Page:Ballads, Stevenson, 1890.djvu/17

 THE SONG OF RAHÉRO: A LEGEND OF TAHITI.

I. THE SLAYING OF TÁMATÉA.

It fell in the days of old, as the men of Taiárapu tell,

A youth went forth to the fishing, and fortune favored him well.

Támatéa his name: gullible, simple, and kind,

Comely of countenance, nimble of body, empty of mind,

His mother ruled him and loved him beyond the wont of a wife,

Serving the lad for eyes and living herself in his life.

Alone from the sea and the fishing came Támatéa the fair,

Urging his boat to the beach, and the mother awaited him there,

—"Long may you live!" said she. "Your fishing has sped to a wish.

And now let us choose for the king the fairest of all your fish.

For fear inhabits the palace and grudging grows in the land,

Marked is the sluggardly foot and marked the niggardly hand,

The hours and the miles are counted, the tributes numbered and weighed,

And woe to him that comes short, and woe to him that delayed!"

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