished himself by inhaling the amell of the food. „Suppose he good man, he take me all right," she thought, „I no like bad man take me, by-and-by he kill me." She was kindly received by him and remained with him. One day she cut his mouth open. The girl's father wanted to find out where she had gone. He went to a great many places and left behind him a twig with gay leaves which are used for decorating a dancer. That is a way of inviting the people to come and dance. He expected that his daughter would come with the other people, and so she did, and her husband was there too. They all made friends, and the girl remained with her husband, but they were asked by her father to come and visit them frequently. (ĺku, Mawáta). THE BOY WITH A LEG LIKE A CASSOWARY. 369. A certain Máo woman once gave birth to a boy whose one leg was like that of a cassowary. The cause of this deformation was that the mother had fed exclusively on cassowary meat. One day when the boy had grown up the Máo and Wiórubi peoples went to fight the Gémeidai people at Wapi. The boy with the cassowary leg had a friend at Wiórubi who was very much excited at the prospect of the fight and said, „To-morrow I kill plenty man, you fellow look!" The first boy felt a little ashamed and thought, „He got proper leg, I got no good leg. No good I boast you me (we) see, by-and-by!" When the attacking party landed, the Wiórubi man jumped on shore first and rushed at the enemy, killing three of them. His friend with the cassowary leg laughed with excitement, and he too hurried on shore. He kicked out with his cassowary foot which was as formidable a weapon as any stone club. Now the foot went right into the body of a man, now smashed a leg or skull or ripped open a belly so that the intestines ran out. The Wiórubi man looked on in amazement: „Oh, my god, all same pigeon (bird) he fly! That time I come I boast for nothing, friend belong me he win me. More better I go find him leg belong cassowary." The last of the Gémeidai people were killed, and the victors cut off their heads and returned home sounding their trumpet-shells in order to let their folks at home know. The Wiórubi man went to his friend and said, "What name (how) you been cut that leg? More better you learn (teach) me.“ „No man he cut him that leg," answered his friend, „mother he born me leg he all same. You no cut leg, spoil yourself." „Oh, friend, you gammon," said the Wiórubi man, „more better I cut him leg, man he no born like that." And the Wiórubi man went and killed a cassowary and cut off its leg. Then he cut off his own leg and fastened that of the cassowary in its place, he used a peg to fix both parts of the leg together, and then he tied up the joint firmly. The sore ulcerated a little, but when it had healed the man had a cassowary's leg like his friend. After a time the Máo and Wiórubi peoples went to fight the Abo people and the two friends took part in the expedition. They jumped on shore together, and the landing party proceeded to Abo village where the attack was made. The two friends kicked many of the enemy to death with their extraordinary legs, and their companions came behind and cut off the heads of the slain people. After a while the attacking party withdrew, and the two friends were left behind. Seeing them alone the Abo people mustered courage and closed in upon them, and the two men retreated slowly towards the shore. While the one man kept the enemy back with his bow and arrows his friend retired behind him, and when the man in the rear was tired his friend relieved him. Thus they came to a creek, and after some dispute they decided that the Máo man should jump over first and then begin to shoot from the other side and let his friend jump. „Time belong you jump now," shouted the Máo man when he had reached the other bank, „I stand by, look out." The Wiórubi man jumped but fell right into the creek, and when he tried to draw out his artificial leg from the mud it broke off. He crawled on his knees and cried out, „Oh, friend, more better you carry me." „I no can carry you," replied his friend, „you me two lose. I been speak you, you go first." The Wiórubi man stood on his knees, |