Page:Ballads, Stevenson, 1890.djvu/28

 Plant we, then, here at Paea, a garden of excellent fruits;

Plant we bananas and kava and taro, the king of roots;

Let the pigs in Paea be tapu12 and no man fish for a year;

And of all the meat in Tahiti gather we threefold here.

So shall the fame of our plenty fill the island, and so,

At last, on the tongue of rumor, go where we wish it to go.

Then shall the pigs of Taiárapu raise their snouts in the air;

But we sit quiet and wait, as the fowler sits by the snare,

And tranquilly fold our hands, till the pigs come nosing the food:

But meanwhile build us a house of Trotéa, the stubborn wood,

Bind it with incombustible thongs, set a roof to the room,

Too strong for the hands of a man to dissever or fire to consume;

And there, when the pigs come trotting, there shall the feast be spread,

There shall the eye of the morn enlighten the feasters dead.

So be it done; for I have a heart that pities your state,

And Nateva and Námunu-úra are fire and water for hate."

All was done as he said, and the gardens prospered; and now

The fame of their plenty went out, and word of it came to Vaiau.

For the men of Námunu-úra sailed, to the windward far,

Lay in the offing by south where the towns of the Tevas are,

And cast overboard of their plenty; and lo! at the Tevas' feet

The surf on all of the beaches tumbled treasures of meat.

In the salt of the sea, a harvest tossed with the refluent foam;

And the children gleaned it in playing, and ate and carried it home; 16