The sun., 1909-12-26

others to 20 down into. the bod OF TIE
brook and spear him. Suddenly the
snake stirred up q great waterspout "
hlled the stream and uprooted the great
trees and overwhelmed the spearmen
beneath the branches and buried them.
The food In the brook overscwed the
banks and carried away all who were
ono escaped from the Hood and when he
went to tie up the feet and hands iof his
fellows 90 that they might be carried away
on poles there was not ono to be found.
He was the only survivor and the snake
had annihilated the others 90 that not
oven so much a. a trace Of their bodies was
ever found. Ae
A TRKkYuL OF sERPEHrs.
Such a serpent a. that. ono with re-
sources OF thunder and hehtning and water
rpouts and other practical meteorology
Is q pretty hard problem 20 set before
savage man In his simplicity. But In the
end by bravery and united effort nan does
get the best of the snakes az this tale sets
forth.
A man took his dog and went out TO get
a wild boar. On the way the dog hushed
q pouohed rat and the man speared IL and
wrapped IL up in leaves. The next thing
that attracted his attention was a bird
huttering about a tree whose crown had
been blown Oh and screaming loudly and
angrily at a snake that was summing itself
up there. So the man put his parcel on
the ground. called his dog and bade him
sit there and watch the parcel.
He started To- climb the tree. and when
the snake saw him coming up the trunk
It crept into the hollow trunk but 1t kept
Watching the hole in the tree. As soon
as the man had reached the top Of the tree
he bent over TO look down the hole.
He had no more than one look. FOR the
snake seized him by the head and dragged
sv.t<
be seen Of men. He dropped from the
opening clear down into the hollow in the
inside OF the tree trunk.
The dog sat waiting a long long time
and then began TO bark. He barked and
barked and got no answer and at Last he
forsook his post and ran back to his homo.
When he reached home he did all In his
power to attract attention. When the
men at last asked him where his master
was he capered OF and led them ON the
way until he brought them to the package
which he had been set to watch.
care. First be shifted all about the. tree
and then he jumped up as though he
Look up yonder,- they cried. Hes
surely fallen down the hole into the inside
IS. 50 . they 6 Is cried d. with all their might:
The snake from within answered: 'All
Then they shouted again, ITO AMI and
again the snake answered 1All rightl'
Where are you thenys they cried.
Wait p littleis replied, the snake. stay
So they Kept quiet for 1 little and then
they called again: Come now. what's
wrong?'
.Just stay whore you are Iittle longer
said \. the snake N feisned voice. stay
AT last the snake cried: sNow theui-
and threw the mans bones down to them:
The men gathered up the bones and held
Q hinenration over them; they collected
tho bones, both men and women, and
they took them back 10 the mans house
Then the relatives brought out betel
and the friends chewed Il with the
mourners. The men painted their hair
and the women painted their bodies in
sign OF mourning. Hens were put into
the ovens to- cook and thcy had sad
feast. After all these due observances
the men decorated thenaeelyes with their
feather plumss. took their clubs and
stone area and went back to the hollow
tree TO chop 10 down.
With the first stroke az the axes ON the
tree there was thunder and lightning
and the earth ayaked. They ssruok shs
from the trunk. Nothing daunted they
sspotA the tree yet a third time and crashed
through los holioW waA. So
Theh the drst snake sqaifmed out
throuah. the hole and fell 20 the ground;
fhsy isl @ on = !. wta tnsir .aI; Slub: b;s and
Then they chopped again at the tree and
q second snake crept forth and they killed
this one too.
This went on long time. Every time
they chopped the tree q snake came out,
every time they killed q snake the thunder
earth reeied beneath their feet. But the
people always said, --Theres another one
In there yet. the big snake OF alli' So
they kept on hacking until the big snake
oame out at last and they all cried, There
he oonesl' and they dubbed him to bits.
and the thunder roared worse than ever.
there never was seen such lightning the
earthquake shook them Oh their feet.
But they feared nothing now that they
had killed the king snake; they rubbed
two sticks into q blaze and burnt up all
the bits into which they had smashed all
So they went back TO the houses. And
the mans kin set out pepper leaves and
areoa nut and lime. and they all chewed
betei together over the great feat. And
the kin paid shell money. ever SO much
shell money, and every man who bad
10
BBFooLINo THE oHosrs.
In competent hands snakes may have
their uses, but fool who essays 20 use
them makes some little mistake which
brings upon him the penalty OF being a
fool. Out on the Gazelle Peninsula
humanity began ss q fool In one molety
and the ratio has not been bothered since.
certainly not there at least. This Ia the
way TO make use OF snakes 10 one is not a
fool.
To Kabinana, that 10 the wise first man.
went out one day and caught six snakes
such As live on trees and tied them up
In q bundle. Then he went to . ghost
abode where there were breadfrlit trees
aplenty and climbed up one Of the trees.
Thesetre were dear to the devils hearts
They watched them with the utmost oare
lest some one steal the fruit away,
To Kabinana pluched fruit and let Il
drop on to the grass below. and at the
same time he dropped one OF the snakes
The devils paid no attention to the fruit
but set on in chase Of the snake, for they
thought the snake had picked the fruit
which fell at the same time. To Kabinana
picked another fruit and dropped 1t with
another snake, and again the devils went
chasing the snake.
This he did for every snake he had. and
when the snakes were all used up he
climbed down the tree. While the devils
were all OF chasing the snakes To Kabi-
mana gathered up the breadfruit and
NJ