Page:Ballads, Stevenson, 1890.djvu/22

 And he took the lad by the arm, as they stood by the side of the track,

And smiled, and rallied, and flattered, and pushed him forward and back.

It was "You that sing like a bird, I never have heard you sing,"

And "The lads when I was a lad were none so feared of a king.

And of what account is an hour, when the heart is empty of guile?

But come, and sit in the house and laugh with the women awhile;

And I will but drop my hook, and behold! the dinner made."

So Támatéa the pliable hung up his fish in the shade

On a tree by the side of the way; and Rahéro carried him in,

Smiling as smiles the fowler when flutters the bird to the gin,

And chose him a shining hook,5 and viewed it with sedulous eye,

And breathed and burnished it well on the brawn of his naked thigh,

And set a mat for the gull, and bade him be merry and bide,

Like a man concerned for his guest, and the fishing, and nothing beside.

Now when Rahéro was forth, he paused and hearkened, and heard

The gull jest in the house and the women laugh at his word;

And stealthily crossed to the side of the way, to the shady place

Where the basket hung on a mango; and craft transfigured his face.

Deftly he opened the basket, and took of the fat of the fish,

The cut of kings and chieftains, enough for a goodly dish.

This he wrapped in a leaf, set on the fire to cook

And buried; and next the marred remains of the tribute he took, 10